Celebrating a birthday

My birthday is at the beginning of the year, and for some reason that time of year does not seem to be a popular time to have babies because very few of my friends have a birthday at that time. The result as a child was that while all the other kids had birthday parties I did not because everyone was away enjoying the sun with their parents.  Now this event is celebrated with either someone special or with friends and family.  This year it was mixture.  My sister and her husband celebrated with me the day before because Bev and I were going out for dinner to a well-reviewed restaurant called The Ortega Fish Shack.  

Food and wine are one of my many passions so eating at a very good restaurant is a treat particularly if I can take one of my aged wines.  

Bev had booked a month in advance as the last time we tried to go for Bev’s birthday it had been fully booked.  This time Bev was making sure.  A day beforehand she confirmed and asked if we could take a bottle Grand Puy Lacoste 1996, a fifth growth Bordeaux wine from Paulliac.  I figured it might be ready to drink and what better occasion to drink it. Their response was yes but there would be a corkage fee  which we were very happy to pay.

We arrived at a little after 7pm and were shown to one of the best seats in the restaurant next to the window so that when not distracted by the food or each other we could watch the street life.  After we were seated we were asked if we would like a glass of bubbly to which we both replied yes (much to our delight and surprise this was complimentary as we discovered later).  

The meal was delicious.  The wine was stunning and has to be one of the best red wines I have had.  Despite being nearly twenty years old it was still perfumed and Bev said she could have smelled it all night it was so good.  I find it hard to describe the bouquet (as they say in wine circles) but I will give it a go; there was a hint of violets, maybe some cassis, and an indescribable smell that spoke of age.  The palate or taste was ethereal; it was both soft and long with an aftertaste that lingered for a long time after I had swallowed it.  I could have drunk two bottles of it but one was enough and we lingered over it savouring every drop which was probably best way to have it.  

Remarkably the wine complemented the  main course where the flavours were sufficiently powerful enough to cope with the weight of the red wine. The menu is mainly fish as the name of the restaurant would suggest.  There is a lovely story in the front of the menu of where they got the name from. 

We started with an entrée beautifully done prawns (nod to the Kiwi/Aussie) which we shared.  For mains we both had fish, mine was pan fried Alfonsino with mash, spinach and walnuts.  It was really good somewhat like blue cod but able to take stronger flavours.  Bev had roaster snapper with kumera ginger mash and blue vein risotto.  It was something I thought would go with fish but it did very well.  As noted above the wine complemented it all very well.

We finished our meal by having a glass of dessert wine to accompany our dessert. 

The service was brilliant understated and slightly informal but perfect.  

 It was a memorable meal to finish what had been a very nice day of people contacting me to wish me a happy birthday.