Killarney St Brasserie

By EWAN McDONALD for viva

Four-letter words slip into almost every conversation these days. There you are, chatting to the Queen at a Buckingham Palace garden party, and before you know it, one of those tiny but expressive and emotive ejaculations has passed your lips.

One of the more recent is "icon". Everything and almost everyone is an icon: Madonna (well, the original was probably the original icon, come to think of it); Fitzy (my wife once called him "God" in his hearing and he smiled, only faintly).

In Takapuna, Killarney St Brasserie and Bar is an icon. When it opened 10 years ago it was the only place on the Shore respectable enough for business lunches, family dinners, great-aunts' birthday parties and romantic trysts. Perhaps the greatest compliment you could pay is that an entire Piazza della Pizza, a whole Boulevard des Bistrots has grown up around its ankles and Killarney St is still packing'em in, every afternoon, every night. It recently had a makeover, extending the bar by cribbing some tables so that it now seats only 160.

There are reasons why some restaurants are successful and others succeed only in maintaining the statistic that was published last week, that the average lifespan of the New Zealand eatery is 20 months. It comes down to knowing your neighbourhood, because that's where most of your patrons come from, and what its values are. Despite the fact that a couple of Grey Lynn icons were at the next table (we recognised them even though the demi-god had shaved his head and his wife had gone blond, we'd seen that in Viva), Killarney St has taken the Shore style - casual, friendly, family, middle New Zealand - and made it its own. Years ago it ceased to become a place that people went out to: it became part of the landscape.

The menu has also had a makeover in the past year. Food and wine choices are extensive: 15 starters, 10 light mains, 17 mains and a page of daily specials as well. The wine list, including the intriguing cellar book, runs just a little shorter than War And Peace. Obviously the locals eat here so often that they appreciate this diversity; some of us are Libran and subject to panic attacks when faced with that many choices.

Best then to stick with what the chef calls signature dishes, which are offered for beef and lamb, chicken and fish. The lamb signature, yoghurt and cumin marinated leg on dahl, read better on the menu than it tasted. Even a Frenchman would have found the meat pink and the dahl added little to the sum of culinary experience. It was a reminder that when in Takapuna, eat what the locals eat: the brasserie's best dishes are its simple and straightforward steaks and panfried, blackened, baked or beer-battered fish.

Particularly enjoyable, too, eaten at lunch at an outside table from where you can glimpse Rangitoto. See, it's happened again: another icon.

Hours: Lunch and dinner, Monday to Friday, 11.30am-late
Brunch and dinner, Saturday and Sunday, 10.30am-late

Food: Modern New Zealand brasserie

Owner: Richard and Malcolm Farry

Executive chef: Toni Edwards

Essence: High, hipped roof; bifold front; casual decor; laidback diners of all ages: you might have stepped into a Takapuna yacht club. Lighting would be a tad brighter there, though

Wine list: Exhaustive

Smoking: Three smoking tables in Siberia; smoking in adjacent bar

Noise: Unobtrusive

Cost (mains for two): $45, plus vegetables

Vegetarian: Limited salad, pasta choices

Bottom line: Brasserie: a place where beer or cider is made and sold, and where the locals gather for a drink, a plain meal and conversation. Killarney St has done those simple things so well for a decade (okay, so they don't actually make the beer there) that it's not just a Takapuna restaurant, it's an icon.

* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, fashion and beauty in viva, part of your Herald print edition every Wednesday.