My flatmate Harriet set this one up - a friend of her and her boyfriend James called Matt who plays cricket, studies Spanish and cooks in a rather popular cafe for a living. We’d met before and most definitely had food in common, so to the pinnacle of dining in Wellington it was for date #17 - the Fawn and Fungi Burger at Logan Brown.  

The evening was great and I didn’t take notes, so impressions of this date can be summed up as follows:

1. Wellington is small

I met Matt for a drink at Matterhorn, and we ran into Steve and Sam. It was funny because on me and Steve’s date a few nights earlier, we also met at Matterhorn where we ran into Ryan, who I was dating the next day. Ryan was with Alice, who is Steve’s friend, and was also with Beth, who is a good friend of Heath’s. The smallness of Wellington, nay the world, was reiterated when we wandered up Cuba St to Logan Brown and were seated at our table by the lovely Rahana, who pointed out that she is friend’s with my friend’s friends. Of course! The smallness again was reinforced when all of a sudden at dinner we were…

2. Celebrity Spotting

Dates are fun, but there’s definitely an added element of excitement if you’re in a beautiful building in the company of Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr. I’d tweeted Miranda asking if I could take her hubby out for a burger date, to no avail. But here I was on this date, and we had a direct view from our table. Orlando is in town filming alongside my mates Jimmy and Stephen, although we all know Stephen isn’t actually my mate because of that time he stood me up on my birthday. I’ll forgive Matt for being slightly star-struck; I think at one point when it was noted how beautiful Miranda was, I retorted “oh she’s alright!” I think he was slightly more star-struck by the baby faced Mr Bloom though, which was cute. Orlando and Miranda looked like they were enjoying themselves, as were we. Why?

3. The Food

Logan Brown obviously has quite the reputation, having won all sorts of awards, and seeing the rise to success of it’s owners. I once read a review which described it as the pinnacle of dining in New Zealand. We began with an amuse bouche of scordalia and witloof with candied walnuts and balsamic. It was just perfect. The burger sounded quite a bit like the Tasting Room’s, being venison and including a whole mushroom. What I was pretty excited by, but which I was at the same time dreading (this being the end and all) were the wagyu fat potato chunks. Completely indulgent, they were incredible. The burger also was just delicious. It was a venison patty, with the whole mushroom, cheese, rocket and sour cherry relish. It was simple, it was pick-up-able, it was soft, fresh, and amazing. It was matched with a beer, so we indulged, and it was a rich and dark and raisiny number from Blenheim brewing company 8Wired. I’d actually eaten at Logan Brown before on a date that could now safely be lumped in the category known as…

4. Dating Disasters

Matt couldn’t recall any in particular, but had one memory of being in a beautiful restaurant with delicious food and an expensive bottle of wine; neither of which went down well because of his date’s unstoppable tears. I could relate, having cried at beautiful restaurants before but noted the one other time I’d gone to Logan Brown I at least saved my tears for the car ride home. Sometimes you just can’t help it! There were no tears on this date, although I was nearly blinded by Miranda’s shiny diamond when we moved from our table up to the bar, where we really took to…

5. Settling in

…which we did with red wine, lots of laughing and some great conversation, which to be honest, I’d come to expect from this dating experiment. We moved from Martinborough to Central Otago with a bottle of Rippon Pinot Noir, having already dealt to a bottle of Porter’s Estate. We were very well looked after, and we both enjoyed chatting with the staff and poring over the degustation menu, which was taking place around us. We were brought a wee treat for dessert in the form of some rather lush chocolate truffles and got chummy with the barman while checking out the fish.

And so this dating escapade ended with someone who likes food as much as me in one of the country’s top restaurants with a delicious delicious glass of wine - rather apt don’t you think?

The Vital Stats:

Just really bloody good - 9/10  

Thanks to the staff at Logan Brown for being wonderful hosts for date #17. What a way to finish!