The special fixed price menu at French restaurant Tabou in Kingsland. Photo / Babiche Martens
Herald rating: * * * *
Address: 462 New North Rd, Kingsland
Phone: (09) 846 3474, www.tabou.co.nz
Cuisine: Bistro
Prix fixe menu: 2 course $35, 3 course $45
Starters: Chilled cucumber soup, horseradish cream; Chicken liver parfait, sourdough toast, tamarillo chutney; Pan-fried calamari, courgette, parsley and lemon pesto
Mains: Grilled Angus sirloin, fries and salad with green peppercorns or maitre d'hotel butter; Fillet of gurnard Colbert, Russian salad; Chicken fricassee, potato gnocchi
Dessert: Peach melba or chocolate nemesis
Vegetarian: What you see is...
Wine list: Above average
Prix fixe is coming to Auckland. No, it's not a car race. We don't do those in Auckland - we leave them to low-rent cities like Hamilton. And Melbourne. And Monte Thingummy...
Prix fixe ("fixed-price") means a limited menu with a list of dishes - could be a choice of
entrees, mains and desserts - at a set price. Say, two courses for $35 or three for $45, drinks extra.
Usually running alongside the regular - or a la carte, which translates as "the more expensive" menu - they're a regular fixture in the European leagues but are rarely seen here, or in Aussie, or America. Until now.
Fixed-price shouldn't be confused with degustation or tasting menus; there, chef tries to dazzle diners with his/her best stuff and the wine waiter matches each course with a thimble of the house's finest. And most expensive.
From the restaurant's side, the attraction of a prix fixe is obvious. At busy times it limits the diner's options and can keep the kitchen and service staff running smoothly. On slow nights, decent meals at reasonable prices can drag people out (or in).
From the customer's side, it's more straightforward than an a la carte menu, the food should be the same quality, and the price is right. Might pay $25-40 rather than $70-$80. Win-win.
Both coasts of America have embraced prix fixe in recent months, though they're called "recession menus"or, in flasher joints, "menus d'economie".
In New York, Top Chef judge Tom Collicchio's flagship restaurant Craft launched "Frugal Fridays" with $10-small plates. He added "Thrifty Thursday" and food bloggers reported the place was packed.
Across the ditch, London eateries are all but begging folk to come in the door. The deals mean two can eat as cheaply as one; 12 Michelin-starred restaurants are offering 10 ($28.40) menus - you'd usually add another zero to that.
Cheekiest deal is at Peter Ilic's Little Bay in Farringdon: "No food bills - pay us what you think the food is worth," reads the blackboard outside. He's taken the prices off the menu and diners do as he says.
"The lowest amount I have seen anyone leave is 2p (5c). They had tap water. I think they came for a joke more than anything. The most anyone has left is 35 ($100) a head, without drinks, for two courses."
Which brings Jude, her daughter Sian, her guy Guy and the bloke with his byline at the top of the column - to Tabou. We chose the restaurant carefully: Sian is just back from a year in Paris, and the family's first night out should be at a bistro. Paris style. Which Tabou has plenty of, both in the feel and in the food stakes. It's traditional, which means plain food, with the tweaks coming in the accompaniments, well cooked and even
more crisply served.
It's not flashy, it's not particularly original, but you'd go a long way to eat it. In our case, from Parnell. And also because Tabou is offering a prix fixe menu (as is Bowman's in Mt Eden). You'll find it in the nice little yellow box that Beth-the-Graphics has fashioned on your behalf.
Tony Adcock, who is the eminence gris, as they say in Sian's former home town, behind this and Harbourside, where they are offering the same menu as they did in the 80s, puts out the prix fixe from Tuesday to Friday, and on Sundays.
Jolly good idea from the restaurateur's point of view, because that's when you're going to be struggling to fill the tables in the present climate, and I'm not talking about the weather; and from the punters', because we can all find an excuse to go out on a Saturday, but we do need a little encouragement on Wednesdays, especially Jude.
Dull would he be of sole, or gurnard, who could not put together a decent meal from this. Soup, pate or squid to start; steak, fish or chicken for the main; choc or fruity stuff to finish. Well past quaffable wines to accompany the meal and you're fed, wined and tap- or bottled-watered for $60 or thereabouts.
Don't take my word for it. A mate asked for suggestions for his anniversary dinner last week. Now I don't often respond to those emails - who wants to be the sucker who suggested that "You guys will really like XXX for your anniversary," and she doesn't like anything on the menu, and he gets a nasty turn because the prawns were just a day past their best?
I was happy to recommend this place. They had a great time, enjoyed the food, and the wine, and the service, and the prices. Can't say fairer than that, so my family, and his, are happy to award Tabou four stars.
