Portofino, Viaduct Harbour

By EWAN McDONALD for viva

Jess has just moved up north from down south - well, the middle of New Zealand, really - to begin her course at what used to be called "tech" but is now a "tertiary education provider".

Mum and Dad - Gavin and Sharyn to you - came up, too, to help her to settle in and have a break and look up old mates because they used to live in Auckland.

First night, and we had to show Jess the sights and points of interest, which for a 17-year-old are not Rangitoto or One Tree Hill or the museum but Trelise Cooper, Kate Sylvester, World and Zambesi.

So we ended up at the Viaduct. It was 8-ish and hot. No, it wasn't. It was bloody muggy, the way that only a January night in Auckland can be.

"I'd forgotten just what the weather's like in Auckland at this time of year," said Gavin, with all the feigned nostalgia of someone who now lives in the hotter, drier climes of Marlborough.

Lord, the place was packed, the way it should be, the way you always hoped that it would be after the hype and hysteria of the ... what was that yachting event called, when Aotearoa ruled the waves?

We felt like an easy, quiet meal, which knocked the idea of scampi at Kermadec out of the water. Neither Gavin nor I were wearing the right suit for it, anyway.

One of the good things about the Viaduct these days is that it's catering for all tastes - Indian, Italian, seafood, stylish pub grub - and most price brackets.

Portofino could take the five of us, if we didn't mind eating inside, so we settled at a banquette table with the cooling southerly breeze of an air conditioner at our backs.

I had qualms. I had been unkind about Portofino after a previous visit when we endured some of the slowest and surliest "service" in Auckland (particularly at a tourist destination); and it's a chain restaurant, with sisters in Mission Bay, Parnell, Meadowbank and even New Plymouth, and Viva usually steers clear of franchises.

But on this side of the wharf, with Mecca and Milano et al, there's little option.

Have I mentioned it was a muggy night? We needed a drink, so I asked for Luna di Luna sangiovese. Well, when in Portofino do as the Portofinest do, and it seemed a good, light (that word will come up again), summery Italian red.

Ann tasted it and shuddered. Gavin was kind enough to say that it was quite nice and would be better with food, but since he was driving and had finished his half-glass by the time he ate, we shall never know what he really thought.

"There's so much to choose from," marvelled Jess, and then unfolded the third page of the menu.

True, but when you break it down, it's that old Italian restaurant tradition of taking three or four basic dishes and adding different sauces and a few more lire (oh, all right, euros).

Three of us went for veal, because it seemed light-ish and you always hope that they've sourced the real veal. They sauced it, anyway: one in the reliable marsala and panna, one with white wine and mushrooms (and a panna sauce), and mine with the piccante flavours of onion, capsicum, olives, chilli and tomato salsa.

We were optimistic about the "light-ish" bit. These are big meals, served on a vast dish with potatoes and vegetables and what they called "a little salad" which was little in the way that Texas is.

Jess was hugely impressed with her platter of smoked salmon and baby spinach fettuccine, with garlic and lemon cream sauce, but then there was a lot of it to be impressed by.

She gave up just past halfway, which is a heck of a lot better than Team New Zealand did last time they were around this part of town, come to think of it.

I asked Gavin what he thought, since he used to manage a similarly styled trattoria in Melbourne. Wiping the last juices of a clearly enjoyed spaghetti marinara from his bowl, he said Portofino shared the same philosophy: "Get 'em in, get 'em on, get 'em off, get 'em out," which apparently translates as hook the punters, seat them, feed them and get more bums on seats. And which, unlike our last visit, they were doing with cheerfulness and efficiency.

These bums decided it was high time we went, too. We left, driving past that completely inspired idea of an open-air cinema. The Life of Brian was playing. On a night like this, it wasn't too hard to look on the bright side of life.


Open: 7 days lunch and dinner

Owners: Gino and Kiro Gurshin

Food: Traditional Italian

On the menu

Muscoli Genovese: mussels in their shells steamed with garlic, onion, rosemary, white wine, cream, tomato sauce $15.90

Penne Kiko: sautéed thin-sliced baby veal with mushrooms, capsicum, garlic in a tomato panna sauce $21.90

Bistecca Diana: scotch fillet grilled and served with bacon, olive oil, mushrooms, red wine and cream $29.90

Vegetarian: Si

Smoking: Smokefree

Noise: Conversazione

Parking: It's the Viaduct, stupid

Disabled access/toilets: Enter from the street, not the wharf; excellent facilities

Bottom line:

There's a crush on the levee: the Viaduct is lively and jam-packed this summer, especially with that inspired idea of an open-air cinema. The dining scene has matured, and now caters for all tastes and most wallets. Portofino is one of the better of the chains represented here, serving huge portions of Italian favourites on its terrace and inside the trattoria.

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