KEY POINTS:
You want just to hunker down at home on these cold, foul nights, or maybe, at the most, go as far as the end of the road to eat out - and when you live on the south end of North Shore, Cin Cin practically fits the bill.
The bar is humming when we arrive - office wallahs fortifying themselves for a journey on the high seas - and there are already several groups seated when we are shown to our bay-window table.
Cin Cin has being doing the business for nearly 20 years and that, together with the Ferry Building's arches, give it an old-world permanence. Seating is arranged on three levels and we can see preparations underway for a private do in "the gods".
We share breads and dips ($14.50). The selection is a revelation: breads in different colours, textures, shapes, crostini and lovely rosemary-flavoured grissini, complemented by olive oil and balsamic, tapenade and a romesco dip - granted, not in huge proportions, but they do the job as we relax, warm up and deal to the vicissitudes of the working day.
We stay with both our wine choices: Kim Crawford merlot ($13.50) for Sir, and the Nugan Estate cabernet sauvignon for me ($14). Cin Cin says it has one of - if not the - most extensive wine lists in the country and boasts 30 grape varieties.
It is when the wine is being poured, I notice the only thing I can fault with the service - and it's not the young woman's fault. The placement of our table by the angled windows and a small wall means she cannot get around us and is forced to deliver and pour across the table. It means that at several times throughout the meal, we are suddenly talking to the either side of an elbow. Off-putting.
For mains - they call it their eat-talk-drink-watch course - the confit duck ($36) was saying, "me, me, pick me". It comes with a delicious garlic potato puree, swiss chard, baby turnips and carrots, and candied orange sauce.
It is tender with crisp skin, the juicy underside of which you know is cholesterol hell, but, it's winter, and it probably keeps colds at bay.
Sir is much more sensible but equally pleased with the market fish, snapper ($33) the skin of which is also crisp but far more healthy. It comes on a bed of Puy lentils with prawn tortellini and a shellfish foam.
He follows that up with a vanilla creme brulee, poached rhubarb, strawberry sorbet ($14) unusually cut into a square. He says it is delicious: "I was unsure about the sorbet but it works well."
I'm on a winter roll, so order the Stilton blue and poached tamarillo with cabernet sauvignon syrup ($15). The syrup could coat a 10c piece, so decoration more than anything, but perfectly formed. So far beyond help am I that I top it off with a yummy glass of Taylor's 10-year-old port ($14). (Anyone, got a cigar?) Then I'm done, but Sir has coffee and a silky Prunotto grappa ($17) - "It's a digestive; it's for my health."
The ferry beckons. We have had a lovely meal in easy surroundings with good service. What more can one ask?
Where: 99 Quay St, City
(09) 307 6966 www.cincin.co.nz
The wine: By the glass $9.50 to $16.50, by the bottle from $42.50 to $1800 for Chateau Mouton De Rothschild 2000.
Our meal: $202.50 for a shared starter, two mains, one cheese, one dessert, four glasses of wine, one port and one grappa.
Verdict: Landmark site, good pedigree, comfortable room with good food and attentive service.
Out of 10
Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 8
Ambience: 8
