Pure delight. Photo / Babiche Martens
Herald rating: * * * *
Address: 186 Jervois Rd, Herne Bay
Phone: (09) 360 0714
Open: For lunch and dinner Tuesday - Saturday and brunch on Sunday
From the menu: Spinach risotto with sauteed chilli prawns $19; Beef fillet and braised cheek on chickpea puree and caponata $31; Creme brulee, balsamic marinated fig, olive oil-infused ice cream $14
Vegetarian: Ideas on menu
Wine: Tres bon
"Someone told me," The Lady Editor declared across her new glasses, which are tres Gina L, if I may be allowed an optical allusion, "that this is the poor man's French Cafe."
So Janet, Jude and I rendezvoused in La Rue Jervois of a Friday night in the
spot that has nourished the Herne Bay Cake Kitchen, Scoozi and Noisette.
Pure has that elegant simplicity - dark wooden floors and tables, black banquettes, white napkins, a long, narrow, tiny shop, French-accented waiter - that we spy from the street, are seduced by nostalgia, immediately transported to the classic Paris bistro. The classic Paris bistro most often found in Surry Hills, South Yarra or Herne Bay.
In the kitchen is Stefan Loetscher and out the front is his wife, Nadine. They came to Auckland a few years ago, Stefan winning a Culinary Fare award or two while at the Hilton.
They went back to Europe, Phillippe the waiter tells us in his French, or maybe Belgian or possibly Swiss, accent, to see what was going on, and returned a few months ago. There you have the essence of Pure.
Loetscher's menu is pure bistro - five entrees, five mains - that touch the bases of fish, seafood, pasta (ooh ... err ... oxtail ravioli. Mmmm ... ), soup, braised beef, pork chop.
Phillippe brought bread and dip while we thought about wine and food: a fine, coarse-pored loaf that allowed light, sweet capsicum foam to soak into its pores. What a change from the oils and tahini that we tired of in 2003.
I shall not bore with the innards of every dish and how the chef should have cooked it, because one moment defined we were on to A Good Thing.
I'd chosen a gnocchi entree with olives, tomato, rocket. As it was placed in front of me, the aromas jumped off the plate and (pardonnez-moi) up my nose. The freshness, the tang, the marriage of ingredients: smells that good, it's gonna taste it, too. And it did.
Phillippe tried to say they had only five Bluff oysters, in a warm champagne foam that would ever so lightly cook the molluscs, but Jude stopped him mid-recitation. They were out of the fridge, on the plate, had disappeared before that broth had time to do anything but lightly cook `em.
Juicy lamb noisettes with almost melting slices of red capsicum, though we won't say too much about that one, for they change the menu weekly and that's done its dashing. Pork cutlet with apple chutney and a crisp sage-rosti, wilted kale. Hapuka, pan-fried with the skin on, fluffy cous-cous.
Loetscher excels at straightforward, clean cooking with excellent ingredients. He restricts the items on each plate so that each has the chance to speak for itself and contribute to the whole. It's not challenging or cutting-edge food.
But each dish is well thought-through, balanced, executed. The simplicity, the clarity is refreshing, more when compared against the heavy and complex offerings at so many restaurants.
Each comes a wine recommendation, invariably the better class of Kiwi, though Phillippe and Nadine know their way around a cellar and are keen to advise.
We ended our meal with a debate, too. About dessert. I was all for the passionfruit and mascarpone trifle, with lemongrass icecream, which is something to get your teeth into, while the women wanted the mousse. Could someone please explain to me how dark chocolate mousse becomes a health food because the menu alleges it has "berry yoghurt ice-cream" on the side?
Hand on heart: I liked Pure. I liked Pure a lot. I liked Loetscher's food, I liked Mr and Mrs Loetscher's hospitality, and I liked Phillippe's energy. There should be more places like Pure around Auckland. Don't know about "the poor man's French Café" - that sounds like rather a backhanded compliment - but I do know we'd be the richer for them.
