Armazem Restaurante & Bar
305 Maunganui Rd (Rata St roundabout), Mount Maunganui
7 days from 10.30am until late
Ph: (07) 574 7773
info@armazem.co.nz
I was there when Armazem at the Mount first opened, I think it was about five years ago, and it's been one of my favourite local restaurants ever since.
The reasons I like it so much is that it is unpretentious, the atmosphere is great, and the hospitality shown by Alex and the team is second to none. I also like that the prices are so reasonable. The most expensive thing on the menu is File Maracana ($29) which is a 250g sirloin steak.
Armazem has just launched a new menu so, of course, I had to go and try it out. The first thing I noticed is that there were a lot more choices than before. Some of the old favourites, like Chicken Hearts and PF, which the menu says is Brazil's most famous and most popular dish, are still available. I'm not a beans-and-rice kind of girl and the thought of eating chicken hearts puts me off, but I'm sure it will be great for those more so inclined.
I brought along a friend and my children, who adore Alex, and it was a balmy evening so we took a seat at one of the wooden tables outside. The kids were given colouring-in placemats and a cute little bag of pencils. They sure had fun with that.
As a starter we shared a Brazilian-style garlic bread ($7) and Calabresa Acebolada ($13.50), spiced and sliced Brazilian sausage served with sauteed onions. Thoroughly enjoyable.
My friend chose Frango Stroganoff ($24) as her main course, which has chicken and a fabulous sauce. I had a real hard time choosing as there are so many choices now. I settled for the Armazem Chicken Salad ($17.50) as it consisted of marinated Cajun chicken on a gourmet salad with crispy kumara and what I wanted to try more than anything, homemade passionfruit mayo.
My son is 10 and a big eater, so he went for an adult meal, the fish burger ($13.50), which was one of several daily specials. He ate almost all of it, and it was an impressive portion. My other boy, who's a little younger, was pleased to see that the pizza ($8.50) hadn't disappeared from the kids' menu. They insisted on dessert, too, so the little man had a kids' sundae ($4.50) and the big guy a banana frita ($8.50).
Armazem is a great place to take children. It's very family-friendly. Every Sunday, it's Big Family Day Out from 3pm onwards. There are lots of weekly specials and events at Armazem, with plenty of live music.
If we didn't have to drive home with the little guys and had left it until a little later, my friend and I would have probably tried some of the dangerous-looking cocktails (all $12) that we spotted on the drinks list. The Ypioca Prata Cachace looked especially exciting but I'm not sure I could actually handle it. Apparently, Cachaca is considered a national drink by Brazilians who consume an astonishing two billion litres of it a year. Alex told us it is made with moonshine.
There's not much better than a Brazilian-style party, but we better save that for our next visit.