The LINDIS LODGE (Ahiriri Valley, South Island, New Zealand) is just lovely (night#1-Jan 4, 2026)

 We headed north from Blanket Bay to arrive here virtually in the middle of nowhere down a dirt road for 30+ minutes from the main highway in the remote Ahuriri Valley of yet another part of the South Island Alpine range. The Lodge is small and compact with magnificent views from the living area/dining area and rooms (which are oddly small and not very well laid out), but the dinner was indeed delicious. We tried Blue Duck Vodka martinis, which Will liked more then the Scapegrace and the snacks were a melon topped with a super crispy lamb prosciutto and an out of this world melon gazpacho shooter with parmesan foam.

Margaux (it seems most of the staff are French) suggested a Peregrine 2017 Central Otago Pinot Noir which we immediately fell in love with for its age, gutsiness and minerality.

Dinner was simpler here starting with Confit of Heirloom Tomatoes with Courgette, a wonderful, whipped tofu (which tasted like burrata!), Passionfruit, Purple Tomato Water and shallots. It was so fresh and ideal and quite nice to have a vegetable salad as well.

The main was a Lumina Lamb Loin with charred eggplant, rainbow chard, basil and lamb just which was great with the wine and the dessert was a very rich Tartlet of Chocolate, Cherry and Pistachio (all fotos on FB) of which I loved the cherries best.

The service was superb and friendly, but there was a sliding door to a kitchen pass-through that really wrecked the nice quiet and serenity of the dining area when it was left open.

We are here for two more nights and as dinner is only available here, it is included...the closest option is almost an hour away in a nearby town of 800!!

BLANKET BAY(Glenorchy, South Island, New Zealand) day 3; a brilliant meal indeed (1-3-26)

 Our last evening at Blanket Bay was by far the best meal of all three there. We had met a wonderful couple from Brisbane and decided to eat together, and we had a ball with them.  Our cocktails went back to our standard Scapegrace Vodka Martinis and the yummy pre-dinner tuna sliders on brioche with grilled pineapple were delish.

We ordered a Cox's Vineyard 2023 from Gibbston in the nearby Central Otago Valley which Damien the fabulous sommelier recommended, and it was fabulous. Our friends, Adam & Alex ordered a Felton Road 2019 Calvert Pinot Noir also from the Central Otago wine region and it was truly a revelation as are so many of the unknown wines of this region. (Today we visited Maude Winery on the suggestion of Damien and had a brilliant tasting and ended up shipping some back to the US).

The first course was a gorgeous pair of Te Matuku North Island tempura oysters with yuzu koshu that we all reveled at. This was followed by a beautiful Burrata (that Jayden explained was formed in house by stuffing the mozzarella with ricotta), heritage tomato, compressed peach, basil puree, balsamic and last year's pickled green tomato! (all the fotos are on FB). 

The main course was a brilliantly cooked local Snapper Fillet in green onion Dashi broth with Remarkables (a local farm vendor) Fungi, Snow Peas, Edamame and Nori Powder accompanied by a deliciously crispy spring roll filled with Remarkables Fungi, Bok Choy & Green Onion.

Will & I decided to split a dessert and cheese as did Adam & Alex and we loved the Pineapple Kalamansi Roulade (which was not very pineapple-y) with vanilla sponge dipped in chocolate with fresh raspberries and blueberries, compressed cherries (these were awesome), chocolate/raspberry crumb and yoghurt sorbet. It was so refreshing it was all gone in seconds. The cheeses changed a bit with the same Pecorino as before but two new ones: Double Cream Brie and a yummy New Zealand Blue Brie.

Pistachio and Hazelnut Chocolate Biscuits (called "mendiants" in French--or "beggars") sent us off very happily as they were divine with the Scapegrace Whiskey.

What a fabulous last night here in the Southern Alps.

Blanket Bay (Glenorchy, South Island, New Zealand) night #2 is even better (1-2-26)

 When we mentioned that some of the first night's dishes were a tad overcooked, the entire staff took note, and we were laughing when they brought out the "snacks" at cocktail hour including a gorgeous Cheddar Tartelette filles with steak tartar and black garlic (Photos are all on FB)!

Since it was a tad chillier, we dined inside and had one huge dining room with a grand fireplace all to ourselves. Our servers Kat (from Wales) and Jayden (the very handsome Kiwi) were amazing again as were the sommelier Damien and Sebastien from France. I assume by tonight, we will know all the staff's names, and sadly we depart tomorrow for our next South Island resort! The bread was the same focaccia with the amazing mauka honey cultured butter. We joked with Jayden that we hope it is in our departure picnic basket tomorrow!

