JJ Murphy & Co., Te Aro (5th November 2010)
Oh, the weather doesn’t look so sunny anymore…It has been a brilliant day today, warm and sunny but in the last 15 minutes, the weather has taken a change just as predicted by MetService – will the Pelorus Trust Sky Show still be on tonight? It would be the first time in 16 years that the fireworks was NOT held on Guy Fawkes day! When I left work to catch up with James for a drink around 5.30pm, the Wellington City Council were still in discussion whether the fireworks display would go on or not at 9pm tonight – the weather was supposed to turn wet and gusty but Saturday’s weather forecast is much worse! I hope the weather will hold up for the fireworks…
James and I ended up at JJ Murphy & Co. for a drink sitting at a huge barrel table outside just by the main entrance to the pub. On a nice day, JJ’s is a great place to hang out for a drink in the sun and watch people walk pass, some rather interesting characters at times. There was a group of punk Goths drinking at another table, dressed in their dark coloured clothing and covered with piercings with their leader (I assumed he’s the leader because he was bigger in size and behaved as if he carried more weight, not just in body mass, than the rest of the gang) making outrageously loud and long burps on purpose. Not sure to think it was funny or disgusting, perhaps a bit of both. Brr, I can feel the cold breeze and checking the Wotzon website on my phone, there still hasn’t been any update on the outcome of the council’s discussion :(
Jono came to join us and around 6.30pm, James headed off home while Jono and I headed indoors for dinner. We found ourselves a cosy empty booth (cool, I’ve never sat in the booths at JJ’s before!) and ordered our meals and drinks. I love the pub steak at JJ’s – they are the best I’ve had in town so far. Hmm, steak…I’m hungry… Coincidentally, I was here last year for a steak meal too on Guy Fawkes – can’t help it, I have my steak cravings :P
Ok…the steak is NOT what I remembered it to be…I had the JJ Murphy’s Grand Steak, 300g Sirlion Steak grilled to your liking served on a sizzle plate with a choice of mushrooms and a tasty red wine jus or Peppered Murphy’s gravy. I requested for medium rare and the Peppered Murphy’s gravy but what I ended up getting was a steak that was topped with a layer of pepper and mustard seeds, cooked more medium than rare and no mushrooms of any kind with the Peppered Murphy’s gravy served in a small gravy jug with my sides of coleslaw and potatoes. For the cost of $29.50, I was utterly disappointed – I couldn’t taste the steak itself as it was totally infused by the layer of pepper and mustard, and I had been looking forward to a good tasty steak the whole day! Why put the layer of pepper and mustard?! They never had it before! Sigh, I now have to find myself a new steak place in town :/ At least Jono’s Murphy’s Lamb shanks (braised lamb shank with roasted vegetables, served with mash and gravy) which cost the same tasted yummy. Argh, I can’t believe this – do you know how difficult it is for me to find a steak place that serves steak to my liking?
Still no update on the fireworks so we headed over to Jono’s office to grab his bag and then to my office to collect my mine. It had stopped raining and the town was busy with crowds hurrying towards the waterfront, a sign that the fireworks display is likely to be on. We ended up staying in at my office, having our coffees (Jono was showing me his barista skills on the office coffee machine) and watching the beautiful fireworks display from my colleague Helen’s desk (her desk had the clearest view of the harbour). This year’s firework display was 12-minutes long, shorter than the usual 15-minute show but condensed with busier display. An amazing fireworks display with lots more used of gold colours this year. I’m glad we did stick around in town to see the fireworks, the first time Jono and I watched the Guy Fawkes fireworks together :)
Time to brave the wind and rain for home!
James and I ended up at JJ Murphy & Co. for a drink sitting at a huge barrel table outside just by the main entrance to the pub. On a nice day, JJ’s is a great place to hang out for a drink in the sun and watch people walk pass, some rather interesting characters at times. There was a group of punk Goths drinking at another table, dressed in their dark coloured clothing and covered with piercings with their leader (I assumed he’s the leader because he was bigger in size and behaved as if he carried more weight, not just in body mass, than the rest of the gang) making outrageously loud and long burps on purpose. Not sure to think it was funny or disgusting, perhaps a bit of both. Brr, I can feel the cold breeze and checking the Wotzon website on my phone, there still hasn’t been any update on the outcome of the council’s discussion :(
Jono came to join us and around 6.30pm, James headed off home while Jono and I headed indoors for dinner. We found ourselves a cosy empty booth (cool, I’ve never sat in the booths at JJ’s before!) and ordered our meals and drinks. I love the pub steak at JJ’s – they are the best I’ve had in town so far. Hmm, steak…I’m hungry… Coincidentally, I was here last year for a steak meal too on Guy Fawkes – can’t help it, I have my steak cravings :P
Ok…the steak is NOT what I remembered it to be…I had the JJ Murphy’s Grand Steak, 300g Sirlion Steak grilled to your liking served on a sizzle plate with a choice of mushrooms and a tasty red wine jus or Peppered Murphy’s gravy. I requested for medium rare and the Peppered Murphy’s gravy but what I ended up getting was a steak that was topped with a layer of pepper and mustard seeds, cooked more medium than rare and no mushrooms of any kind with the Peppered Murphy’s gravy served in a small gravy jug with my sides of coleslaw and potatoes. For the cost of $29.50, I was utterly disappointed – I couldn’t taste the steak itself as it was totally infused by the layer of pepper and mustard, and I had been looking forward to a good tasty steak the whole day! Why put the layer of pepper and mustard?! They never had it before! Sigh, I now have to find myself a new steak place in town :/ At least Jono’s Murphy’s Lamb shanks (braised lamb shank with roasted vegetables, served with mash and gravy) which cost the same tasted yummy. Argh, I can’t believe this – do you know how difficult it is for me to find a steak place that serves steak to my liking?
Still no update on the fireworks so we headed over to Jono’s office to grab his bag and then to my office to collect my mine. It had stopped raining and the town was busy with crowds hurrying towards the waterfront, a sign that the fireworks display is likely to be on. We ended up staying in at my office, having our coffees (Jono was showing me his barista skills on the office coffee machine) and watching the beautiful fireworks display from my colleague Helen’s desk (her desk had the clearest view of the harbour). This year’s firework display was 12-minutes long, shorter than the usual 15-minute show but condensed with busier display. An amazing fireworks display with lots more used of gold colours this year. I’m glad we did stick around in town to see the fireworks, the first time Jono and I watched the Guy Fawkes fireworks together :)
Time to brave the wind and rain for home!
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