Herald rating: * * and a half
Address: 127 Onehunga Mall, Onehunga
Phone: (09) 622 2988
Web: claretrestaurant.co.nz
Cuisine: Kiwi made
Open: Dinner Tues-Sat, lunch Tues-Fri
From the menu: Duck, orange, aniseed filo with beetroot relish $18;
Sirloin, layered potato cake, grilled mushrooms $32;
Baked rice pudding, pistachio praline, raisin blueberry compote $12
Vegetarian: Dishes on menu
Wine: Highly commended
KEY POINTS:
CABBIE: And it's home to?
ME: Parnell, thanks.
CABBIE: Parnell? All those flash restaurants, and you come over here to eat? This place must be pretty good.
JUDE: Well, that's what he told me. He'd been here before - he was impressed - reckoned we should check it out.
ME: That was in a previous life. It's changed owners and direction.
CABBIE: So what is it? Italian, Thai?
JUDE: (to me): What would you call it?
ME: Good Kiwi tucker, I guess. Seafood chowder, lamb shanks, steak, chicken breast.
CABBIE: So many of these restaurants, the chefs want to be clever, they dress up the food and charge twice as much.
ME: Well, their prices are up there - above Molten, around Cibo level. So I guess you expect pretty good food. Take my entree - pork belly with grilled black pudding ...
JUDE: You did like that entree. You ate most of it.
ME: I did. Tender and sweet, nicely put together. As you enjoyed ...
JUDE: The pate. Chicken liver, with a gorgeous mango and peach chutney. Almost as good as my mother used to make.
CABBIE: Funny you should say that. I'm living with Mum again, out at Kumeu. Think I'll move back into town soon. I'm thinking, a bachelor pad in Mt Albert. But with these suburban restaurants, the trick is where they pitch themselves? Do they appeal to the locals, who'll come back time after time, or who'll pay over the odds if it's a special anniversary or birthday. Or do they try to attract people from out of the area prepared to pay upmarket prices for great food?
ME: You've hit the nail on the head. If I owned a restaurant in Onehunga, I'd be going for regular local diners. People who drop in, fall in love, want to come back. And back.
JUDE: And your point is?
ME: I don't think they managed it tonight. To be honest, after the pork, the meal went belly-up. Like the duck. Half a bird, roasted with a crisp and tangy skin. Coconut and cardamom in the rice, pineapple pickle and poppadom. Sounds seductive. The cooking was okay, not great, on the dry side.
CABBIE: Hate to interrupt, but that parcel on my back seat, I'm worried it may leak.
ME: Oh, sorry, that's the bones and most of the lamb shank that we're taking home for the whippet.
JUDE: She'll enjoy it.
ME: Well, neither of us did. It was rather too ...
JUDE: The words you used were "fatty and stringy and over-cooked". What did you think of the wine?
ME: Good. Very tasty list, reasonable Kiwi wines and a fair lash at the Europeans too. Except, I'm always worried when you ask for something from the list and they don't have it. But he saved the situation by bringing us a better wine for the same price.
CABBIE: That'll be $25. On the Visa?
ME: Bloody expensive dinner.
