Nopi Night & Day
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| Clean, Crisp White & Antique Gold |
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| Apron Attendant |
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| Golden Brass Table Skirting |
Bringing The Goody Bag Straight To Your Table
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| The little round golden circle |
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| The Interior Hub At Dusk |
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| Flowering Bloom |
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| The beautiful Extra White Beer |
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| Minimal but perfectly formed |
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| Spiced Gurnard wrapped in banana leaf, pineapple sambal |
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| Some sort of Crazy delicious |
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| Caramel and roasted peanut ice cream, mini tub of chocolate sauce |
#16 Sweet Sixteen
Small And Perfectly Formed
When our fun loving friends Deb + Nico took us out to 'New Flavour' halfway down Dominion road in Auckland, we knew their taste buds were more than halfway polished.
The Mutton Birds - Halfway Down Dominion Road
The Mutton Birds - Halfway Down Dominion Road
So confident where we, of their on-the-pulse recommendations, when they suggested we check out Otollenghi's NOPI - when back in London time - we made a beeline for Yotam's hive.
Far out. What a cosseting, elegant, welcome-back into London's urban plateau, Nopi provided; with a sense of refined tranquility, sheltered from the hurly burly central hub district of the "big smoke". Inside the cleverly pitched interior, with pristine white painted brick and tiled walls, spacious opaque marble flooring, minimal art and pendulant golden-glow brass fixtures, it converged to feel like a modernists backdrop of Versailles. The golden circle brand insignia is a clever touch and pops up in various subtle guises.
Sitting up at the stunning bar counter was a treat for the senses and the bar service was just as it should be, intuitively knowing when to butt in and when to pour. We sampled a delicious extra white beer, 'Vedett' with slice of lemon and to follow a dreamy bottle of aromatic French mountain alps wine from the cellar.
The venue is well represented with all levels of entendant staff eager to please and fulfil the essence of going out for dinner. The menu changes frequently as validated by the lovely printed press style dinner menu card, each one updated daily. The Nopi cuisine is a sort of high brow intellectual tapas touching on Moroccan, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Asian influences. It tastes and looks particularly brilliant.... in a how do they think up these innovative ideas, kind of way.
The plates arrive intermittently with just the right level of frequency. Conversation flows easily with the savvy waiters. A plate of Cauliflower, chilli and coconut fritters with lime yoghurt, knocked knees with Golden and red beet, quince and caramelised macadamias. Spiced gurnard wrapped in banana leaf, pineapple sambal could have washed up tidal alongside the Seared prawns , tomato butter, fennel, olives and Pernod. Baloo would have a field day feeding these bear necessities to the man-cub Mowgli.
Seared lamb cannon, celeriac and barberry salad, with green chilli sauce was served fresh on the heels of Pork belly, caramelised Nashi pear, grape mustard jus. Nopi informally recommends 3 dishes per person and you certainly will feel embarrassingly stuffed on 'crazy delicious' if you are happy to oblige. For pud we shared a Caramel, and Roasted Peanut Ice Cream with Tub of Chocolate Sauce. With a description like that, there is no need to dither on about how good it was. Just a contented nod is sufficient. Especially when accompanied by a glass of dessert wine from Chateau du Levant, Sauternes. Perfect....
Award winning food is all about the ambience, taste, texture, smell and aesthetic presentation. Nopi covers all the bases and is somewhere you really do want to go back to. It's price point sets it out - for most of the crowd - as an occasional treat dinner and even if you gulp, it is worth every penny.
If your not staying in to play Jenga, pop down to Nopi, you won't be disappointed.
