Restaurant review: Black Cottage Cafe, Coatesville

Black Cottage Cafe's Beef Wellington. Photo / Nick Reed

Address: 308 Riverhead Highway, Coatesville.
Phone: (09) 415 4545
Rating out of 10: Food: 7, Service: 8, Value: 7, Ambience: 8

It's always a gamble when a favourite cafe steps up to opening for dinner on the weekends, so we weren't super-confident when we headed to the Black Cottage in Coatesville on yet another wet and stormy night. We'd heard good things, though, and hoped we were in for a treat. We were.

By 7pm the place was heaving with diners. It was loud but cosy; relaxed and country-style, with buckets of fresh flowers at the entrance, warm greetings and tables full of locals having great fun. What's probably a garden courtyard in summer had been converted into a large, plastic, zip-up room, where waiters were weaving between tables with amazing dexterity and our table, conveniently located near a bi-fold door to accommodate the wheelchair (no I haven't fallen down the stairs again), was tucked away so we could actually have a conversation.

Service was relatively quick, despite the crowd, and soon our wine glasses were full, menus produced. The menu is relatively short, interesting and, for once, traditional: that is, offering three courses: entree, main course and dessert.

My friend and I decided to share a scallop entree while the men tucked into salt and pepper squid and pork buns. All three were excellent. The scallops weren't huge but there were 10 of them and they were perfectly cooked and served with finely chopped herbs. The squid, on the other hand, was a hearty start: crisp and crunchy, soft inside and, with more than enough for us all to share, it was a fine rendition of the dish. And if you like pork buns these were unusually large, more like sliders really, with a slab of pork belly including the crackling encased in the steamed bun. And there were two of them!

Our wines are worth a mention too. My Dr Loosen riesling was excellent, while a Roaring Meg pinot noir got the others off to a good start.

By now the Black Cottage was at full throttle, and even in our little corner it was hard to conduct a serious conversation, so we just settled back, enjoyed the lift-off and relaxed while the waiters cleared our plates and brought succeeding courses at about the same pace you would at a dinner party. Not too fast, not too slow.

There were five choices of main course the night we dined. We chose the duck, the chicken breast, the chicken and bacon linguini and the beef wellington - and when they arrived we almost cheered. These meals were huge. I received two large slabs of beautifully cooked and seasoned medium-rare beef, the linguini was excellent while the duck, which was enhanced by beautifully cooked pommes dauphinoise with crisp, long green beans, was pronounced the best ever by our duck-loving friend. The chef even achieved a succulent and tender chicken breast and all our meals included vegetables.

Which is not to say this was haute cuisine. In my case the pastry around the beef was flabby apart from a thin, crisp outside layer and I couldn't detect any pate, but rather what seemed like a pesto coating on the inner layer of pastry - but the meat was brilliant. The chicken wasn't memorable, though the linguini got top marks for tastiness and texture.

Later, the creme brulee arrived, crisp enough, but dead cold, while the cheesecake and chocolate brownie were fine without hitting the "wow" category.

Overall, our meals were delicious and generous and the service super-friendly and efficient. The staff had worked out the perfect entrance and table for our friend in the wheelchair. The toilets, which are in a separate building, are clean, spacious and beautifully fitted out, there's a ramp for wheelchairs and our waiter didn't flinch when we broke a wine glass.

Our meal: $285 for three entrees, four main dishes, three desserts and six glasses of wine.

Wine list: A sophisticated and interesting list that reflects the cool and classic cuisine, with plenty of new and interesting wines to try, plus the best of our favourites.

Verdict: Classic, honest, hearty New Zealand food, offering quality in-season ingredients, expertly prepared and cooked. Service is relaxed but super-efficient and the atmosphere reminded us of the better neighbourhood gastro pubs in England.