Milano, Viaduct Harbour

By JOHN GARDNER for canvas


What is the use of semolina gnocchi? It is the Pink Batts of food, fit only for plugging gaps and stopping a draught. It's almost as dreary as polenta or tofu.

It's genuine Italian peasant food, perhaps, when it ekes out a little bit of meat. But let's be realistic. Milano may be North Italian in inspiration, but the food is about as far removed from its peasant origin as AC Milan are from the Kingz.

But before I start sounding like someone getting very cross about very little, it's fair to add that this was one of our few reservations about what proved to be an excellent dinner.

Our campaign orders from canvas headquarters had been to go for an outdoor dining experience. But the interesting Auckland spring weather put paid to that. Like most people at the Viaduct we ducked for cover and watched the passing parade of foul-weather gear. We would have been able to see it better if Milano's architects had not put a 20cm strip of metal across the windows exactly at eye-level, but the middle-distance view gave us the outdoor feel without the goose pimples.

And the food did lift the spirits, as did our cheerful and chatty attendant, although a bit less chat and a bit more information would have been no bad thing. We began with a Stogliatina do melanzane e pomodori - like so much Italian food, worth ordering for the joy of the name alone. This was a sweet little concoction of baked goats' cheese, eggplant and roast tomato on a pastry base ($14.50). I had the Insalata di mare ($19.50). It's difficult to go wrong with this selection of scallops, prawns, delicate little mussels and melting scampi - and they didn't.

We were so impressed with this, that an expanded version, in the form of Bucatini con gamberetti ($29.50), forced its way ahead of the field as one of our main courses. The seafood was as good as first time around and the bucatini pasta benefited from a light crayfish creme sauce.

The gnocchi formed the accompaniment for my Saltimbocca alla Romana, which was a heartily flavoured but not heavy assembly of veal with sage, bocconcini and parma ham. While appetising, the portions are not thunderous and we easily felt up to a dessert each. My passionfruit and pistachio cassata with strawberry sorbet ($15) made a refreshing finish to the meal and the Vanilla and cardamom panna cotta with poached apricots ($15) was an excellent example of this favourite.

The wine list at Milano is extensive and, while I was tempted by a Barolo, the price tag of $156 was a deterrent. We settled for - and were happy with - glasses of Lawson's Dry Hills Pinot Gris, Margrain petit pinot noir (2002) and a Cottage Block 1999 Merlot.

I succumbed to my weakness for a dessert wine, a 1993 Sensi Vin Santo del Chianti, and although I know restaurant reviewers are supposed to be omniscient, I confess I had never before tasted it. It proved interesting, although for my taste perhaps better suited as an aperitif than as a sticky, but it was worth experiencing, as was the whole evening. Next time it might even be sunny.

Ambience: Modern with the Viaduct buzz.

Cost: $201 for two, three courses each and five glasses of wine.

* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, party places and entertainment in canvas magazine, part of your Weekend Herald print edition.