Sevanti

Tucked away in the suburb of Burnside, is the up and coming restaurant, Sevanti.  With change of owneship in November 2009, the restaurant has been receiving good reviews.

Two friends and I decided to go to Sevanti for dinner to see for ourselves.  There were many tasty options on the menu, but our stomach can only hold so much.  We ended up sharing 2 entrees, had our own mains, then shared one dessert.

The decor of the restaurant has also been redone since the ownership change.  It was chic and modern with plenty of light.  I could imagine this being a nice spot for brunch or lunch.




Entree


Grilled scallops on pea puree with petite salad

 I love scallops.  This dish was a great entree.  Scallops was nicely grilled and sat on a bed of mushy pea puree.  The salad was coated with a sweet vinegarette dressing.  A refreshing start to the meal.



Creamy white wine garlic mussels with toasted ciabata bread

 The creamy white garlic sauce was heavenly and went well with the mussels.  We were all trying to get as much sauce on our mussels as we could.  The ciabata bread was great for soaking up the sauce.  One of us was even tempted to drink the leftover sauce!

Main

There were several choices for mains on the menu, and many of them sounded delicious.  However, we had heard good things about the steak, in fact, the restaurant itself had claimed to have one of the best steak in Christchurch.



Beef fillet on crispy potato rosti with roast vegitables and red wine jus

 My beef fillet was tender and juicy, with a melt-in-the mouth consistency.  The potato rosti was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, like a gourmet version of steak and chips.  The roast vegitables were cooked well with the nature sweetness of the vegitables coming through.  The red wine jus was perfect for the dish.  The only complaint was that our steak had all came out medium rare even though we ordered rare.  However despite that, the steak was still tender, and actually less chewy than the Schwass version.


Beef ribeye with thyme roasted potatoes, caramelised onion, cherry tomatoes and red wine garlic jus

 My friend ordered the ribeye and was equally impressed with the dish.

Dessert



Vanilla bean creme brulee and ice cream with berry compote

 Once again, our stomach had failed us.  We were too full to have a dessert each, so decided to share the creme brulee.  The vanilla bean creme brulee was nice but quite rich and tasted more like egg custard.  The ice cream with white chocolate chip went well with the mixed berry compote and was refreshing at the end of the meal.

Overall, we were very impressed with our meal and thought it was even comparable to Schwass, with more variety of interesting dishes.  We will have to come back another time to try the other mains and also to try their brunch/lunch menu during the day.

Sevanti is featured in the Christchurch Entertainment Book, with buy 1 main and get 1 free (up to $35).  After the Entertainment Book discount, our meal ended up costing $40 each, which was quite a bargain.

Update:  Sevanti is no longer featured in the latest Christchurch Entertainment Book 2011/2012.


Sevanti
70 Kendal Ave, Burnside, Christchurch
(03) 3588 810
http://www.sevantis.co.nz/
Open Tuesday - Sunday for Brunch, Lunch, & Dinner