WHERE: 1 Pakenham Street East, Viaduct. (09) 365 2585
OUR MEAL: $222 for two soups, one bowl of edamame beans, one bowl and eight long plates, a bowl of rice, four desserts and four glasses of wine.
OUR WINE: Short, well thought out with cocktails too. Prices start at $7.50 for a glass of 2007 Spy Valley Unoaked Chardonnay and zoom upwards to $79 for a bottle of 2006 Amisfield Pinot Noir from Central Otago.
VERDICT: Stylish, snappy and just what we need down the business end of town.
OUT OF 10
FOOD: 7
SERVICE: 8
VALUE: 9
AMBIENCE: 7
KEY POINTS:
I was worried about Chow. It sounded too chain-eatery (in an Asian kind of way) to work for me. So I tried to impress the boys by telling them that, yes, it was part of a chain, but that Chow had branches in places like Sydney and New York and ... Wellington. "Well, only Wellington and Petone," I had to confess later. Worse, it had a spare table at 7pm on a Saturday...
But, and this is a big but, I needn't have worried. Chow is cool. Despite some alarming names - Castro's blue cheese and peanut butter wontons, banana leaf fish - the food is great. And despite some alarming noughties music, the atmosphere is okay too.
We sat in a leather-look low booth, which always makes you feel as though you're at your own private party, and embarked on the Chow method of dining.
The best way to describe it is, say, Asian tapas, or upmarket yum cha where you usually have only a couple of seconds to consider your choices before someone whips the top back on and wheels your favourite dish away.
Here at Chow, you get time to consider the menu and novices get the explanation: you can either order bowls, which are larger and marginally more expensive, salads or long plates to share. Long plates typically offer around six smallish wontons, dumplings, fish parcels or fritters per plate.
According to our waiter, one and a half long plates for each person is about enough. We decided to try everything: a bowl of vegetable curry ($13) and long plates of banana fish ($14 each), Castro's wontons ($9), fish cakes ($13), prawn dumplings ($13), pumpkin and cashew nut fritters ($12) and teriyaki squid ($14).
But first came the miso soup ($3) which arrived steaming and fragrant, with shavings of lemon and cubes of silky tofu plus a big bowl of salty, crunchy oil- glistened edamame beans for $2.50.
There is also a short but satisfying wine and cocktail list and both our reds - a Whitebox shiraz viognier from the specials board and a Carrick pinot noir - were superb.
It did not take long for our long plates to arrive, all lined up like soldiers - each with its small bowl of dipping sauce at one end - and smelling fantastic. Within minutes whole plates were emptied and there were sighs of pleasure.
My favourites were the prawn dumplings, which tasted more Thai than Chinese with delicate lime and coconut overtones offsetting the fleshy, perfectly-cooked prawns. The peanut butter and blue cheese wontons were another thing. This time they were deep-fried and seriously rich as only oil, batter, peanut butter and blue cheese can be. A great stomach lining for a long night out but not a favourite for most of us.
The banana fish, on the other hand, was a hit. Rather than cooked with banana, the fish is wrapped in banana leaves. Each morsel pops out of its intricate dark green parcel looking strangely yellow, but moist and steamy. Delectable. We ordered another plate.
Probably the more predictable dishes were the squid, simply cut into pieces in a tasty teriyaki sauce, and the green jungle curry which was deliciously spicy and creamy but low on solids. Great for pouring over bowls of rice ($2.50 each). Having polished off that we moved on to sticky rice with mango and brown sugar and three serves of chocolate mousse (all $9).
I adored the rice but, looking back, could have used some cream or coconut. The boys inhaled the mousse and would have sent for more if I hadn't called a halt. Chow is a really welcome addition to the Auckland eating out scene. The food is well cooked, stylishly served and reasonably priced.
The booths are perfect for groups of six to eight, while there are ordinary tables for couples or fours and they also do takeaways. The best thing is you can be in and out in an hour if you're on the way to or from the theatre, movies or a party.
But if you want to to linger longer you can keep right on nibbling at the various delights on offer, way into the night.
