Gran Dabbang

Ohhhh yeh this place is where it’s at. Another amazing recommendation we definitely wouldn’t have found on our own. The place is run by two people who met and fell in love in New Zealand, the woman who is British is front of house and the man who I believe is Argentinian runs the kitchen. Dabbang is the name of a Bolliwood movie the man saw in India, which became his nom de plume. When they wanted to open a restaurant they ‘thought Dabbang would be a funny name and put Gran on the front.’ Can’t argue with that, really.

We were told we might have to wait for a table, and we did. But if we went back we would make like the locals and buy some beers from across the roads and drink the on the footpath as we waited. Also, it didn’t matter – it was worth it.

Standing outside, I looked through the window and saw a familiar face. Turns out it was that of a younger sister of a friend of mine from Devonport – one of many ‘small world’moments I anticipate having on this trip. It seemed she was equally as blown away to see us, and her English made deciphering the delicious and complex menu easy peasy. The food is a sort of Indian/Asian fusion – a result of the couple’s extensive travels. The dishes are generally made to share and every single thing we tried was ábsolutely delicious – including the bottle of red or Vino Tinto I should say 😉 We had four dishes plus an insane dessert (Scott loves his sweeties) and a bottle of wine for $70 NZD, so pretty good.

Compared to what can be quite a starchy local diet – the flavours here were so so good. Think pine nuts, crispy quail, fruity/spicy pakora, and pickled beetroot. And that curry stands up against any Thali curry in India. The food, for us, was second only to Tegui. In fact, tonight is our last night and we might be going back…

 

Bao Kitchen Taiwan Bistro

Yum. and Yay. So great to find something like this as methinks it might be a wee while before we have this sort of thing again. And yes, you guessed it, it was another recommendation. They have only been open 3 months but they definitely know what they’re doing.

We came here after we got off the ferry from Uruguay and were greeted by very friendly and accommodating faces. The lovely owner also spoke fluent English which was a relief because my brain was tired.

The restaurant itself isn’t overly appealing from the outside, and not in the most ‘touristy’ location, but it’s worth it. We ordered the buns below (better than Blue Breeze), A dumpling soup (epic), and friend chicken wings (freaking awesome) (Scott also loves his chicken). Plus two iced green teas.

Amazing food – like seriously, very good. Nice service, and well-priced.

Hurray.

That’s kind of it for food. We got a bit lazy and went back to our favorite spots towards the end. La Dorita (one minute walk away), Burger Joint (cos why not) and like I said, we plan to go back to Gran Dabbang tonight.

A few other people we met here weren’t impressed with the food, and that was because they didn’t have any recommendations. We would have been gutted to miss out on all this deliciousness so I want to take this time to make a shout out to my man Silvio and his girlfriend Sofi, and ma gurrrl Jane – our tastebuds salute you. And to the rest of you peeps out there, if you go to Argentina, go everywhere we wrote about here, and get us to send you the doc with the rest of the places. yummm.