The escargot tart entree at Solstice Bar and Bistro. Photo / Martin Sykes
Where: Kell Dr, Albany
Ph: (09) 414 6005
Rating out of 10
Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 8
Ambience: 6
Our meal: $161 for two entrees, mains and desserts and four glasses of wine.
Wine list: Short but adequate with a reasonable selection by the glass from $8.50.
Verdict: Decent food, well-presented, mainstream with some imagination. Good value if slightly lacking distinctive character
The advertisement which tempted us said: "bringing a taste of cityside dining to the Shore."
I'm not sure why cityside is always considered to be synonymous with the best restaurants. Without pausing for much thought I seem to remember that the most consistently top-ranked eateries in the United States,
Britain and Spain, to name but three, are all out of the big city.
But after some uninspired occasions north of the bridge, and suffering the relentless gastronomic one-upmanship of those on the other side, we know what they were getting at.
In pursuit of something a little less humdrum the proprietors of Solstice have hired award-winning chef Kasiano Tagoai to provide what the marketers call "a point of difference".
The menu might be characterised as retro-influenced but with a twist that won't frighten the conventional.
The lamb rump, for example, is walnut-crusted and comes with what is described as a potato and kumara pave and a jalapeno, mint and pea salsa. The seared tuna is with a warm quinoa and wild rice salad with basil mayonnaise and prawn remoulade.
But does the food deliver on its aspirations? My first course of the escargot tart was very promising, a decent short crust pastry filled with a snail, cep and tarragon creme mixture that worked better than I thought it might.
Our other starter, carpaccio of cervena and beef was, perhaps, more routine but nicely dressed up with vincotta balsamic, capers and truffle oil.
I went down-home with my main course of eye fillet, tempted by the retro allure of bearnaise sauce and a big mushroom. The meat was outstandingly good and the potato and cep hash and the wilted greens were solid teammates.
Although we know that the sophisticates have declared that everyone is over pork belly, it seemed a comforting choice for a cheerless winter night.
It turned out to be the least successful of the evening's productions. It was generous and tasty enough with a nice smoked flavour, but was a little on the resistant side although the roasted garlic and potato puree cheered up the dish.
Not even nostalgia could tempt us into the territory of Baked Alaska or the caramelised banana cooked in butterscotch and baked in a sweet puff pastry. I wimped out and went for a delicate passionfruit pannacotta with a good walnut and maple icecream but my wife, who is of sterner stuff, opted for the chocolate brulee which delivered a chocolate fix to satisfy the most addicted. So the food came out with considerable credit.
But providing cityside dining, however it is interpreted, involves the whole act. The wine list is brief and mainly New Zealand. But there's enough choice, although I couldn't find a dessert wine. The service is up to the mark with well-presented staff who have obviously been taught well, even if they lack the panache of the full-time professional or the confidence to really engage with customers.
But the inescapable suburban stamp comes from the unpromising surroundings. Even in the best of times there's not much vibrant city life in a carpark, the back of a library and a row of arid offices, and these looked particularly bleak on a rainswept night.
But if you keep the gaze inwards, Solstice is doing a good enough job to attract not just booming Albany's local trade but the more adventurous from the Shore if not, perhaps, the southsiders.
