Rating: * * * *
Address: 29 The Strand, Russell
Phone: (09) 403 7771
Website: kamakura.co.nz
In Paihia for our first Waitangi Day experience of the place, the Professor and I had in tow a couple of English visitors whose politeness possibly exceeded their genuine interest in proceedings.
We natives revelled in the experience but I sometimes fancied that the Poms felt like overtired Antipodeans in the Louvre ("Yes, I know it's a van bloody Gogh but my feet are killing me and I rather fancy a nice glass of wine.")
After the dawn service at the Treaty Grounds we restored our spirits at the food-tent city (I enjoyed the pipi fritters with an espresso more than the mince and peas on cold fried Maori bread with instant coffee, but the Professor says I'm being picky).
As the bay filled with waka (including the mighty relaunched Ngatokimatawhaorua) and the air rang with the booming chants of their crews, the Poms headed back to the motel for a nice lie-down.
As a result, they were much refreshed when we left the bustle of Paihia and took the ferry across to sedate, sleepy Russell for dinner. Kamakura was the first result on a Google search for a Russell restaurant and seemed, on the face of it, more couth than the second, which described itself wittily as a "feeding ground". Couth it certainly was.
The place occupies a prime position at the junction of the jetty and the Strand, with a good view of where the Bay Belle ferry docks. This is important if you're coming from Paihia because you need to time your dining: you get a shade over two hours for dinner, or you will be dawdling over coffee till the next boat leaves an hour later.
The tables sprawl out on to the quiet roadway and even on to the grass under a large pohutukawa on the other side of the street.
With the possible exception of the wide veranda on the Duke of Marlborough a few doors down, it must be the best dining spot in the bay and the service - attentive and informed but pleasingly unobtrusive - was faultless.
It's axiomatic, of course, that a good view means the food will be bad, but the news hasn't reached Kamakura. I'll forbear to list all the dishes in favour of my choices. After reluctantly limiting myself to three of a dozen plump oysters from nearby Orongo Bay, I started with big, juicy crab tortellini whose pasta wrappers melted on the tongue and yielded a superb filling, redolent of chilli and lime.
My other selection, rolled lamb shoulder, slow-poached in duck fat, and finished in the oven, was certainly not summery, but the description was irresistible and the reality measured up triumphantly.
Elsewhere on the table the food (snapper with grapefruit and fennel; scallops with mango) was perfectly suited to a summer evening in which the sun sparkled on the water. What's more it seemed entirely to stifle our visitors' predilection for complaint. I'm not saying they were given to whingeing, you understand - perish the thought - but dinner at Kamakura was an experience they seemed uncharacteristically unable to fault. I know how they felt.
Kamakura hosts Northland boutique producers at a monthly artisan market in summer. The two remaining ones are March 13 and April 10.
Honourable mention, too, of Only Seafood in Paihia's main drag: magnificent fish and smart, professional service.
Ambience: Sun-kissed or coolly shady.
Vegetarians: A souffle and the gnocchi.
Watch out for: The ferry docking.
Bottom line: Very good food in a sublime setting.
