The Tasting Shed - Kumeu

What a wonderful meal. Must admit walked in and was very sceptical however the meal was perfect. I am the first one to admit I am very very fussy. I have been a chef my husband was a chef we have both owned restaurants our children are all great cooks and have 2 daughters who are chefs. So trust me when I say it was a perfect meal well worth going to

On a trip to Muriwai to see the Gannet colony, we stopped in to The Tasting Shed to get lunch on the way home. It seems to be a gem in the area and from what I could tell was the only place that wasn't a cafe/fish and chips type place or a super expensive winery restaurant. It fit nicely in the middle. That's not to say that the Tasting Shed is cheap. I'd give this place 5 stars, but I have a hard time with full plate prices for small plates. Ideally tapas restaurants shouldn't charge more than 10 for a plate, unless the ingredients are especially pricey (truffle oil, seafood, etc). 12 for a small plate of (admittedly delicious) potatoes? That seems over the top. The atmosphere and the food are very very good. We're vegetarian (though I did slip and try the market fish), so we stuck mostly to the veggie options. Everything seemed very fresh, and inventively prepared. My favorite was the pumpkin in coconut curry sauce. I could have eaten 3 plates of that myself. Unfortunately, I had to share. The asparagus was nice, but I was sad that there weren't grapefruit chunks with it as I had envisioned from the description (not really sure where the grapefruit fit in to the equation, it was not apparent). The market fish I forget what type it was was amazing. Crispy, tender, and fresh all at once with some fresh veggie side and chunks of fresh mozzarella. Very good. All the sauces were super yummy, and we found ourselves dipping the potatoes in all the sauces from our plates. If you get the bread, don't let them take the delicious olive oil away when you finish you just might want it to go with a later item. Or eat it by itself with a spoon. Not that I did that. I promise. Really. I had a fantastic glass of Stonecroft Sav Blanc, and I appreciated that they let me taste a few before I settled on that. To finish, I got the salted caramel ice cream. Salted caramel on anything is my absolute favorite, and the ice cream did not disappoint. It wasn't overly sweet (sounds weird, but ice cream can be cloyingly sweet sometimes), and the caramel flavor was perfect. The cone (homemade I assume) was also excellent. The atmosphere was awesome we sadly sat in the shed because they weren't serving the full menu outside. The shed is open to the fresh air, so you do get a nice view of the lawn. The lawn and gardens are quite lovely with orange trees, a very friendly dog wandering around. Nice festive but laid back weekend atmosphere. Highly recommend, but be ready to spend some to go home full.

I'm not usually into tapas style places, but this place is pretty good. All the things we tried were tasty Bit pricey though... There you go, done in two bullet points Well, three, sorry four...

The Tasting Shed is on my list of places to head when I have visitors from overseas looking for a bit of entertainment. Taking a group of people out of the city and into Kumeu is a great experience, particularly for city slicking yanks who haven't seen trees in this quantity outside of the movies (which are generally filmed in New Zealand anyway! Despite its rural location, The Tasting Shed can get quite bustling, especially on weekends. They may be busy but the staff are very lovely and welcoming, and very helpful when showing you the best spot to sit. The first time we went there, we were set up under some lovely trees with blankets and cartons that the restaurant uses as tables. We grabbed a whole bunch of small plates and were really happy with how they all looked sitting on our little makeshift table! Snapper, meatballs, delightful breads and oils, prawns the array of well crafted and presented food was too much to just stare at, so we downed the lot very, VERY quickly all with the help of our friend Rose.

Had a very good evening here with a group of friends. A lot more fun if the people you go with are willing to be a bit adventurous. We tried a bit of everything, and surprisingly I enjoyed the vegetarian plates more than the meat dishes. Some things were a bit on the bland side, some others slightly overwrought (and my first choice Spanish wine wasn't available, but the replacement was excellent). Dogs playing out on the grass, it was an excellent summer evening. Service good, knowledgeable, helpful. Nice for a bit of an excursion.