Herald rating: * * * *
Where: 168 Hurstmere Rd, Takapuna
Ph: 489 9510
Lunch and dinner: Tuesday-Sunday
Wine list: Like the place, compact and smart.
Vegetarians: No mains on our menu, but accommodation made.
Watch out for: A table. Arrive early.
Sound check: Conversation-friendly
Bottom line: Small is beautiful.
KEY POINTS:
I've suggested before that a decent restaurant on the Shore is almost a contradiction in terms. There are notable and honourable exceptions: Eight Point Two (or however they spell it) in Birkenhead, The Narrow Table in Mairangi Bay, The Engine Room in Northcote. Any other bids? No, I thought not.
I'm now beginning to wonder whether Shoreites have been keeping quiet about their favourite spots for fear that hordes of city people would bring their appetites over the bridge.
Take this tiny and terrific bistro in Takapuna. If it were in my neck of the woods I'd keep quiet about it. But it wouldn't be much use because the secret is plainly out. We got a table - they don't take bookings - only by turning up shortly after six: by eight they were turning people away and gently suggesting that, unless we wanted to order some dessert, we should feel welcome to ask for the bill.
With seating for 24 at a stretch, this place is only a notch or two above a hole in the wall. The kitchen is so small that the chefs bring the food to the bar and the waitresses take it from there. Such modest proportion is out of place in a precinct which is full of the cavernous premises of the GPK/One Red Dog/sports bar franchises. But I can't remember when I've felt so satisfied by a meal which (two people, five dishes, a bit of wine) still left me change out of $100.
Only two waitresses were on and they had a disconcerting habit of working so closely together that they seemed like conjoined twins. When one decided to replenish the glassware or cutlery, the other rushed to help, and both stood with their backs to the room. This made getting service a challenge and we were ignored for several minutes after we had arrived because each thought the other had attended to us. But when one realised what had happened, her apologies were so profuse that even the Blonde stopped feeling grumpy.
Noticing that there was no vegetarian main, we asked what might be done and were told that they would happily leave the prawns out of the prawn-and-pumpkin risotto and "add some extra vegetables". The result was very pleasant, a risotto with the rice grains still nutty and chewy. My pork belly came as two wintry slabs, succulently braised and accompanied by roast parsnip, apple and fat fresh capers, quite delicious.
The entrees - mushrooms with blue cheese, and fat juicy scallops and prawns with crisp-seared rosettes of prosciutto - were equally impressive. The dessert, a slightly dry and too bready bread-and-butter pudding, was less memorable, but four hits out of five ain't bad. The wines from a decent list included a couple of $5-a-glass specials. The last time I had a glass of wine for $5 I was drinking at home.
Auckland is full of restaurants that call themselves bistros, perhaps because they think it sounds sophisticated. But here is a place that perfectly defines the term: the decor is faintly deco-bordello but the atmosphere is casual, the food simple and unpretentious. and the prices so reasonable that you have to assume that they cannot last.
THE BILL
$98.70 for two
Mushrooms $13.50
Scallops $16.50
Pork $19.50
Risotto $12.50
Salad $5
Pudding $9.50
Wine (three glasses) $22.20
