Address: 70 Jervois Road
Phone: (09) 376 2049
Website: jervoissteakhouse.co.nz
It's a perfect evening to lurk in the shrubbery and watch the denizens of Jervois Rd pass by. It's made even better by a glass of wine and a beer, as we wait for Suzy, shortly to leave for a two-year posting in London. How do you get a job like that?
The staff at the Jervois Steak House are quite happy to let us sit outside for as long as we like, but hunger and the siren call of all that meat encourage us to make a move.
The building housing the steak house is one of those old two-storeyed jobs in Jervois Rd, and the interior is all exposed brick and wooden floors and warm, as is the welcome. We are dining early, school night and all that, so there aren't many patrons when we start but the upstairs area of the restaurant fills up quite quickly. And becomes noisier, to the point where we have difficulty understanding our waiter. The downstairs remains empty.
Suzy gets the pick of the entrees. Her calamari schnitzel, an unusual take on the commonplace mollusc and the now less common veal schnitzel, is generous, tender and delicious. So generous, in fact, that there is plenty to share and enjoy.
My entree of roasted beetroot with tomino cheese, fig saba and pine nuts, is much less successful. I don't know how they managed to lose the tenderness and sweetness that make beetroot one of my favourite vegetables, but they did.
And Bill's charcuterie plate, at a hefty $27.50, is tasty but sparse, tiny portions of oxtail terrine, pepper jelly, jerky, duck, smoked beef and a rather good chipotle sausage.
So, with appetites still pretty much intact, we start on the mains.
I know it's a steak house and we should all be entertaining the idea of beef, but there are other options and we use them. Suzy's rack of lamb (merino cross from Central Otago, apparently) is pink and tender, and the suggested accompaniment of balsamic strawberry sauce works well. Bill is pleased with his ham hock (from the Hunter Hills in South Canterbury, etc - do we really need all this provenance?) on mash with mustard sauce, but it's a plain meal, for which $37.50 seems a bit steep. Travel costs, perhaps.
Eye fillet is my favourite cut of steak because of its more delicate flavour and almost guaranteed tenderness, but mine has more bite to it than I expect. The mushroom sauce is fine and not overpowering.
Neil arrives late (sailing takes precedence) and although the staff have been warned that he was coming, they keep him waiting before referring him upstairs to our table. He's a closet vegetarian but a morsel of my steak demonstrates the foolishness of this stance, and he orders one for himself. It arrives promptly and well cooked, as are the sides of green beans, candied kumara and potato gratin. But the onion rings are a disaster, overcooked and unpleasant.
Desserts of Granny Smith apple tart and a honey parfait sandwich with honey wafers are well presented and very good.
The Nourish Group, which owns the restaurant, benefits from the experience of Richard Sigley and Simon Gault, but the prices suggest that it's better than it is.
Rating out of 10
Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 6
Ambience: 8
Our meal: $403.50 for three entrees, four mains, three desserts, five beers and six glasses of wine.
Wine list: Extensive and comprehensive, but relatively few choices by the glass.
Verdict: Jervois Steak House and Saloon is not the place to come to if you are feeling any budgetary discomfort. It's good but not exceptional.
