Suzie’s Whirlwind 75th birthday Tour. Day five. 8 January 2025

Auckland. 

No need for an early start. Met in foyer around 8:30.

Then a walk out to Ponsonby for the Blue Bean Cafe which had been recommended by one of the runners at Soul last night.

A non-de script looking cafe with a lot of restaurant out the back. A gelato/ice creamery and cafe at the front. Lots of eclectic bits and pieces and quotes around the walls.

Coffee was so so but the breakfasts and presentation were next level. Again photos will tell the tale.

A walk along Ponsonby Rd. A local shopping strip. Lots of eateries and clothing and gifty shops. Some of interest, some not. Not a quick stop by any means. More waiting.

We walked through Western Park hoping to get lucky and see some of the beautiful birds that NZ is famous for – no luck but a nice park to wander through towards the city again.

Then a quick uber back to Sky-tower to catch the Hop On Hop Off bus (maybe the hop on ripoff bus but time is at a premium and they say time is money.)

Around the city along the Red line past Art Gallery (under restoration), through Newmarket to the War memorial and Museum, where we swapped buses to remain on Red Line.
The next leg took us past Holy Trinity and St Mary’s cathedral made entirely of Kauri wood and moved at some point on wooden rollers then out to Bastion Point with views of harbour and Islands and more boats.

A few drops of rain sent the others in under cover for a bit. I had my brolly so kept dry.
Finished the tour back at Sky Tower then a shared Sanga and coffee at recommended place up the street, before returning home for a bit of rest for some and getting ready for the last big shebang – dinner at Ahi.

We met in our lift foyer at 5:25 to head downstairs for our pre dinner cocktail at Metita our in house bar. (capitalising on our 20% off).

My choice of cocktail was a Sasalapa Sour. Description from menu: Sasalapa is aiso known as Soursop or Custard Apple. A unique flavour combination of sweet, soul and floral all together. Think strawberry, pineapple, apple and vanilla Longan infused gin, soursop cordial, Wonderfoam (egg-free foamer) it looked good and tasted good.

We then headed down to the restaurant 700m away. Ahi is the restaurant of Chris Martin, the son of Jane, a friend of Aunty Sue’s from her Wednesday walking group. (Unfortunately, Chris is hiking with Jane here in NZ, so he won’t be looking after us tonight)

Thankfully we had a break waiting for the mains. The Dom was going down well.
The sommelier – Jordan – came to chat and she was lovely. From the states and came to visit the NZ wineries as she had studied wine in the US. Turns out her first job was with Chris at another restaurant and he took her under his wing and mentored her in front of house, she has worked with him for 6 years and moved with him when they opened Ahi. He has become a New Zealand father to her. She is planning to open her own wine bar in the next year or so.
Hayls ordered a wine and I was excited to see they had a tin of the Greytown gin I was keen to buy. Anyway ordered a G&T with Greytown Frostbite and loved it.

Walked down the street to Commercial Bay shopping precinct in which Ahi is located. Lots of high end shops (closed thankfully) but nice to window shop while in pursuit of a loo.

Public loos here are a rare thing it seems. First one was closed for cleaning, but we found one on level two.
Handily this is where the restaurant is located.

We had a table at the window allocated, thought not yet vacant, and it was obvious that all the staff knew that Suzie was coming because:
1. Jane ensured they knew we were coming
2. Hayley had arranged a Happy Birthday zoosh up of desert
3. Keith topped them all by prearranging a bottle of 2006 Dom Perignon Champagne for the final night birthday dinner.
4. Evidently, Chris rang today from his tramping holiday with his Mum and family in Taupo to ensure everything was in place for us.

Our table by the window wasn’t ready, so we perused the menu with a garden water of the day – Apple and mint – at a bar table.
We were well looked after by Young, the manager and staff.
From the menu we made some choices while we awaited the people eating at our table to be done. While chatting we also shared a video Keith had pre prepped of him and dogs wishing Susie a Happy Birthday. We each had brought cards which we delivered too.

The staff and service was wonderful from every member of staff.

RANDOM FACTS

*Ahi = fire in Moari.
*Kaua kaua plant used for numbing medicine now used for food in restaurants.

*All the stuff in and around the restaurant is from NZ – plants, furniture, ceiling decorations.

*Young is the manager of the restaurant.

*Ninh is our waiter.
*Jordan – sommelier.

We eventually made it to our table and placed our order.

Young surprised Aunty Sue with the Dom from Keith (while Bron was at the loo) so we put that on hold till Bron returned. Hayley had Keith on FaceTime so he could see the Dom reveal too.

Our food was stunning. Hard to top what we’ve already eaten but this did. We ordered a range of options to share starting with a snack – bread and butter to share, then three starters – a corn one, a capsicum one and an octopus one (Bron picked at some of the garnish). We also ordered two mains of lamb as we realised we were in a country where sheep outnumber people five to one and we hadn’t eaten any, and a main of duck accompanied by two side dishes – mixed greens and potatoes.

The first dish to arrive was Corn Dogs – which we realised we hadn’t ordered as they were Scampi corn dogs and we were avoiding seafood. So we called the waiter back to check. Seems these Scampi Corn Dogs are a secret special dish, prepared with Antarctic scampi (rare and precious) and it was a complimentary specialty dish – which isnt available on the menu regularly. Feeling a bit more special!!! Thanks to Chris and mum Jane.

The bread and cultured butter was sensational.

Then the corndogs and accompanying sauce were tasty and gone in a flash.

Our chosen starters were all a hit, we all seemed to have a different favourite – for me the capsicum terrine was no. 1, but all were up there and it was hard to split them.

The restaurant is on level two in no 1 Queens place, part of the Commercial Bay shopping precinct and we had views out to the Old Ferry Building, Port and across the Harbour.

Eventually our mains arrived and despite feeling like we’d over ordered we managed to demolish the majority of it. The standouts for me were the Lamb and spuds, Hayley loved the greens, everything was beautifully presented, all the wait staff explained and described the dishes with great detail and were patient with our questions.

All in all a superlative final supper for our whirlwind tour.

Bron gave us each a cute little brass Kiwi as a memento of our trip.

Oops I forgot dessert. We gave Aunty Sue the choice and we shared it with four spoons – she chose a pear dish. This was also accompanied by a small piece of cheesecake with papaya and ‘happy birthday’ in chocolate with a candle.

We ambled home as the rain that started as we walked to the restaurant had dried up.

What a great day again. A fabulous way to celebrate with a spectacular meal and the Dom.

We planned our attack for tomorrow – Meeting for breakfast at 8 in the am to kick off our last morning in NZ.