WHERE: Oneroa, Waiheke ph (09) 372 5889
OUR MEAL: $214 for two entrees, two mains, cheese platter and dessert, tea and five glasses of wine
WINE LIST: This is high-end Waiheke, if you can't find something here ...
VERDICT: Superb food, fine wine, excellent service and interesting art. Memorable on all counts.
OUT OF 10
FOOD: 9
SERVICE: 9
VALUE: 9
AMBIENCE: 9
KEY POINTS:
I've always thought Auckland an attractive city - from a distance. Devonport is a nice place from which to take it in, so are some points in the Waitakeres. But there is also some merit in being just that bit cut off from it, being somewhere that makes the skyline seem pleasingly remote, especially if you are in no hurry to get back there.
And so it is when you view the distant shimmer of the commercial centre through a gap in the hills from Cable Bay Vineyards on Waiheke, the city just far enough away to be out of your face while retaining its allure.
Lunch at Cable Bay Vineyards restaurant is one of the must-do things on Waiheke if you want that feeling and view. For us it was a leisurely dinner where we put ourselves in the hands of the waiter and sommelier, and watched the distant lights of the city glimmer and sometimes disappear behind the sea fog.
It was a damp weekend and the spacious dining room wasn't overly busy, but the cross-section of guests they did have was interesting: a party of international visitors, a family of four with two young children, and a few couples. It seemed to me, in reading the room, that everyone was getting the night they wanted. There was laughter, more wine being called for, and no table's conversations cutting across the ambience of the room. All were enjoying themselves.
We certainly did: a glass of their syrah and a pinot gris by the open fire; time spent taking in the art; rare salmon and terrine entrees; braised beef and fish for mains, more wine along the way; a cheese platter and pear tarte tatin, then more wine and camomile tea to stretch out with at the end. Of course heaven is in the details here and chef Will Thorpe clearly trained at the right hand of God.
The salmon came with a rare blend of flavours: beetroot, orange and that most under-utilised of delights, horseradish sauce. My beef was braised to perfection, the cheese board was different and interesting, and the caramelised pear soft and succulent.
This was not a cheap night, but it would be a hard heart that quibbled about price when the evening was so magical.
Of course you need to be warned of one thing: you may find yourself back at Cable Bay the next day, in the tasting room buying their wine and superb olive oil, or a bottle of their astonishing prunes in red wine syrup to take home.
I thought it interesting that as we were doing just that, four Americans who had also been in for dinner came and did much the same.
I chatted with one, who said they, too, had come expecting a special night and hadn't been disappointed, and then we gazed silently at the distant skyline of Auckland where we were both heading the following day.
Pretty though it looked, I suspect he - like me - would rather have just stayed at Cable Bay.
