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Herald Rating: 4 out of 5
Emma has a theory about Pasha. From the get-go it's only fair to point out that this theory was formed over after-work cocktails therein. Her theory is that the place is split along gender lines.
"The food," she said, " is very male. Nine cheese dishes, 10 if you count the buffalo mozzarella with the anchovies. The cocktails are fruit-laden. More girly.
"The outside seating is high stools and bar leaners. Tall. Blokey. Inside you've got red plush couches, chandeliers, the fireplace. Much more female."
I leaned back into the red plush couch next to the fireplace and toyed with the kiwifruit and lychees floating in my Front Lawn. "Interesting theory. I'll have to think about that."
We were at Pasha because the place had scored an intriguing number of nominations in the Lewisham Awards - Jeremy Earnshaw for outstanding bartender and the place for outstanding bar, outstanding cocktail list, best ambience and style (established premises).
To digress: toss in nods for Richard Sigley (outstanding restaurateur, hospitality personality), Claire Thomson and Jay Radcliff (maitre d'), Jeremy Yee (waiter), Euro's wine list, Jervois Steak House's ambience and style (emerging premises), chefs Simon Gault and Shane Yardley ... the Nourish Group looks to have quite a lock on the Restaurant Association's annual bunfight.
Back to Pasha, where Sigley has made changes since the New Year. It's returned to a lounge bar, dropping its a la carte menu for 30 tapas plates.
We mulled Gault's dishes over the first of our cocktail choices (hers gin, lemon and champagne; you know about mine). Tempura anchovies, steak skewers and - after some havering - artichokes rather than balsamic onions and gherkins.
Liked the fish dish. Lightly battered, the salty little blighters were a foil for the blandness of buffalo mozzarella and sweetish cherry tomatoes. Loved the steak, cubes of pink-inside, charred-outside sirloin against falling-apart onions, caramelised in balsamic. Less inspired by our third platter: there was more zest in Emma's cocktail than in the artichokes or avocado, and Spain is a long way to go for a solid hunk of undistinguished dairy.
We thought about trying another of the 30-plus cocktails. Then we stopped thinking about it, and did it. Champagne this time (we didn't splash out on the Pol Roger option).
"Do you really think that cocktails are a female drink?" I asked Emma. "Of course," she said, and I should have known this was coming, "they're totally chic."
There's another chapter to this story. Bridget has fond memories of a previous relationship with a pomegranate cocktail at Pasha.
One night we rolled on to the wharf, liquidated the Visa with the heinous parking charges, sat ourselves at one of those high, masculine outside tables.
Four plates this time. Buffalo mozzarella hid inside a slightly gluggy risotto ball; calamari was light, lip-smacking spicy; chorizo fiery as a Barcelona-Real match; the chicken parcel a nice take on a spring roll.
Pasha, though, is not about the food. As Bridget's eyes lit up, possibly from the medicinal effects of the Pomegranate Elixir, I remembered another of Emma's lines. Somehow it didn't seem the time to mention that this gorgeous bar, with its harem of the beautiful and trophied, could have as easily been called "Pash'd".
Address: Shed 22, Princes Wharf
Phone: (09) 355 0077
Web: www.thenourishgroup.co.nz/pasha
Cuisine: Tapas
From the menu: Wild balsamic onion, gherkin, provolone cheese $5.50; teriyaki salmon belly $8.50; iceberg chicken parcel, chilli mayo $9.50
Vegetarian: Easy
Wine: Cocktails, sweetie