Just a week ago at home our fishmonger Nick had New Zealand abalone on the menu at the farmer's market, and we passed with the exorbitant price and were thrilled to see PAUA as it is called here on the menu last night sitting on a Sourdough Crumpet with Gribiche (a French tartar-like sauce) and dressed with capers and young herbs. We loved it.  Hokkaido Scallops from Japan were next and they were delish, but the dish had too many ingredients with Prosciutto, Ricotta cheese, Cherry & Nectarine, Balsamic, Palm Sugar, Mint & Basil.  Take away a couple and it would have been a huge hit.

The main course was a barely seared Yellowfin Tuna Steak with soba noodles in a spicy Thai Chilli dressing with fabulous tempura broccolini, fresh carrot slices and a yummy coconut crumb (that was not sweetened, thank goodness). It was ideal.

Dessert was a quite rich "Opera" Cake of chocolate mousse and sponge, coffee mousse and sponge, chocolate glaze, chocolate and raspberry crumb, lemon curd and coffee ice cream. A couple bites were nice, but we were full and did not even finish the one we shared.  Anzac (the WWII Australia-New Zealand alliance acronym) oatmeal biscuits with a caramel slice were chewy and went well with the ScapeGrace Whiskey made here in New Zealand.

Speaking of alcohol, I forgot to mention our wines. We bought a white and red the first night and then finished them last night:

Bliancia Uvaggio Filed Blend of Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne was a superb local blend from Hawkes Bay and the red was a superb full bodied, but not tannin filled, Mawhtipana Ridge Estate 2021 Syrah from Waiheke Island just near Auckland (where we spent the day on New Year's Eve!) So many new wines and so little time to try them!!

Blanket Bay (South Island, New Zealand) boasts a brilliant view and more (1-1-26)

 On the previous evening in Auckland our New Year's Eve dinner completely collapsed as we arrived a the restaurant we booked months ago to find out that one of New Zealand's top dining spots had totally closed and they failed to notify us!

After an unexciting tapas bar meal in our hotel we knew good food was ahead on our journey through the country this month before boarding our 61-day voyage to Japan on the 12th.

Our first stop here an hour west of Queenstown near the end of Lake Wakatipu is the Relais et Chateaux BLANKET BAY and as the sun sets here at 930pm and yesterday's weather was gorgeous we were able to dine outside overlooking the lake, the mountains and the southern fiordlands. Dinner starts at the bar with cocktails and an amuse and then we moved to our table for Coromandel or Yellowfin Tuna Tataki with melon, cucumber, avocado puree and fabulous pickled radish. The amazing Kikorangi Focaccia came with Manuka Honey cultured butter that I could have kept on eating but decided I should save my appetite.

North Canterbury Duck Breast came a little to medium for us but the tamarind glaze, curry and peanut satay sauce with chilli was super. Southland Leelands Lamb with Black Garlic (and yummy crunchy crust) was cooked sous-vide and much rarer and came with a gorgeous potato "stick" (there are some photos on FB).

Will decided to have the sweet dessert called Cromwell which was a tomato stuffed with raspberry cream and a basil/lemon sorbet as well as a dark chocolate edible stem and a very odd microwave sponge.

The cheeses were delicious and all local with Sheep Camembert, Pecorino and a very mild Oamaru Blue.

While the meal was filling and totally enjoyable, we hope that there is some room for improvement in the coming two nights, especially with the cook on the meat!

Arlington's INCA SOCIAL does up another super special and sensational meal (12-23-25)

 For several years now we have purchased the tasting menu for several people that was auctioned at March of Dimes SIGNATURE CHEFS and we returned again last night to be treated to a superb and sensational meal by Chef Mike Ciuffardi at INCA SOCIAL.

It was quiet as this is a holiday week and we were in the even quieter private dining room with the excellent Isabella from Colombia who was dream from the start as she gave us a lesson in how to prepare the PISCO MULE drink(pisco, lime, ginger beer, bitters) down to the specific type of Pisco used and for what reason. She really did a great job and deserves praise for putting up with the 8 of us as well!

After our wonderful cocktails (some of us had more than one!) chef greeted us with YUCA a la HUANCAINA, a superb fried yuca in Huancaina cream with dehydrated Peruvian Olive and we learned that the name of this superb sauce is from the town of Huancayo!  It was a tasty start to this excellent repast showing all the flavors of Peru that make this cuisine so delicious. NIKKEI CEVICHE is an homage to Japan as there is a large Japanese population in Peru. The homage is in the leche de tigre which has oyster sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil and is darker than its South American cousin. Here it was served over beautiful fresh tuna chunks with cucumber, avocado and seaweed. INCA SOCAIL really rocks when it comes to ceviche!

SUDADO PACIFICO was the fish of the day and was a beautifully grilled piece of Mahi-Mahi cooked in Ahi Amarillo sauce (spicy yellow Peruvian peppers) which is likely one of my favorite sauces on earth. Chicha de Jora is a fermented sauce that compliments the dish which also came with a Peura (Peruvian) scallop in its shell and a tasty grilled shrimp. We all loved this dish and paired it with a tasty OKO Pinot Noir from Pays d'Oc in France. 

