Moeraki Surprise, Fleurs Place. New Zealand.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
A Basket of Quince.

Sometimes fate sends you a nice little surprise. We were driving along the highway heading towards Dunedin, about 40 kilometers south of Oamaru, when I noticed a sign on the road promising a bowl of seafood chowder at the local tavern of Moeraki.  Moeraki, the tourist brochures informed me, is known for its boulders sitting on a beach: no mention of the nearby town or tavern. Stuff the boulders, I thought, just give me that soup. We detoured off the main route and pulled up at the Moeraki tavern only to find it well and truly closed. Chiuso. We knocked and banged a few times in the hope that someone might magically appear but it remained locked. Seats up. Lights out. I felt really cheated. My taste buds, alert and eager, now grieved as they slowly considered the inevitable exchange- a big bowl of fishy chowder was about to become a mundane home-made cheese sandwich in the back of the van.

Seaview from Fleurs
Seaview at Moeraki

At this point, still hoping for a loaves and fishes miracle, I peered down towards the sea and noted a rather large group of cars gathered around what looked like an industrial tin shed. It was a Wednesday and around 1.30 pm- a funeral perhaps, or maybe a fishing co-op? or a party? There were no other signs of life in this deserted holiday town.

Decor at Fleurs

We headed down a narrow one way road towards the tin shedded promontory and, lo and behold, we discovered the fabulous and very famous little restaurant, Fleur’s Place, sitting right on the edge of the sea. It was busy, mostly with young Asian travellers who were obviously in the know. I hadn’t heard about Fleurs, making the discovery all the more serendipitous.

Upstairs at Fleurs Place, Moeraki, New Zealand.
Upstairs at Fleurs Place, Moeraki, New Zealand.

On entering, I felt very much at home. The wood lined interior, which utilised recycled materials, windows and staircases and lots of quirky decor, contained an upstairs mezzanine, reminding me of my old home and those of all my friends. Old hippy houses, hand-built idiosyncratic places that I have come to miss. Then I noticed the chalked sign offering freshly caught fish daily. It was a hallelujah moment. A table for two please.

Fleur buys fish from the lpacla fisherman
Fleur buys fish from the local fisherman daily.
Fleurs Place
Fleurs Place, fishy metal sculpture above the bar.
Quirky decor at Fleurs Place
Recycled decor at Fleurs Place

We chose an inside table- the last one available, although the upstairs section, with its few tables looking out to sea, was also very inviting.

Fleurs Place
Fleurs Place, stairway to the mezzanine dining area.

We shared a platter consisting of a generous serve of smoked eel pâté, some smoked salmon slices, a beetroot chutney, croutons and assorted gherkins and caperberries. It was very good indeed.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
A generous serve of chowder at Fleur’s Place.

We followed this with seafood chowder. It was not the chowder of my imagining, but rather one made from a rich tomato and  home- made fish stock. Studded with local clams, mussels, fish chunks and scallops, it was a generous bowl and came with plenty of bread.

An empty bowl of chowder, Fleurs Place, Moeraki.
An empty bowl of chowder, Fleurs Place, Moeraki.

There were some lovely desserts on offer, including slow poached quinces, but we were ready to hit the road again. It was only much later that I found out a little more about Fleur and her life as a chef at Oliver’s Restaurant in Clyde, Central Otago, as well as the comments by Rick Stein. I recommend this place highly although beware, most main course fish dishes are costly, around NZ $40 or so, but then the sizing is generous. Fresh fish includes blue cod, John Dory, moki, blue nose, gurnard, sole, flounder, groper, and crayfish. Regional organic growers supply most of the other ingredients, including unique New Zealand vegetable varieties and the wines come from Central Otago.

Outside area, Fleurs
From a window in Fleurs
Entry to Fleurs
Seafood and view
Rustic furniture, Fleurs
The bay near Fleurs

You can find out more about Fleur’s restaurant here

http://media.newzealand.com/en/story-ideas/new-zealand-chef-fleur-sullivan/

and I highly recommend this fascinating interview, which includes a wonderful story about the whales visiting again. 

http://www.dumbofeather.com/conversation/fleur-sullivan-is-a-restauranteur/

40 thoughts on “Moeraki Surprise, Fleurs Place. New Zealand.”

  2. The photos do remind me of your old house.
    What a discovery – seafood soup and bread and a view – way to go 🙂

    Like

    Reply

    1. Wow, born in Clyde! What a beautiful town. We stayed in Cromwell and spent days in Central Otago. I have posts coming on that district as it was such a knockout but I am struggling with the words as the beauty was so overpowering.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  13. What an amazing story – fascinating life and terrific ideals: she’s such a dynamo! Lovely photos, Francesca – I should love to go there.

    Like

    Reply

Now over to you.

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.