Le Almost Surprise!- Le Guillotine
Finally, I've gotten a bit of time here in New Zealand to catch up on a couple of posts :) On the Wednesday before we left for NZ, I had organised what was supposed to be a surprise Birthday dinner for Erica with her friends. Given that we'll be in NZ during her bday, I know she would really miss having the chance to celebrate it with her friends and so organised what I hoped to be a nice birthday dinner in advance for her behind her back. I picked Le Guillotine as Erica always likes Escargots as well as Foie Gras, and the place had both. I had told Erica we were going to have a dinner of Wednesday Half Price Mussels at the Belgian Beer Cafe instead.
Everything was going great guns and we were only a couple of hours away from leaving the house for dinner when Beverly, the resident genius (and by genius I actually meant blonde), messaged Erica over Skype and asked her what time she was getting to the restaurant!!! Arghhhh!!!! Erica then asked me why the hell Bev was asking her about dinner at some place she's never heard of. A list of lies ran through my head and I figured the best thing to do was just ignore her and pretend that Bev was just being crazy Bev. I then Skyped Bev and told her to tell Erica that it was a mistaken message destined for someone else. I continued rambling on and on for the next couple of hours about my mussel craving and all was right in the world.
Unfortunately some damage had been done. After picking up Viv from work, we proceeded in the opposite direction from where Erica thought we were supposed to be headed and that was when the gig was up. It didn't take much for her to put two and two together and say "Are we going to that place Bev mentioned for dinner?". Yarghhhhhhh!!!!!! Bevvvvvvvvv!!!!!!!!!
So unfortunately it wasn't really a surprise anymore. So I swore a bit, jumped up and down, and told her it was meant to be a surprise but the cat was out of the bag. I did however say that unfortuantely TL and Manu couldn't make it and it was only going to be the 5 of us so at least she got a wee bit of a surprise at seeing TL and Manu there. Ahh well.....
Le Guillotine
First things first, Erica opened the pressies from her friends. Unfortunately, I got pressies too. My birthday also strikes when we're away and I stressed to everyone that I did not want to celebrate my Bday! Especially not when I'm turning 30!!! I'm used to not celebrating my Bday and me turning 30 is something I especially did not want to celebrate! Man, it's depressing enough as it is!
So we got some fluffy Peter Alexander Slippers, a hot chocolate set thingy from Max Brenner, a set of Prada face masks or something, and the best of all, a copy of Warhammer Online! Woohoo! The last one especially rocks :) But thanks again you guys, it was all very thoughtful and much appreciated! And once again to reiterate, I said NO celebration whatsoever of me aging!! Only Erica! But I'll forgive all of you this time :)
Erica opening her fluffy Pink Peter Alexander Slippers
And me with my black ones
Are we boring you Viv?
The food at Le Guillotine wasn't too bad, though it wasn't too uber either. There was an incident of which in the scheme of things was really quite unacceptable. During our round of ordering, Viv chose the mussels only to be told that they were all out. Fair enough, so she opted for the fish special instead. After the food had come out for everyone else, she still hadn't received her main as yet. We then advised one of the wait staff that she still hadn't received her meal and off he went to check on it.
He comes back a couple of minutes later and goes "Oh I am le sorry Mademoiselle, we are all out of le fish." in a bad French accent. Okay fine, I admit I exercised liberal use of my creative license with what he actually said and in what accent he said it. But he told us they are all out of fish and that he's sorry.
Le Fuck??? That is a load of crap. Not only do you run out of fish and do nothing about it, but you wait until all the food has arrived, and then the person whom ordered the fish is made to ask wtf happened to her dinner before you bother telling her that it's nothing coming? Screw that, that's bullshit right there. When we tried to drill the waiter for it, all he could say was "I am le sorry" *creative license* again again and again. Rude bloody twat, I would have loved to rupture his pastry with my foot. That really put a downer on the night for me as the manner of which the situation was handled was so incredibly shit. I felt doubly guilty as well as Viv had just arrived back from the US that morning, and had to work all day then come out to dinner as well. She was absolutely exhausted and now had to put up with this. Faghats.....
Aside from that, the food that came wasn't too bad. The escargots weren't as good as The Little Snail I thought. No enough garlic butter on them to begin with, and especially not enough to so that you could dip bread into it. The Lobster & Prawn Crepe was pretty good though and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Beef and Foie Gras was nice, though nothing to write home about. Basically the only thing that I would have written home about would be the Crepe and the head waiter.
I had to add that the head waiter was awesome. His male pattern baldness suffering, pink shirt wearing colleague unfortunately sucks massive cawk as a waiter, but the head honcho was terrific. Wonderfully friendly, satisfyingly apologetic as we explained the situation to him before we left, and really served us with enthusiasm. It's because of him that I'd go back as it demonstrated that the shit wait was just a bad apple in an otherwise decent barrel.
