It’s widely known that The Ambeli in Mt Victoria serves up
fantastic food, fantastic wine and fantastic service in equal measures. What is
not so widely known is that they also serve up a range of beer that represents
the cream of New Zealand
craft brewing and are constantly thinking about ways in which those beers can
work with the food they produce.
I was recently lucky enough to spend an
afternoon sampling the new lunch menu and exploring the ways in which The
Ambeli beer list could work with it. The Ambeli list runs to an impressive 19
beers across 17 styles helping to provide a beer match for every dish on the
menu.
The menu at The Ambeli blends owners Shae
Moleta and Elisavet George’s Greek Cypriot and Italian culinary traditions
creating seamless modern pan Mediterranean cuisine cooked to a fine dining
standard but charged at neighbourhood restaurant prices.
On my visit we tried charcuterie, chilled
almond soup, and smoked paprika ceviche with warm marinated olives accompanied
by a glass of the extravagantly hopped 8 Wired Hopwired IPA. The grapefruit
laced hop bite of the IPA cut through the fat of the fennel sausage while the
tropical fruit notes of the beer gave the cerviche a burst of zesty freshness. We also sampled battered Medjool Date, Cumin
Goats Cheese & pickled orange salad accompanied by a glass of Mussel Inn
Captain Cooker. The complex Turkish delight notes of the manuka spiced beer
found a perfect companion in the pickled orange salad while it served to cut
through the richness of the date and goats cheese. Sherry braised free range pork belly, roasted
pear and fennel salad was matched with a glass of Three Boys Wheat. The lemony
coriander seed notes in the beer cut through the richness of the pork while the
fruit character of the beer found a companion in the pear and fennel salad. Finally
sauteed prawns feta risotto and lemon sauce found a companion in Emerson’s Weiss beer where the orchid fruit
and clove notes of the beer complimented the lemon sauce and the spritzy
carbonation helped to cut through the rich risotto.
The standard of beer on offer in Wellington restaurants is
constantly improving and The Ambeli stands as cast iron proof of the fact!
Cheers
Kieran
Haslett-Moore