Strawberry Fare, Christchurch

Strawberry Fare, Christchurch
Monday February 11

Today we went on a winery tour through the Waipara Valley, starting at the new Mud House (south), a big Napa-style place where we tasted wines accompanied by a lunch of hors d'oeuvres; then to Torlesse, where the winemaker, Kym Rayner, apparently wanted us to sample right through all his available stock; on to Waipara Springs, a quiet place with a pleasant garden; and finally to our favorite, Pegasus Bay, with its fabulous wines matched by beautiful gardens and elegant, quirky decor. It started raining there, and what was pleasant mist in those gardens became a downpour in Christchurch.

When it's raining and mucky and you're a little sloshy from tasting wine all day, dinner should not be too complicated. So we stopped at Strawberry Fare, a place we had walked past on the first day we arrived because Lonely Planet touted its desserts, and we thought it was a dessert place only. (Okay, we misread.) Now it was open and warm and busy on a rainy Monday night, and what's more it was only a block from where we were staying.

Though we'd had four or five tastes at each winery (eight at Torlesse, including an amazing port) and we don't spit, we still had room for a bottle of Mud House (the original Marlborough, not Waipara) Chardonnay 2007. But we ate pretty lightly. There was a "Salade Niçoise" - no lettuce, but a couple of well-marinated and grilled fresh tuna slices piled on top of green beans, little potatoes, tomatoes, olives and onions. Also a duck leg confit in a dark sauce redolent of five-spice, with a potato gallette and a very tasty spiced plum. A little side salad was dressed with sweet rice vinegar to continue the Asian theme.

We watched the desserts go past, and they looked truly magnificent: elaborately composed, of various luscious ingredients, on big presentation plates. Maybe next time we're in Christchurch.