Escargots
Lobster & Prawn Crepe
Chicken & Mushroom Puff Pastry Thing
Beef Fillet & Foie Gras
Trio of Dessert, with Sparklers attached
Erica and the SQUEALER!!!
Some of the Pressies
THANKS AGAIN Y'ALL!
Everything was going great guns and we were only a couple of hours away from leaving the house for dinner when Beverly, the resident genius (and by genius I actually meant blonde), messaged Erica over Skype and asked her what time she was getting to the restaurant!!! Arghhhh!!!! Erica then asked me why the hell Bev was asking her about dinner at some place she's never heard of. A list of lies ran through my head and I figured the best thing to do was just ignore her and pretend that Bev was just being crazy Bev. I then Skyped Bev and told her to tell Erica that it was a mistaken message destined for someone else. I continued rambling on and on for the next couple of hours about my mussel craving and all was right in the world.
Unfortunately some damage had been done. After picking up Viv from work, we proceeded in the opposite direction from where Erica thought we were supposed to be headed and that was when the gig was up. It didn't take much for her to put two and two together and say "Are we going to that place Bev mentioned for dinner?". Yarghhhhhhh!!!!!! Bevvvvvvvvv!!!!!!!!!
So unfortunately it wasn't really a surprise anymore. So I swore a bit, jumped up and down, and told her it was meant to be a surprise but the cat was out of the bag. I did however say that unfortuantely TL and Manu couldn't make it and it was only going to be the 5 of us so at least she got a wee bit of a surprise at seeing TL and Manu there. Ahh well.....
Le Guillotine
First things first, Erica opened the pressies from her friends. Unfortunately, I got pressies too. My birthday also strikes when we're away and I stressed to everyone that I did not want to celebrate my Bday! Especially not when I'm turning 30!!! I'm used to not celebrating my Bday and me turning 30 is something I especially did not want to celebrate! Man, it's depressing enough as it is!
So we got some fluffy Peter Alexander Slippers, a hot chocolate set thingy from Max Brenner, a set of Prada face masks or something, and the best of all, a copy of Warhammer Online! Woohoo! The last one especially rocks :) But thanks again you guys, it was all very thoughtful and much appreciated! And once again to reiterate, I said NO celebration whatsoever of me aging!! Only Erica! But I'll forgive all of you this time :)
Erica opening her fluffy Pink Peter Alexander Slippers
And me with my black ones
Are we boring you Viv?
The food at Le Guillotine wasn't too bad, though it wasn't too uber either. There was an incident of which in the scheme of things was really quite unacceptable. During our round of ordering, Viv chose the mussels only to be told that they were all out. Fair enough, so she opted for the fish special instead. After the food had come out for everyone else, she still hadn't received her main as yet. We then advised one of the wait staff that she still hadn't received her meal and off he went to check on it.
He comes back a couple of minutes later and goes "Oh I am le sorry Mademoiselle, we are all out of le fish." in a bad French accent. Okay fine, I admit I exercised liberal use of my creative license with what he actually said and in what accent he said it. But he told us they are all out of fish and that he's sorry.
Le Fuck??? That is a load of crap. Not only do you run out of fish and do nothing about it, but you wait until all the food has arrived, and then the person whom ordered the fish is made to ask wtf happened to her dinner before you bother telling her that it's nothing coming? Screw that, that's bullshit right there. When we tried to drill the waiter for it, all he could say was "I am le sorry" *creative license* again again and again. Rude bloody twat, I would have loved to rupture his pastry with my foot. That really put a downer on the night for me as the manner of which the situation was handled was so incredibly shit. I felt doubly guilty as well as Viv had just arrived back from the US that morning, and had to work all day then come out to dinner as well. She was absolutely exhausted and now had to put up with this. Faghats.....
Aside from that, the food that came wasn't too bad. The escargots weren't as good as The Little Snail I thought. No enough garlic butter on them to begin with, and especially not enough to so that you could dip bread into it. The Lobster & Prawn Crepe was pretty good though and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Beef and Foie Gras was nice, though nothing to write home about. Basically the only thing that I would have written home about would be the Crepe and the head waiter.
I had to add that the head waiter was awesome. His male pattern baldness suffering, pink shirt wearing colleague unfortunately sucks massive cawk as a waiter, but the head honcho was terrific. Wonderfully friendly, satisfyingly apologetic as we explained the situation to him before we left, and really served us with enthusiasm. It's because of him that I'd go back as it demonstrated that the shit wait was just a bad apple in an otherwise decent barrel.
Escargots
Lobster & Prawn Crepe
Chicken & Mushroom Puff Pastry Thing
Beef Fillet & Foie Gras
Trio of Dessert, with Sparklers attached
Erica and the SQUEALER!!!
Some of the Pressies
THANKS AGAIN Y'ALL!