KEY POINTS:
Auckland really makes you work for it. On the surface, and at first glance, this city is clattery and ramshackle and geographically confusing. Underneath, the hidden joys lie, waiting to be found.
I know it sounds an odd thing to say about a restaurant directly underneath the Sky Tower, the biggest, pointiest thing in the Southern Hemisphere, but Dine is one of Auckland's secret delights.
Despite being the signature venue of New Zealand's most famous food-wrangler, Peter Gordon, and despite its situation in the middle of everything, Dine doesn't leap out for attention. The room is understated and largely beige with no giant windows or flashy signage; the waiters are unobtrusively excellent and even the volume is mild - here, conversations don't clatter nearly as much as they hum. A pre-dinner drink at Bellota, the great little bar just across the road, underscores the point - all of this would be so easy to miss if you didn't know it was here.
And what a shame that would be, for Dine's food is superb, its service is outstanding and it could get away with boasting a lot louder about itself.
On a Thursday night, we start with spiced chickpea fritters for Alison, scallops for Marty and pork-belly for me. The chickpea fritters ($21) come with violet kumara and cumin-pickled carrot and an exceptional sauce; Gordon's special nam phrik num, a blend of fish sauce, mango, garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander, mint and lemon. It works beautifully, as do Marty's pan-fried Spirits Bay scallops - small and perfectly formed with sweet chilli sauce, creme fraiche and plantain crisps ($26).
They have a "marshmallow-like spring and bounce that's magic", he says.
The mix of crunchy and smooth is outstanding again in Alison's main of goat's cheese risotto inari pocket, served with golden beetroot borscht, sultanas and a cress salad ($32), and Marty's perfectly cooked special duck, red and rare with Puy lentils and a sharp chutney ($36).
Top that? I can. My main ($36) is a duo of milk-braised Canterbury pork loin and belly with a wasabi apple compote; the loin tender and the belly crisp on the outside, melting within.
The room at Dine is perhaps a little too subtle, if anything. Yes, there are giant circular chandeliers hovering above, possibly preparing to beam us up for sinister extraplanetary experiments. but there doesn't seem a lot of electricity, supernatural or not, tonight. It could just be the absence of the chair-scraping, laughter-shrieking din that passes for buzz in some places, but Dine could do well to turn the music up a little louder, especially when the room isn't packed, to add a bit of energy.
We love the fact our table has a leather armchair - although the waitress confesses some parties ask for it to be removed, to promote egalitarianism. Marty, who has no hesitation lording it in the armchair, says his dessert of crunchy palm sugar rice croquette ($17) is "dry as cabin bread", although rescued by an excellent coconut tapioca, roast plums and honey guava sorbet. Cabin bread, in case you're wondering, is what Antarctic explorers like Robert Falcon Scott used to eat when they ran out of sled-dogs.
Alison's gingerbread, banana and walnut French toast ($17) works well without being gimmicky, she says, and my cheese plate ($23) is varied and clever, served with some wicked walnut bread.
But all this is a way of getting to telling you about the miso kumara mash we shared ($7). It's sweet and firm, smooth and salty and absolutely superb. Get there and eat it. It's one of the many surprise delights of this subtly excellent restaurant.
Where: Ground Floor, Grand Hotel, 90 Federal St, City.
The wine: By the glass $10-$23.50, by the bottle $39-$825
Our meal: $323.50 for three entrees, mains, desserts, five glasses of wine and two coffees.
Verdict: Quietly brilliant, with some of the city's best service.
Out of 10
Food: 9
Service: 9
Value: 8
Ambience: 7
