Aubergine

By EWAN McDONALD for viva

"Did you know that Fergie and Andrew met over profiteroles?" asked Robyn as we looked over the dessert menu. Aaah, well, no, despite my years working for women's magazines, where that sort of information is as crucial as being able to calculate the exchange rate for Venezuelan bolivares when you're editing the business pages. That was one nugget that passed me by.

Besides, I understood that when Fergie felt like nibbles she didn't necessarily choose from the menu.

Enough gossip. You're here for the restaurant news, and here's a restaurant that was in the news within days of opening last month. Armed robbers bound and gagged the night staff, then made off with the week's takings from the safe. Every new restaurant likes to make headlines but those aren't the ones recommended in most business plans.

The name Aubergine may ring a bell. This is the little brother of the three-year-old eatery of the same name in Takapuna's Restaurant Row. It's under the same ownership, Basil Malik and his business partner Riadh Al Sayed. Malik owned a cafe in Takapuna before getting into the bigger game with Al Sayed, who owns a number of restaurants around the world, cosmopolitan enterprises including a Blue Hawaii in London and a Lebanese and an Indian restaurant in Jordan.

They have taken over the site in a busy suburban shopping centre that was home to the New City Bistro, first in the former chain that once included the bistro, neighbouring cafe, brewery-tavern and the fun'n'funky Chop House around the corner. Manager is one-time banker Scott Edwards; executive chef Jean-Philippe Kerstenne trained and worked in top French and London hotel chains.

They've brought the Takapuna menu 12 minutes north of the bridge and added five gourmet pizzas.

So, when we sat down with John and Robyn on a chilly Sunday evening, we were offered mostly seafood entrees, pastas, and the usual suspects: steak several ways, rack of lamb and chicken.

When I mention the courtyard, entering through the bar, and the booth seats, you'd get a picture of a Kiwi suburban restaurant from anytime in the past 15 years, and you'd be right. But most of those kitchens wouldn't have offered falafel, hummus, babaghanuj, tzatziki and Mediterranean flatbreads or an ostrich fantasia in a juniper and blueberry sauce, though they might have stretched to the duck a l'orange on a special occasion, probably around May 1.

A bottle of Te Awa Farm's Longlands cab-merlot to keep out the chill (the wine list echoes the menu: it's straightforward, reasonably priced, with a couple of surprises like the hand-harvested Te Motu cab-merlot from Waiheke) and listened as an eager-to-please waitchild name-checked a couple of specials.

Here's a high mark for Aubergine's staff and atmosphere. Both are warm, unlike the slow and cool service we'd received at a Viaduct cafe earlier in the day. It may have had something to do with the wind-chill factor being several points below zero, but has anyone else noticed how standards have slipped away with the America's Cup?

John and Robyn are, however, the kind of people who it's impossible not to have a good time with, even under extreme provocation, so we were quite happy with straightforward choices: steak monte carlo - a scotch fillet with a brandy, peppercorns, cream and herb sauce - for three, and the rack of lamb (the chef's signature dish) for me.

Happy until the meals arrived. The signature on the lamb was a blue cheese and walnut crust, which was too crumbly, so I didn't need to taste it to know there was a distinct lack of blue cheese to bind it. With it, a dry and lumpy mash and a brown sauce that was not far removed from the one around the steaks, minus the brandy and friends.

Despite the restaurant's name, there's not an aubergine in sight. Vegetables are steamed winter basics: carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and green beans. Pedestrian. It is, said John, who lives in Taranaki and is therefore far enough away to quote safely, rather like a flashed-up Cobb & Co.

Despite Robyn's concerns about the aphrodisiac qualities of profiteroles, desserts were the best part of this meal, with some individual icecream flavours and sorbets winning the popular vote.

Looking back, Aubergine shows how New Zealand restaurants have developed over the past decade. It is an eatery for the residents of its surrounding subdivisions and, judging from the crew rolling in and out, it serves them well.

Go there expecting to revisit an earlier era in New Zealand hospitality, not a fashion statement in decor or cuisine.

Open: Lunch, dinner Mon-Fri; brunch, dinner Sat-Sun

Owners: Basil Malik, Riadh Al Sayed

Executive chef: Jean-Philippe Kerstenne

Manager: Scott Edwards

Food: Eurobistro

On the menu:

Cockles and mussels sauteed in curry sauce $14.90

Eye fillet of beef, chef's potatoes, sauteed spinach and broccoli, in demi-glace and blue cheese sauce $22.90

Ostrich Fantasia, prime fillet in juniper/blackberry sauce, royal potatoes, sauteed vegetables $25

Lemon tart with passionfruit and mango sorbet $7.90

Vegetarian: Pasta, pizza, spinach filo parcel

Wine: Middle-of-the-road selection, most $25-$40

Smoking: Bar, courtyard out front

Noise: House

Bottom line: Aubergine shows how New Zealand restaurants have developed over the past decade. It is an eatery for the residents of its surrounding subdivisions and, judging from the crew rolling in and out, it serves them well. Go there expecting to revisit an earlier era in New Zealand hospitality, not a fashion statement in decor or cuisine.

* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, fashion and beauty in viva, part of your Herald print edition every Wednesday.