Cook'n With Gas - Hours & Information

We arrived to have the manager wait on us 'hand and foot'. First with a great friendly greeting, secondly to show us all the overseas beers. A great guy and a lot of fun.
The food was magnificent! And everyone of us enjoyed our chosen dish.
The decor was also great. A good conversation peice until the beverages were served!
A great nite. Would recommend the place to anyone. (Already have!) Thanks to all.

Robyn and Mike Sultan

Read more reviews HERE

Upside:
Experience exceeds even the reputation that precedes.
Downside:
The menu is so tempting, budgets are easily forgotten.

Our waiter can't be more than 14 years old. "There y'go," he says, passing me a menu, hitching his jeans. It turns out that although it's his first night wearing the waiter's apron, his babyface has, actually, seen 20 summers. Tonight he's being closely apprenticed to a more experienced Cook'N'With Gas staffer and follows behind, obligingly puppy-like.
The menu's physical form is nothing fancy _ two photocopied A4 pages in a clear plastic sleeve. But the unassuming presentation belies complexities within. And, in fact, that seems to be the modus operandi of the establishment.
The 1896 four-room villa opposite the Arts Centre that houses Cook'N'With Gas is a listed heritage building. But inside, the owners have not gone for any classy Victorian theme. Instead, the decor could be described as eclectic, chaotic, or just plain messy. The tables are covered with paper held on by bulldog clips, and many of the posters _ Steinlager, for instance _ wouldn't look out of place in a scarfie flat.
The menu's contents return us to the idea of quality. Even hot chips don't detract and when they arrive they are a taste sensation with a fantastic smoked garlic aioli ($6.50 for a generous bowl).
The other entre we can't resist is a green-lipped mussel dish for $18.50.
Six mussels are served on the half-shell surrounding a spinach-like swiss chard salad. The mussels are densely flavoured with gruyere and speck bacon and steamed in spruce beer ("Captain Cook's recipe").
Beer and brewing is an obvious interest here, then. The drinks list runs to 16 fully illustrated pages, four of which are devoted to beers from all over the globe. At a nearby table, the manager is explaining a beer's brewing method, intricacies of flavour, and even how it got its name. He is indeed the beery equivalent of a sommelier.
Knowing that the restaurant has won New Zealand Beef and Lamb awards six years running, our choices of main are simple. For $31, I get a perfectly judged fillet of beef, which sits atop a tasty garlic cheese gratin, mushrooms and a merlot jus.
My partner's lamb is the ultimate carnivore's indulgence with both carved roast and a dukka-crusted shank (also $31). It comes on a leek and rocket mash with minted peas and roasted tomatoes.
Spurred on by our clean plates and other small successes, our waiter is gaining in confidence. He comports himself well clearing the table unaccompanied and has even gained a small swagger as he heads back to the kitchen.
He gives us the thumbs-up as he hands us the dessert menus, and again whenever he passes.
We oblige by ordering more. The lemon brulee ($12.50) is a little soupy but eminently drinkable. The more senior server's recommendation of strawberry paris brest is a pastry treat with its roasted almond and caramel sauce topping and fresh fruit complement.
We leave with an appreciation of what has made Cook'N'With Gas a favourite among local foodies for five years now.
Walking back down Worcester Boulevard, we pass the open window of Rolleston Youth Hostel and our nostrils are assaulted by the unmistakable smell of two-minute noodles just off the boil. With those few short steps, we realise we've crossed a massive culinary divide. We can only recommend you journey sensibly in the other direction.

Joanna Davis

The Press March 2005

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Classical Gas. It's Hot! Hot! Hot!

This dynamic restaurant may have won countless awards: Corbans, Monteiths, Junior World Chef, NZ Beef and Lamb-Gold Plaque etc., but the kitchen pugilists down on Worcester Boulevard are NOT about to rest on their laurels.

Arrive early and work up an appetite with a martini or a glass of Deutz and a relaxing game of petanque in the well established garden before being seated in one of the colourful dining rooms. Then try their gold medal green lipped mussel dish steamed in Stella Artois, glazed under gruyere and speck bacon with swiss chard salad-succulent and multi-layered in flavour - perfect with a glass of Stella.

Peruse the extensive beverage list whilst choosing your main, perhaps the house specialty of slow roasted pork belly sliced over white bean mash and pickled roast courgette's with tomato relish, crackling, smoked pepper sauce and brassica leaves with Hoegaarden white beer. Or sip a glass of Danny Schuster's excellent pinot noir to match the grilled breast of Cherry Valley duck carved medium rare over slow roasted artichokes with green beans, spiced leg confit tart, rocket, and dark cherry jus. Magnificent.

This upbeat bistro has paper on the table and cutting edge New Zealand cuisine on the plates. A great place to impress visitors, dinner for two, or for group bookings they offer a table d'hote menu (think mid-winter Xmas do!)

The waiters are professional, dexterous and fun as they weave through the busy dining room with a flaming pan of crepes suzette steeped in Mandarine Napoleon.

Finish with a good Illy coffee, and perhaps another taste of the Mandarine Napoleon Brandy and reflect on a superb dining experience.
Kate Kennedy

(ChCh Press 2000)

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Cook'n' With Gas now have a big following amongst Canterbury food lovers, no doubt drawn by the awards picked up over the years. Right opposite the Arts Centre, the old renovated house is broken into different dining areas, the back room with its walls covered with black and white photos of famous French personalities such as Gerard Depardieu. There's also an outdoor courtyard with petanque and outdoor barbie for those summer nights. At Cook 'n' with Gas, between Monday and Saturday, you get sharp service matching in a relaxing atmosphere with good cuisine. You can enjoy Greenlipped mussels steamed in Cook's Spruce beer and glazed under gruyere and speck bacon with Swiss chard salad, or perhaps the Roasted lamb rump on rosemary and butternut gratin, parsley and pea salad and with horopito rubbed lamb shank with smoked paprika aioli. Recommended. Take $110. 23 Worcester Blvd, Christchurch,
(03) 377-9166.

(Eating Out magazine Summer 2004)

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AWARDS

Our Latest Awards

C.H.A.D.S
Canterburys most outstanding restaurant.06

N.Z Beef and Lamb Ambassador 06, 07

N.Z Beef and Lamb gold plaque.00. 01.02.03.04.05.06,07

Meadows Mushrooms - Award of excellence.
01.02.03.04.05.06,07
-Best service 04.

C.H.A.D.S-Most outstanding Maitre'D of the year.04

Monteiths Wild food challenge- Winner 01.
-Best spirit.03.04

N.Z wine list awards.03
-Highly recommended

Blues Brew and BBQ's
-Grand champions.01.02
-Best cuisine.00.01.02

N.Z Festival Chef of the Year.01
-Hokitika Wild foods

Hooked on seafood
-Best match Pinot Noir.02

Corbans wine and food challenge
-Winners.00.01

Sommelier of the year.99.00

World Junior Chef.99.

Bruce Griffiths is one of NZ’s top chefs and restaurateurs. He currently owns Cook'n’with Gas, with Kate Kennedy, on Christchurch's Worcester Boulevard, and has won numerous awards including National Chef of the Year, Beef & Lamb Ambassador, and a number of wins in the Monteith’s Wild Food Challenge, Hokitika Wildfoods festival and Corbans Wine & Food Challenges, and most recently outstanding Canterbury Maitre'D.

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