Harrington's Chorizo and Black Pudding - Whooping it up at the Hop Garden

Harrington’s Chorizo and Black Pudding - Whooping it up at the Hop Garden
 

We had a family lunch at the Hop Garden bar and restaurant in Pirie St. This venue has been a variety of restaurants over the years. The latest incantation is a good one with a wide variety of craft beers and above average pub food. The restaurant was very full but my wife had cleverly ensured we had a good table by expressing concern when booking that perhaps the high bar stools wouldn’t be ideal for her over 80 year old mother… As a result we were ushered into a great table and very well cared for throughout the meal.

I ordered The Whole Hop, a mixed grill breakfast comprising of potato rosti, tomatoes, mushrooms, eggs – poached, and of course sausage. The waitress did not know the type of the sausage and black pudding, so she had to ask the kitchen. It was Harrington’s chorizo and black pudding.
 

Harrington’s Black Pudding

This looked good, however as someone who prefers the meat, or in this case the blood to be the predominant flavour, this sausage was lacking balance. The filler used in the sausage, maybe rolled oats (?) was competing with the flavour of the meat. I thought this detracted from a sausage that had the potential to be very pleasant if there was a rebalancing of the flavour with the emphasis on the meat.
 

Harrington’s Chorizo

This was served as half a sausage, cut lengthways. And to compound matters these sausages do not have great length. As a sausage aficionado, this is only a mouthful and clearly I would have preferred more. This is an average chorizo, the initial taste on the palate is meat, followed by a stronger after taste of pepper or chilli. While the after taste does linger, the strength of the heat and the after taste is not strong. It was an enjoyable mouthful of sausage, however across the range of chorizos I have reviewed, it does not rise to the heights achieved by other examples.
 

I still consider that Park Avenue Quality Meats, chorizo corriolo is the best chorizo sausage you can buy in Wellington. In our household at the moment both the boys and I consider that this is our favourite sausage. See my review.
 

I washed the meal down with a Hofbau Original. A German lager that is light and refreshing with a slight bitterness from the hops. Alcohol content 5.1%

An enjoyable lunch, nice food and great company as three generations of the family shared food, conversation and conviviality. The only thing I could have asked for was slightly more sausage to munch on….
 

Cost for The Whole Hop: $20.00 beer extra.