Venezuela's rock embedded oil is estimated to be as much volume as Saudi Arabia had to begin with. So oil is more expensive (and how!) but now more plentiful than ever.

It's not more plentiful. It takes umpteen thousand years to make oil. Just that more of it is viable…

Funky and comortable old movie seats at the table and great muffins.

They actually bet me to my seat with my coffee & heated muffin.

http://www.c1espresso.co.nz/c1espresso.html

Is the Oaks centre more than just a case of benign neglect?

quite possibly. i wish they'd just get on with tearing the whole place down.

most of the ground-floor shops are sparkly, but the upstairs is increasingly run-down, and getting worse by the day.

as promised, harissa lamb for under $7.50 per head!

and it was extremely delicious.

No better off-screen than on. Attention-seeking, puerile and anti-social in the widest sense. They're the blokes that gave bogans a bad name.

It's one of the big…

Elsewhere, and in more of a Hand Mirror mood, have you read this tour de force in the Age?

It's interesting that the short-lived NZ version of The Foot Show tried that sort of crap and deservedly went down in flames. In Australia, it just keeps on rating.

Elsewhere, and in more of a Hand Mirror mood, have you read this tour de force in the Age?

No, I hadn't read it. The analysis is spot on. I've posted it at THM – thank you.

Elsewhere, and in more of a Hand Mirror mood, have you read this tour de force in the Age?

Any other gems you'd care to point us to?

bars you adhere to

My very first Wellington drink was in the public bar of the Barretts Hotel. My jandals stayed put at the first two strides, as I kept walking.

The one I worked in kept much better carpets.

I had to read that three times before I parsed it correctly.

Ewwww.

I worked at a publishing house nearby and we used the respectable upstairs lounge bar of the Royal Oak and restaurant when entertaining clients, whereas when in…

and,

Now the place is a falling-apart rusting hulk that looks like it could do with a bulldozer through it.

amen.

when sol bar was up there it was actually worth setting foot in. but…

there's a little-known korean cheap and cheerful on manners street that serves MOUNTAINS of chilli pork for $10. i kept thinking, sooner or later we're going to hit the noodles supporting all this meat. nope, pork all the way to the sizzling hot-plate.

Do tell – this sounds fantastic. Got…

It isn't all bad though,…

That's a shame about Ciao ... And have heard that there's a new place called something like Wine and Roses (??) – about 8 tables, booked for months and doing genuinely good food (genuine being a little lost on many establishments in that area).

I was…

$10 a head, two hours to eat and some first class wines from the library make a long day livable
Our American is a chef so we…

and it was good.

like the sound of that, even more money for the wine.

We just consider it all too expensive for what you get – outside of Asian food courts. In fact my partner and I don't eat out much since we've found it much more satisfying to cook at home and spend the money on good wine.

might be the time to…

The food is what it is – once it dawns on you that "Lone Star Oven" is code for pre-deep fried and then deep…

I was thinking more of the local in my old village. Roast duck in black bean sauce and Szechuan King Prawns. Nomm nomm.

I like the owner coming out and convincing me that I really should try this, and here's a nice wine which would go with that, and a conversation with the staff which feels genuine rather than hammered into them with a smile.

true. it's about service because you actually like…

I miss English Chinese Food (which is different from Chinese Chinese food, which I think is what we get here).

The places in Soho where they'd order you to your table? I can't remember the food at all, but I don't recall being unhappy with it.

But what I really,…

You all in Auckland may be interested in my friend's blog – he's reviewing some of the finest lunches to be had for not much cash here.

Good blog! I haz his RSS ...

Although the statement that "Sichuan is, in topical fashion, the Chinese province that borders Tibet" is…

(It's so hard to find good help these days, isn't it?)

I don't mind the cafe style familiarity thing.

You might feel different if you wre in my sister-in-law's shoes, and being lectured by a waiter half her age about how "fattening" her dessert was. I though she was going to get up and kill the little guy.

they had a japanese guitarist singing in french and the waiters would occasionally dance together, old school.

Dancing waiters? I'll happily pay an extra $5 for my main to see that. In the small amount of travelling that I've done around the world, it doesn't feel like NZ has enough…

I tried to order a steak well done

chefs call that a "saturday night special". it's also "officially a food crime".

but... putting my snobbery aside, you can avoid that particular drama by asking for a medium steak, and requesting that the chef rest it properly before serving.

that way…

What's with trashing the Lone Star?

Because it's shite?

At least it has flavour.

Generic overly sweet BBQ sauce flavour, IIRC.

I miss English Chinese Food (which is different from Chinese Chinese food, which I think is what we get here).

I don't mind the cafe style familiarity…

I kind of miss the regional Schechwan, Canton chinese food that use vegetables unknown here.

You might be surprised at what you can get in downtown Auckland. I know Mr Brown was.

