Herald rating: * * * *
Address: 597 Mt Eden Rd
Phone: (09) 638 9676
Web: bowmansrestaurant.co.nz
Open: Dinner Tues-Sat
Cuisine: Modern NZ
From the menu: Chicken wings, celeriac slaw, barbecue sauce, roast peanuts $16; Roast duck leg, black rice, duck crepe, bok choy, plum anise glaze $30; Rhubarb pudding, black doris plum sorbet, citron salad $13
Vegetarian: Dishes on menu
Wine: Small, superior list
KEY POINTS:
Aah, Bowmans. When Carlos and Angie Atkinson had just taken over, almost two years ago, I wrote that the place had become a little tired and fussy, which did not endear me to the denizens of St Leonards Rd, Landscape Rd and environs, who may have become a little tired and fussy themselves. Carlos spoke of lightening the menu from its French brasserie classics.
He has. His menu is conspicuously different from most, trying some interesting combinations and creative concepts under that rather frayed flag, "New Zealand cuisine with Pacific Rim and European influences".
I don't know what Kiwi cuisine means these days. Hiropito fronds on your salad? Surf and turf with kina and rabbit?
A very good start with that simple opener, bread and dips. The bread may even have been house-made, too rare these days; Jude particularly enjoyed macadamia butter.
Usually wary of restaurant risotto, I ordered Bowmans' version, cut with tiny cubes of pancetta, sweetest peas and strewn with baby cress. Yes, there was a hint of parmesan, but the kitchen had gone for crunch rather than cream, and it was excellent.
We've noted that everyone's trying something different with goat cheese this winter. This one's coconut-crusted - a winner with Jude, who enjoys almost anything that flavour - and the tasters are pickled beetroot and beet crisps, as well as orange syrup. As a palate-tickler, stunning.
Since it was my turn to order first, I bagsed the lamb. Like most of Atkinson's dishes, it was an unusual presentation. The sizeable rack is coated with macadamia, a spiced sausage curls alongside kumara mash and mint jelly. Sounds like a new-millennium take on the Sixties' Kiwi Sunday roast: superbly cooked, just pink next to the bone, that sausage very tasty. But the mash was thin and cool and the jelly cold, a jarring note on an extremely hot plate.
Pistachio was the nut of choice for Jude's pork, a delightful combination with pear relish and intriguing roasted and pureed celeriac. Cooked almost to perfection, except that the crackling didn't.
Bowmans gets portion sizes just right. Entrees are, as the cutesy menu puts it, first impressions rather than full-on platters and the mains are a decent meal.
We found room to share "the JAFA", a neatly ordered dessert plate of Valhrona mousse, orange sorbet, chilled latte and orange truffle. A mark off, though, for large chunks of ice in the sorbet.
So that was our meal - a tad uneven and the prices are up there, but the food is more interesting than most. The staff, young and female, were helpful if a little tentative, and - Whoever be praised! - did not interrupt every five minutes to ask if we were enjoying our meals.
Given that lack of assurance, I chose pinots (grises and noirs) from the eclectic and expensive wine list, which could offer more by the glass.
If cheerfulness and a good concept, and friendly staff, are the cornerstones of a good restaurant experience, Bowmans passes the test.
As we paid, the waitress complimented Jude on her coat. The waitress had plenty of opportunity to admire it, for Jude had worn it throughout the evening, even though she was sitting next to a gas heater. The lady at the next table had remained swathed in her red tartan rug.
Little darlings, it's been a long, cold, lonely winter, but this is the second time in three weeks we've noticed the temperature in a restaurant. If it happens again I might have to write something in my column about it.
