Lunch at Bluebiyou

BLUEBIYOU

Cuisine: New Zealand

Address: 559 Papamoa Beach Road, Papamoa

Phone: 07 5722099

Website

Drinks: fully licensed 

Reservations: recommended

 

It seems like Bluebiyou in Papamoa has been around forever. It has been through many iterations though I think it was first started by Jo and Penny who now have The White House in Te Puna. Or perhaps they're just the first people I remember. It has had several owners since then.

 

Luigi from Volare, which has recently reopened in the Tauranga CBD, was there a couple of years ago. I don't know who's currently in charge but the place is light and breezy, the view spectacular and the food very pleasant. Sit sipping a glass of wine and looking out over the Papamoa Domain and the sea on a sunny day - as a group of us did at lunchtime last week - and you will feel everything is okay in the world.

 

 

The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner six days a week, and also does a brisk trade in functions so it is a big a well-organised operation. 

 

We were there for a work lunch and the place was about half full. I imagine this will change over summer. This is one place you will certainly need bookings for as I suspect every visiting holiday-maker will flock through the doors.

 

BTW, I should apologise in advance (as I so often seem to do in these reviews): we didn't eat a huge variety of food so this isn't a very comprehensive report. And once again I was a bit negligent with the photos. We started with a couple of plates of...

 

Olives & Bread (V) $12
marinated mixed olives, grilled sourdough, whipped brown butter    

...and I wish I'd photographed them because they were damn fine plates of bread. Best of all though was the butter. I'm guessing it was regular butter with some "brown" butter ("burnt" butter, whatever you call it) whipped back in. What a brilliant simple idea. I will be doing this every time guests visit from now on - it was delicious!

OK. I said we didn't eat a great variety of food. Two dishes in fact. Everyone either had the fish of the day, which was snapper, or the pork. To be precise:

Fish of the Day (GF) $34
pan-fried market fish, caper & citrus emulsion, tomato, cucumber & feta salad, duck fat chips

 

Pork & Scallops (GF) $36
braised pork belly, sweet soy glaze, pan-fried scallops, fondant potatoes, carrot anise puree, pickled fennel

And both were very good. I had the pork and it was tender and tasty with a really well-made carrot puree. The only miss was the two scallops, both pretty much raw, which some people might enjoy in their molluscs but not me. The fish was reportedly excellent (everyone certainly ate it all!) and I like the presentation with skin still on. The duck fat chips were also very popular.

 

To accompany we had a bottle or two of The Winemaker's Wife Pinot Gris 2020 ($58) from Waipara, which was beautifully balanced and fruity with good acidity. I believe it has won gold medals; an excellent lunch wine.

 

There we go. I don't feel like I've got a lot to say here: the food was fine, good solid middle of the road tucker with the occasional modern touch, and the service was friendly and efficient. I suspect it is pitched pretty perfectly for the Kiwi diner. It's actually not dissimilar in style to The White House, a fitting coincidence given Jo and Penny had Bluebiyou all those years ago. But the food here does come served with an amazing view!