And good Italian food, with pasta and bread made on the premises, using the type of tomatoes and…

this is not a reflection on NZ service culture .... it is the result of the unintelligent transplanting of lean production techniques.

i dunno aeh... culture is a way of being, not just of doing. even in nzl-owned places here in wellington you get the same "she'll be right" attitude…

David, it might be some consolation that the people who own the brilliant Richmond Road Cafe are soon to open a new place at the north end of Takapuna Beach.

Yep this is the Takapuna Beach Cafe I mentioned – it's open now, soft launched last week with takeaways but…

Floriditas

I want to come home.

Lamenting things passed can I just say, I miss Vesuvios.

As for Red brick, it is nice to look at but the…

But for less money I can order a fine steak at Prego from some of the best hospo workers in the country.

or, so to simply paris on cuba street.

i love that place. the cassoulet was only $24 and they had to use a crow-bar to wedge me out…

As for dark eateries have you tried the Bicycle Thief in Christchurch? They should give you a white cane on entry.

Indeed. And Winniebago's and the Honeypot are nearly as bad. They're all low light, board floors and hard surfaces so sound bounces round like crazy. Is this just a…

What's with trashing the Lone Star?
At least it has flavour.

Well, David's utterly woeful experience might have been a little less out-of-order if the food had been cheap and cheerful.

But for less money I can order a fine steak at Prego from some of the best hospo workers…

Emma, isn't one of those Christchurch ones ground zero for the outbreak?

Indeed. Now you know where we tip the cows.

And holy crap, $28 for a chicken salad? Go to Hays, the food is good.

I'm still vexing over that $30 steak

$31, to be precise.

Would sir care to see the menu?

Emma, isn't one of those Christchurch ones ground zero for the outbreak?

There is a Texas Lone Star in Wellington. And it sucks.

There are two Lone Stars in Chch, and they suck too. The one at Church Corner replaced a Cobb and Co, which was... well, it was cheaper, catered to the kids, and wasn't full of people who'd spent an…

It's where I first encountered deep-fried camembert.

What were they thinking in those days?

$30 will buy you a piece of prime eye fillet at Prego, and I bet I know which one is better.

Mmmm ... Prego ...

then there's "porno noodles" upstairs in the oaks centre.

Do you mean the one by pigeon park? If you do, that takes me back, young fella. In 1983, the restaurant upstairs there was one of the smarter places in town. It's where I first encountered deep-fried camembert.

There is a Texas Lone Star in Wellington. And it sucks.

ain't that the truth. overpriced crap. ate there once and instantly regretted it. the food was either deep-fried or swimming in some mystery sauce.

hopefully the peer-pressure on mary-margaret will soon graduate to character italian bistros. :)

but to…

I'm with Tom on the Floriditas rec. And Fidel's does the best pizza in Wellington. And Rosa the best Malaysian.

The General Practioner does good slightly-ponced-up-Kiwi food, but what is a $70 a head place doing having sports TV…

Doesn't look like it'll be for kiddies though ...

They're kid friendly & no-one leaves hungry & if you can't get a table straight away there is always the bar to entertain you.

They had to close because the property is designated for road widening or something like…

And even in places that generally have good service and attitudes, when the owners or senior staff aren't present the standards can rapidly slide into indifference and rudeness.

and that's the thing. i don't ask for much when i go somewhere to purchase a service (and that's broader than just…

even in nzl-owned places here in wellington you get the same "she'll be right" attitude to service and complaints. it's lazy, haphazard, and undermines the entire industry.

And even in places that generally have good service and attitudes, when the owners or senior staff aren't present the standards can rapidly…

Apparently this is de rigeur for flash-as restaurants.

Waited for him to notice and bring us our jackets.

Had they hidden your jackets away somewhere?

Euro restaurant, last Saturday night. Bill has been paid. Great meal – good table service. Expensive but ok value. Great tartare. Stood up to leave, approximately 3 metres from the manager. Waited for him to notice and bring us our jackets. Waited some…

but...

this is not a reflection on NZ service culture .... it is the result of the unintelligent transplanting of lean production techniques.

i dunno aeh... culture is a way of being, not just of doing. even in nzl-owned places here in wellington you get…

And yeah the V8's were great – it seems a bit ironic that now Hamilton really is a place where things "happen", they seem to have changed the city's…

Our waiter was a chap in his 40s. Our wine waiter was possibly in his 50s. Both were brilliant. The ability…

Myself and partner have been to that Lonestar before (Hauraki…

One of those days, huh? he asks. I break the habit of a lifetime of amiable banter over a bar and say, levelly, "no."

Love that. ALso, how the "and fuck off & mind your own fecking business" is almost implied, but unspoken.

Nice.

patchier than a grannys quilt.

half the trouble is that all our professionals are lodged in the half-decent places, and all the remainder are students who don't give a shit. as soon as they can they're becoming the customers.

i had a similar experience a…

I'd pay fifteen bucks for that steak and feel happy. At thirty, I feel like someone's having a laugh.

Thirty bucks for a middle-market steak and chips? They're having a laff.