Address: 2 Matakana Valley Rd, Matakana Village
Phone: (09) 423 0383
Rating: * * *
Wine list: Good choice including plenty of local
Vegetarians: Tapas and entree choices; one pasta main
Watch out for: Ducks a-dabbling, up-tails all
Bottom line: Not as good as it's trying to be.
If I lived in Matakana, I'd be kissing the feet of the people responsible for that toll road. Forget the Anniversary Weekend congestion: that was caused by rubberneckers who, for reasons that entirely elude me, deliberately went and got stuck in a traffic jam to save a measly $2.
Call me humourless, but I reckon if your idea of a holiday activity is crawling along a newly opened motorway, you need a hobby.
Anyway, Matakana is now closer, in driving time, to the centre of the city than a lot of places on the isthmus. It is, by all accounts, a nice place to live, although the "touch of Tuscany" label strikes me as a bit pretentious, particularly since the township isn't bursting with restaurants that match the area's gastronomic pretensions.
Certainly some of the vineyards have cafes, but the opening hours, particularly in the evening, are seasonal.
And that's the challenge for a restaurateur in the main drag: it's all very well while the big European 4WDs are pulling up in January and disgorging hungry families, but business is not so much fun in the depths of July when even the dogs are wearing gumboots.
This place - which started life two years ago as the Matakana Village Brasserie - is underneath the cinemas in a room that opens on to a patio beside a pretty stream.
I had puzzled about the name, wondering if I was about to come across a new mushroom or goat's cheese, but it turns out that "Tapiano" telescopes "tapas" with "piano" because the place is a piano bar on Friday and Saturday nights.
Warming to the musical metaphor, the restaurant tells us on its website that "mixing flavours is like playing a piano of sensations - pressing different keys brings out tastes, textures, aromas and nutritional balance".
I get the idea, although it's a bit obscure. However, it's positively limpid compared with the claim that the chef's "intense passion for food from the culinary heritage of local regions fuses with the extensive exploration of local produce mixed with classic European traditions" - because I have absolutely no idea what that means.
Anyway, the Professor and I took up position on the patio where we could admire the ducks, a-dabbling up-tails all, as in The Wind in the Willows.
It is good to see local vineyards extensively represented on the wine list - which was regrettably not the case with the earlier restaurant here - and we sipped on an excellent local chardonnay and pinot gris while ordering.
It would be good to say that the food was equally impressive but the overall impression is of a place that is trying just a bit too hard to impress, rather than getting the basics right.
A red-pepper, leek and cream cheese tart came in a (presumably pre-baked) short pastry case that was so dry it disintegrated when cut; the lamb rack was considerably overdone - and the accompanying roast vegetables a very odd choice for mid-February; the seared scallops were nicely tender but drizzled with a plain and quite undistinguished sauce.
The prices are good here but it's a big menu to carry and I rather fancy that the place would impress more by keeping it simple. That's what they do in Tuscany, after all.
