Pearl, Northcote Point

Pearl is elegant and much effort goes into presentation, too. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

Herald rating: * * *


We were somewhere around Birkenhead on the edge of the suburbs when the wine began to take hold. I remember saying something like, "I feel a bit light-headed, maybe you should drive", when suddenly there was a terrible bore all around us and the menus were full of what looked like huge pizzas ...

Well, Hunter S. Thompson is dead and journalists of a certain age are trying to recall those long-gone Gonzo days when they thought they could imbibe, inhale, reload and hyperbolise like the Mad Doctor. Now they ease themselves not into a giant tail-finned convertible but a small European saloon, and their mood-enhancer of choice is not those of yore but a decent pinot noir. The Great Shark Hunt has become the great pan-fried snapper find.

This mood is sparked by eating at Pearl, just over the road from the Bridgeway cinema, where the movie du jour is Sideways, two middle-aged gents' road trip through California vineyards in a battered old Saab. If you haven't seen it by now, you must.

Pearl has been around for a couple of years, replacing the decent Chutney Mary's curry house in the gorgeously proportioned 30s stucco post office. Finished elegantly in grey, black and whites, it's the sort of place that chefs and trendsetters in last week's feature about dining trends were asking us to patronise: a suburban bistro with decent food at fair prices. The sort of place where you're happy to eat once a fortnight after the movies.

The menu is kept tight and straightforward. Chicken breast, eye fillet and pasta are tarted up with flavours that aren't quite run-of-the-peppermill. Chicken is stuffed with bocconcini and sage, venison arrives with a zucchini tart and marinated tomatoes. Penne goes out with two of my best friends, braised duck and fennel. Fish and ... not chips but "crisp risotto cakes with broccolini and citrus hollandaise". Oh, middle New Zealand, how your tastes have changed. Regrettably, there's no snapper, it's hapuku tonight.

The room's not the only elegant thing about Pearl: effort goes into presentation, too, like a stylish tasting plate of oysters, a line-up of crisp-fried, grilled, natural, in shots of bloody mary. With due deference to the alleged qualities of the juicy little beggars, it was the greatest thrill of the night.

Gnocchi seemed a good idea with sweet pumpkin and cashew nuts, in a rich tomato sauce. "These potato dumplings should be light and velvety," says Stephanie Alexander, and I'd suggest that someone turns to page 777 of her Cook's Companion, because Pearl's were soggy and gluggy.

Glistening, deep-brown against the greens and cream of a potato mash, the pork belly was tenderly braised in Asian notes, but might have been better suited to a cooler night than a humid February in Auckland.

They do desserts on this side of the bridge. Sweet little things like tiramisu, banana fritters, a fine rhubarb brulee and a chocolate tart. It says "rich" on the menu and it is: if you order it, you eat it, and don't come over all diet-Nazi afterwards.

The wine list is interesting. Italians and Aussies are featured against an upper-middle-class New Zealand background, but you might feel aggrieved by the mark-up, at odds with the lower-middle tendencies of the food prices.

Satisfied if not sensationalised, we aimed the Little Black Polo towards the shoulder of the harbour bridge ...

Address: 115 Queen St, Northcote Point

Ph: 480 9502

Owners: Alan McMeiken, Russell Gibb

Open: Dinner Tues-Sun, Lunch Wed-Sun

Food: Bistro

On the menu: Seared venison with caramelised pear and mesclun $14; marinated lamb rump on sweet roasted vegetables and chickpea puree $28.50

Wine: Not a big, show-off cellar, but interesting - and marked up.

Bottom line: Suburban bistro with decent food at fair prices. The sort of place where you're happy to eat once a fortnight after a movie at the Bridgeway.

* 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.