Our main course was a huge TOMAHAWK RIBEYE (checkout the photos and videos) with Maras Salt (the salt pans in Peru's sacred valley), butter and rosemary with Anticucho-style grilled asparagus. The meat was superb, and I gnawed on the huge bone for extra fun! We switched to a Canyon Road Merlot which was nice, but the wine list could do with some upgrades here!

Many of us admitted we are not big cheesecake fans, but the CRIOLLO CHEESECAKE was an exception with chicha morada (purple corn) sauce which I can easily say was gobbled up by everyone present.

What a fun way to spend our last meal out in the USA this year before we head overseas for 3 months this weekend.

See you in New Zealand next time!

DC's MANDU has moved, but the food is still marvelous (12-13-25)

 We piled into the car last night to head to MANDU and WAZE said it was on K Street in NoMa! Well, I must have missed the move from Dupont Circle and of course, parking in that new up and coming loaded with restaurants 'hood was not easy. The five of us settled in and our excellent server Ephram took our order, and we started with a bottle of Essay Chenin Blanc from South Africa, a great white with spicy foods. Later we switched to any equally wonderful Partridge Malbec, also great with spice, which there was plenty of.

Ephram brought out a pickle platter of kimchi (the best!), pickled cucumbers, bean sprouts and seaweed, but the amazing new taste for us was the Soy pickled radish which was tangy and yet also slightly sweet and we all loved. The Sojutini did not get a rave as the mango taste seemed lacking.

Ephram suggested the Kimchi Jjigae as many of us craved a big bowl of "soup" and this dish was loaded with spicy kimchi, braised pork rib meat and delicious tofu. So amazingly filling on the eve of the impending snow and cold. Soon Doobu was also a silken tofu stew with shrimp, scallops, clams and a soft egg on top.; a winner for seafood lovers! Kimchi Bokum Bap is an immense plate of everything with your choice of toppings as well to assemble your own dish as you like. That is what is so much fun about Korean food...it is hugely varying and always filling.

We were all stuffed and waddled home before the snow even fell.

Chef Danny Lee always makes his clients happy!

DC's CHANG CHANG is still ringing in the customers! (12-11-25)

 We joined some friends at CHANG CHANG, Perter Chang's downtown DC sport that has been a huge hit since it opened. We loved it the first time, and while our take-out experience last Xmas wasn't that wonderful, our meal last night was a big hit across the board.

Sam was with us and there is a wealth of veggie options here as well and this place does tofu better than anywhere, I can recall!

We ordered the same white we had last time which was Adegas Gran Vinum Mar de Vinas Albarino 2024 which is crisp, citrusy and acidic which is ideal with those very spicy dishes! Our server Wendy made some suggestions, and they were all spot on.

Sam had his own plate of delicious veggie pan fried dumplings with a soy-chili sauce that he declared divine. he also preferred the Mexican Coke to the sweeter Kimino Yuzu Soda!

We started with Manchurian Crispy Fish Slices in a gooey but awesomely yummy citrusy sweet and sour sauce.  Shanghai Pork Dumplings are now served on a piece of paper, so they do not stick to the steamer which was a problem before. They came off easily and popped in our mouths for a soup explosion and the vinegar/ginger sauce is superb.

(Photos on FB). I love good bread but sometimes a bao bun is just too much and that was the only problem for me all night. The delicious Peking Duck Bun needed more of that savory duck with hoisin sauce and less bun. I actually discarded the top portion of my bun!

Sizzling Brussels Sprouts and Tofu was a spicy and yummy dish again with that fab tofu.

Sam ordered the Mapo Tofu for his main which was even more spicy and came in broad bean paste with soy chili and black bean sauce. The purple and white rice dishes are ideal for this dish to mop up the sauce. The veggie lo main with long wheat noodles and bok choy was just that and the tongs that came with it were useless...luckily spoons and forks abounded.

I was sad not to see my favorite dish on the menu from last time and Wendy said, have no fear, we can special order the Dry Pot Scallop and Prawn with Asparagus & Cabbage which I think was even spicier than last time loaded with dried chilis. Now we know to ask for it even though it is not on the menu! Wendy also hit the jackpot with the Iron Plate Beef Tenderloin which is wok-fried tender beef with leeks. YUM!

Dessert here is a must and a big hit with the Passion Fruit Pie made of calamansi-lime infused filling on a rice flour graham crust and black-pepper spiked meringue. 

The lines at the door for take-out never stopped for hours, so I am hoping they improved that part of the experience as we wanted to try take-out again, but last year it was painful with a 30-minute wait for a simple order which was all messed up to boot

Dine in works wonders.