Bistro Deux, The Ascott Metropolis Auckland

Bistro Deux's salmon fillet with cucumber and fennel. Picture / Fotopress

(Herald rating: * * * *)

Neil The Milkman had been pestering me for another dinner date for weeks.

Little did we know that our 8.30pm booking at Bistro Deux (formerly Magistrates) on the ground floor of the Ascott Metropolis hotel was going to be an exercise in dining for Deux. Apparently the only other diners had just left before we'd arrived. But, given the situation, all you can do is to take advantage of it. Neil requested the music be changed.

The room is elegant and candle-lit, romantic you might say but a bistro needs to be filled with people noises, bustle and be a bit more casual.

Deux's French bistro menu using local produce is relatively straightforward, though it does include a few Italian-style dishes to confuse us. Neil is a fan and good judge of tomato soup, so he got the job of tasting it. I tossed up between the wild mushroom tart with a sage and feta crumble and wild rocket and the bistro salad of smoked venison sausage, radish and grapefruit. I think the Milkman would have preferred that I'd picked the sausage so he could have finished it.

The roasted roma tomato soup with goats cheese and pine nut dumplings came with cheese balls rolled in toasted pine nuts as the dumplings. The soup could have been hotter, but the plate was left clean so I guess it passed judgment.

I enjoyed my tart, a crisp and thin fluted shell of buttery short pastry full of mushroom mixture.

Our waitperson played a double role as our wine waiter so we weren't overwhelmed by staff. She didn't hover, but managed to pace the service appropriately and was pleasant and polite. The wine, a Hawkes Bay Crossroads Destinations Shiraz 2003 ($41 for the bottle), was young, tight and tart on the palate, with berry promise.

The Milkman's salmon fillet, resting on a salad of cubed cucumber, sliced fennel, walnuts and dates, was fresh and cooked just right. He thought the salad refreshing. It's good to see a new take on a classic combination more usually served as a filling for dainty finger sandwiches.

I am careful to maintain my lean red meat intake, but rather than the more traditional chargrilled beef scotch fillet with pommes dauphinoise, onion jam and port wine reduction, I went for the roasted lamb rump and red wine jus.

This superb nugget of lean flavoursome meat, which roasts to a rosy tenderness, is available at good butchers. As they are not huge, you need one per person to be generous. Here at Bistro Deux, it is served with a warm salad of roast diced kumara, silverbeet and sundried tomatoes which went together rather well. Our side of sauteed potatoes with rosemary and sea salt were deliciously crisp and not at all oily.

We got a dish brimful of tender asparagus spears with a toasted almond pesto topping. The servings at Deux are well proportioned, particularly if you include the generous and well-executed side dishes. The rocket, roast butternut pumpkin and parmesan salad sounded worth trying, too. Note to the kitchen: the hot food and the plates could have been hotter.

Instead of pud, we decided on cheese to finish the wine, with portions of blue and cheddar for $16. The cheeses were straight out of the fridge. I can't tell you what they were as our waiter didn't say, neither did the menu. We have since had confirmed that they had been born in New Zealand and that the menu will reflect this.

WHERE: Bistro Deux, The Ascott Metropolis Auckland, No 1 Courthouse Lane. Phone (09) 300 8800, open Tuesday-Saturday.
OUR MEAL: $153 for 2; entree $12-17; mains $23-28; sides $5-7; desserts $12; cheeses $12-20.
OUR WINES: by the glass $7.50-16; by the bottle $29.50-260; bubbles $79-395.