Moka

By EWAN McDONALD for viva

"You need to get out more," Ann told me as she drove the VW on to the northwestern Motorway and pointed it towards Henderson, the last place I would have taken a small European car.

Mind you, the car wasn't the only reason I felt out of place. My black T-shirt (Barkers, $139) was in the wash.

Okay, enough Westie jokes. We had a good night out on the far side of Metropolis and there was a simple reason. Restaurants, brasseries, cafes, motels and hotels used to be called "the hospitality industry". Somewhere between the fusion cuisine, the designer fitouts and the Philip Starck chairs, many people forgot that.

It takes a visit to a place like Moka to be reminded of what hospitality means. To see the owners, well into their golden years, chatting with customers and, when someone mentions how much she loves the tabouleh, it's off to the kitchen cupboard and back with a jar of the stuff to take home.

Daytime, Moka is what used to be called a coffee bar in what used to be called a main street and is now probably known as a pedestrian-friendly retail precinct. Cakes and goodies and lunchtime snacks are baked in the kitchen, not bought in from flash wholesale operations. It's busy, it's buzzy.

For evenings, the lights are lowered, the dinner menus come out, and the maitre d', Leza Lee (jazz singer Leza Corban in another life), gets to choose the music, which means CD player does not translate as Celine Dion player (as it does during the day), and you hear great songs like those Motown classics of the 60s and 70s.

And even on a chilly Tuesday night, the locals roll in. And in. The long, narrow, yellow shop is full by 7.30. Many are regulars and know the owners or one another. If they don't, they will before coffee.

Lee and her parents, Richard and Elaine Corban, opened Moka four-and-a-half years ago. Longtime residents of the district, they're experienced in the restaurant trade, and Elaine is famous for her food. Moka has twice been voted Waitakere's best.

For much of that time, the chef was Robbie Clelland-Pottie, previously of Vinnie's and Cibo. Since February, however, the man in the kitchen has been Vern Samu, who drove over from Gault@George, Iguacu, Prada's first challenge and the marvellous, lost Ramses.

His food is what we've come to call New Zealand bistro, with Mediterranean rather than Asian flavours, many from the Lebanese end of the Med, as you'd expect with Elaine looking over his shoulder.

That's to say the lamb fillets are seared, on a warm nicoise salad featuring plump green olives and a soft-boiled egg, a $14 entree most of New Zealand would call a decent-sized meal. Prawns are sauteed, shake hands with chilli, lime and ginger, and go on a date with wontons the size of waffles, an avocado and orange salsa.

Venison cutlet, pan-roasted one moment past bleeding, rests in a rich saute of golden kumara, onion and bacon, dressed with creamy spinach and, in case you're still hungry, some mushroom ragout on the side.

That is the most expensive meal at $32, which is what you'd pay at the other end of the motorway. Expect to fork out $20-$25 for the other mains, under $10 for desserts that offer something out of the all-too-ordinary sweets dished up elsewhere.

As you might expect, the shortish wine list is relatively - sorry, promised no more jokes - obvious. While the only vintage that hails from the neighbourhood is Tim Harris' mellow-as-a-cello-solo Harrier Rise cabernet franca, many carry the family labels. There's not a bottle that couldn't play in the Bledisloe Cup and the most expensive is the hard-to-find Unison 2000 syrah-cabernet-merlot blend at $46.

Moka is, as they say in the Michelin, worth the detour.

Open: Breakfast-lunch Mon-Fri 7.30am-3.30pm, dinner Tues-Sat from 6pm

Owners: Richard and Elaine Corban, Leza Lee

Maitre d': Leza Lee

Chef: Vern Samu

Food: NZ bistro with Mediterranean flavours

On the menu:

Salmon gravalax with ginger marscapone, cucumber ribbons, baby spinach salad, crostini $14

Seafood paella of oven-roasted mussels, salmon, white fish on crayfish rice and sauteed vegetables $25

Slow-roasted lamb shanks braised in port wine with white bean puree, fava beans and roasted vine tomato $18/$24

Lebanese sweet treats - basbousa (semolina-orange cake), baklava, Mediterranean dried fruit salad, pomegranate ice-cream $12

Vegetarian: Mezze, soup, roasted veges on menu

Wine: 3 bubbles, 10 whites, 9 reds, many from family vineyards

Smoking: Great North Rd runs right past the front door

Noise: Temptations, 4 Tops, Jackson 5 - Motown classics

Bottom line: You don't have to drive to Henderson to enjoy inner-city style and old-fashioned hospitality, but if you're from the suburbs where flash has replaced passion, where brash has displaced friendliness, Moka is more than worth the trip. And that's before you even taste the food.

* 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.