Bonita, Ponsonby and Garnet Bar & Kitchen, Westmere

Chargrilled artichokes with caper berries, balsamic reduction and Grana Padano cheese at the Garnet Bar and Kitchen in Westmere. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

Herald rating:

Bonita: * * * *
Garnet Bar & Kitchen: * * *

Seville. Took your heart in your mouth and tucked your purse in your shirt and ducked into a dark winding cobbled alley where Columbus might have walked, if he wasn't buried in the cavernous cathedral nearby.

Little long dark ... pub we'd call it, a bar here, hams hanging from the ceiling. Hams hang from every ceiling of every bar in Spain. Probably required under the Acto de la Gerencia de Recurso.

Ordered fino. Sherry not vino. Looked at blackboard. Brown earthenware dish upon dish of chorizo, artichokes, olives, Serrano, fish. Died and gone to Cielo.

Ponsonby. Walked down the avenue in style, Emma on arm. Ducked into Bonita. Little long dark ... pub it's been, as Summer Street and The Oval.

It's two weeks away from celebrating its first birthday as the tapas place, distressed walls, marble bar, rioja and sherry and munchies-on-toast from the cabinet or a blackboard of hot options from the kitchen. If there were hams hanging from the ceiling, we might be in Seville. There are no hams hanging. Probably banned under the Resource Management Act.

Order spicy meatballs and tumblers of Sleeping Dogs pi'noir. The patron eyes me through the glass he's polishing. "You might prefer the Delta 04," he says in an accent from an Aldomovar movie or a dark winding cobbled alley. He's right.

Meatballs are hot and spicy and garlicky and tomato'd. Beaned, too. Chorizo is spicy and garlicky and onion-jammed.

Emma eyes courgette fritters. And the mushroom thing. "It's not necessary," she suggests, "to eat meat with every meal." Emma is philosophical about the sociology of food. She believes the tapas fashion suits the relaxed Kiwi lifestyle. Small plates encourage communal dining and conversation, are perfect for smaller eaters who don't want a stonking steak and mash, and you get plenty of choice.

We have little brown earthenware plates of courgette fritters and mushroom thing. Meat and two veg. How Kiwi is that?

Westmere. Waiting to be discovered or rediscovered. The best place to skive off from the city for lunch was the Garnet Rd Foodstore until Madame Over the Page moved on. I shall never forget her chicken and mustard pie.

Westmere also had a superlative pizza bar which has morphed into the Garnet Bar and Kitchen, courtesy of Luke Dallow, formerly of Salsa and Malt, now of Salt and Chapel.

Managed by his Chapel devotee, Nick Harding, GBK is tiny, Art Deco fripperies, leadlight windows, dark wood-panelled walls, plaster ceiling. Like a parlour in a neighbouring 30s bungalow or the snug in the pub in an Agatha Christie murder.

Emma is washing her hair so I'm on my own. Almost: after two weeks the place is full of locals by 6.30 on Saturday evening. Harding greets already-regulars from the bar, dispensing advice on largely patriotic wines.

Dishes come from Lyndon Cleveland's kitchen, rather than a cabinet. Graze on oysters, bruschetti, salmon with an Asian flavour, pinchos, the tiny grilled and skewered pork, beef, prawns.

Three flash sausages come from the butcher next door.

Spy Valley pinot at hand, a platter of pork rillettes (pate, if you must) with a tasty beetroot relish and crostini, another platter of artichokes, chargrilled with grana padano cheese and served with a balsamic reduction and the sharp bite of caper berries ... It's a light, unpretentious, delectable repast. "You get three plates for $25," Himself said, and there was a tolerable Forme d'Ambert blue cheese with a smear of honeycomb and discs of walnut bread, so I did.

Grey Lynn. Came home past Craft, which brought the tapas craze to Auckland two years ago. It was almost empty. That's what you get for starting a trend in this city.

Bonita

Address: 242 Ponsonby Rd
Phone: (09) 376 5670
Cuisine: Tapas
Open: Tue-Sun 4pm-10pm
Bottom line: Small, perfectly formed tastes and wines

Garnet Bar & Kitchen

Address: 129 Westend Rd Westmere
Phone: (09) 360 5656
Cuisine: Tapas
Open: 7 days
Bottom line: Stylish local making friends in neighbourhood