Meal of My Life - Vinnies

• Foodie Reviewer kevinblakeman2004
  More reviews by this foodie >
• Date of review: 27/08/2010
• Address: Herne Bay
• Cuisine: European
• Licence: Licensed
• Price: N/A
• Rating out of 15: 14 (Food: 5, Service: 5, Atmosphere/Decor: 4)

What was to happen in the next four hours I was not expecting! I have a list of restaurants I try to go through and eat at, its a never ending list and more just get added all the time. Vinnies in Herne Bay has been on there for a while so one stormy Saturday night my wife and I headed out there.
Now I am a big foodie in fact as much as I never say it when I am out but I'm a chef in an iconic restaurant in Auckland. I say this for this review just so you can understand how much I've longed for service and food I recieved this gloomy, stormy night.
We arrived at Vinnies and where asked to be seated near the bar as our table wasn't ready, the main dining room was a romantic setting and this was backed up by the amount of couples dining on this particular evening.
Unfortunately (and this is the last time I will use this word) our table was never ready and we ended up sitting alone near the bar.
I ordered the degustation with matching wines and we where served by the maitre d' all night who was extremely attentitive, polite, professional and with never ending knowlegde of not only the wines but the food also. At first my wife (vegetarian) just ordered from the menu as they where to busy to create a new vegetarian degustation for her. (Our fault not their's) However one course into the dinner and out pop our maitre d' who informed us the pressure was off slightly so they could now. Excellent.

Anyway the food, I began with an amuse bouche serving of pea and ham hock soup, full of flavour except it had separated slightly and most of the flavour and ham hock was at the bottom.
Next came the cured duck breast with beer pikelet and barberries. The barberries finished the dish well which was slightly overpowered by the pikelet.
To follow this was what I described after laughing out of sheer joy as the single most excellent dish I have ever tasted in my life....So simple, black tiger prawns with foie gras polenta. I am not sure how Jeff (the chef/owner) came about or created this dish but its something I will remember for a long time. I think 1 month on I can still taste it! So sweet yet balanced with the earthyness of foie gras polenta. Texturely brilliant, crunchy, succulent prawns matched with the rich polenta...need I say more!

At this point I mention again the service, immaculate to a tee, I apologise for forgetting the matre d's name this was over a month ago! Anyway, each wine was matched and described sublimely the bonus for me was I got to compare some wines as he was 're-doing some of the list' I thought the first wine to go with the prawn dish was a little overpowering, when I gave my opinion (which was asked for Im not a complainer!) this was swiftly dealt with.

The meal continued to go from strength to strength and you must experience the kindergarten like milk bottle dessert which, is as described served in a glass milk bottle and is layers of creme anglaise, apricot sauce and kiwi fruit puree. We were told to mix it up or drink in layers we did both and either way it was delicious.

This is just a highlight of what was created and I loved the touch of the Chef coming out to greet guest once the main bulk of service was over.

Thanks to the team at Vinnines for this evening. 10 out of 10.