Euro, Viaduct Harbour

By BRENDA WARD for canvas


It never occurred to me that arriving five minutes early for a dinner reservation would be a problem. Quarter of an hour, yes. An hour, yes. The wrong day, definitely yes. But even though my watch showed we were just two minutes too quick, on Euro-time (a reflection clock on the wall) we were a full five minutes early, meaning our table wasn't ready. We were directed off to the bar by the maitresse d' for a quick drink. Perfectly nicely, mind you. This gave us time only to scan the wine list, and we had fully recovered from the shock of the prices by the time we were ushered to our table.

Here's an aside. Since our dinner, a disgruntled diner has told me she'll never return to Euro after the waiter was "shockingly familiar". She may have been talking about our waiter (Vinnie, it said on his apron), because he certainly was cheerfully chatty. One woman's familiar can be another's fabulous.

However, we forgave him for offering the only man at the table the CJ Pask Gimblett Rd cabernet merlot ($61) to taste when I had ordered it, and appreciated his advice to Roz, who craved the T-bone steak, but without the mushrooms. Without the mushrooms, she would, he said, much prefer the signature beef ($36) from another part of the menu, and then he asked the chef to tailor-make a simple steak dish that turned out to be just to her liking.

We had lingered over antipasto elsewhere, so we turned straight to the main courses, a range of Asian-influenced tastes and more traditional dishes with a twist. We'd been recommended the crisp rotisseried duck on wilted bok choy, with mandarin glaze and Szechuan seasoning ($33) by an Australian visitor, who had been recommended it by his boss. Bruce was the lucky one who ordered it, a darkly rich glaze sealing in the delicious juices.

My wood-fired cod and carrots with parsley and crisp bacon jus ($33) was a lovely light, mildly smoky dish, a lightly cooked bacon wrap hugging in the moistness of the fish. Anne's salmon was intensified by the unexpected accompaniment of chorizo ($31). Plates like enormous platters defied belief.

Desserts (all $14.50) turned out to be the highlight of the evening, Anne and I choosing the banana crumble, a crisply short pastry case containing a rich caramel custard mixed with banana. It was the platter that made me gasp, a plain white plate decorated in Mondrian style with a hand-drizzled chocolate abstract design holding apricot and strawberry pools.

Biscuit-flavoured straws towered over the whole confection, drawing other diners' eyes as the dish wove its way round the tables. Bruce ("Good man," approved Vinnie) ordered the St Hector's goat cheese on a waffle with manuka honey. The cheese made a surprising savoury coda to the meal, transformed by a lick of honey.

Roz's apple cider jelly was accompanied by lots of yummy add-ons - and suddenly we found we had eaten so much and talked so much, we couldn't even face coffee. Straining at the seams, we walked through the buzzing Viaduct after a satisfyingly sensational evening.

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Ambience: Buzzy, minimal, European.

Cost: $258.50 for four main courses, four desserts and a bottle of wine.

* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, party places and entertainment in canvas magazine, part of your Weekend Herald print edition.