Corker On a Plate

It’s about a year ago that Lee and I last visited Vivo (click here for review), and it feels good to be back. We have been lured in by their Dine Wellington lunch, two courses + wine + coffee/tea for $25. It’s the warmest, most inviting wine bar in town, and stepping inside on a grey Welly day is to walk right in to a good mood – although that may have something to do with the prospect of wine at lunchtime.

There are two choices for each course, so employing our usual tactic we share a starter & dessert and order both of the mains. The Caprese salad (buffalo mozzarella, tomato, basil and capers, drizzled with oil) is passed over in favour of the arancini – deepfried balls of saffron risotto, piping hot, with a crispy shell encasing a molten blob of mozzarella, and served on a bed of rocket, shaved parmesan and truffle oil. They immediately pique my greedy streak, and as I finish my share I indulge in a little fantasy where I lie on the sofa watching The Room on DVD, popping into my gob an endless supply…

It’s risotto up next, our third this week, so we’re getting our eye in. Gorgonzola and sage in this instance, in a rendition so good I feel a rare urge to eat really slowly. I savour every mouthful. Typical of Vivo’s attention to detail, the garnish is a sprig of tiny sage leaves, fried to a crisp. The other main, fettuccine with Italian sausage and yellow capsicum in a vodka pomodoro sauce, topped with parmesan, is rustic, robust and generous of sausage.

The dessert options are tiramisu or lemon cheesecake. We go cheesecake, fondly recalling from last time a lemon filling ‘whipped into an almost blancmange-like state, so feather-light it almost floated away’. No change there, happily. If you’re a cheesecake fan, then you’ll not want to miss this one.

The wine? Well, now that you ask… the Dine menu options were excellent, of course – an Ata Rangi Sauvignon Blanc and Urlar Pinot Noir, although there are 42 pages of alternatives. It’s at about this point – after our fifth WOAP date – that we realise how many delicious wines we’ve had this week. Visa Wellington On a Plate, Wairarapa In a Glass. Vivo’s a great place to get both.