Review: Deco, Titirangi

Confit Salmon at Deco Eatery. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Address: 418 Titirangi Rd, Titirangi
Phone: Ph (09) 817 2664
Rating out of 10: Food: 8, Service: 6, Value: 8, Ambience: 8

It was a joy to see that Deco, Titirangi's latest restaurant is as stylish as the rest of the newly restored Lopdell House. This Spanish-style arts centre is a Titirangi icon and the restaurant and cafe is designed to cater for visitors from breakfast until dinner, so we were pleased they'd reserved us a table through the arches that sit back from the main room and gave us a slight feel of intimacy and remoteness from the rest of the crowd. It wasn't as noisy either. The views over the bush and out to the Manukau Harbour are breathtaking and the fit-out - mostly white with blue tiles and blond wooden clean-lined tables - give an excellent background to Deco's cool pottery plates and Turkish silver water jugs.

Despite the rain the place was full, and despite the pressure, service was excellent. Our table was waiting - and the menu looked great. However, the wait-staff still weren't completely familiar with the menu and wine list, while someone hovered around, orchestrating the whole performance.

Although is predominantly a Turkish restaurant, Deco offers the usual local favourites, including eye fillet, tuna and salmon cooked the local way, and other dishes are scented with cumin, cinnamon, allspice, even dates.

We started with a glass of wine, soon joined by a mezze platter so large our waiter had difficulty fitting it on the table. For $25 we received eight beautiful bowls brimming with hummus, labneh (a silky Turkish ricotta), falafels, a white bean salad, tabouli, tarama, dolmades and, on the side, slices of crispy warm Turkish bread. And just because it sounded so great, we also ordered an Aegean capsicum stuffed with pine nuts, herbs, rice and labneh.

It had been cooked to the texture of a rice pudding, with just the skin of the capsicum holding it all together.

Despite sampling our way through this lot, we had no trouble demolishing our main courses. For me, the fattoush of lamb shoulder, which was served pulled into small pieces and topped with watercress, candied walnuts, croutons and drizzled with pomegranate molasses, was the outright winner. Loaded with allspice and cumin that had soaked into the lamb over several hours, it was divine.

This came up against the 24-hour cooked beef cheek, which had spent a whole day and night in the sous vide, then combined with butternut, shallots, oregano and horseradish, and surprise, surprise, dates! After we got used to the sweetness it was delicious.

The lahmacun, billed as Istanbul street food, turned out to be a thin pizza topped with minced beef, onion, rocket, tomato and lemon. Once again the flavours were sweet and mildly exotic. The Moroccan chicken with olives and couscous was studded with allspice, redolent of cumin and cinnamon and altogether beautiful. It was all thoughtfully arranged.

Our desserts were exotic and delicious too - including the icecream sundae with chocolate "pop rocks" and salted caramel sauce. My fig mousse arrived as shivery-soft mounds on a bed of yoghurt mascarpone, drizzled with pomegranate molasses and sprinkled with hazelnut praline for a little crunch and was beautiful; the baklava came with honeycomb and mascarpone and was yet another high point.

Over the past few weeks some locals have reported that Deco wasn't up to standard, but this Thursday night, nearly a month after opening, the team proved that Deco had settled down into a fine restaurant.

Just one slight worry. By the time we finished there was no sign of the boss, our original wait crew had disappeared, and no one even came close so we could ask for the bill. In fact, I'm sure we could have walked out without paying. In the end, I just lined up at the till behind three other people. It was a dud note in a night of high points. I just hope that the proprietor, who runs a small empire of often indifferent cafes, will be able to keep standards high at Deco.

Our meal: $233 for four glasses of wine, one mezze platter plus a vegetarian side, plus four main courses and desserts.

Wine list: a high quality, well-chosen and well-priced list and even though our waiter didn't know her way around it, another did.

Verdict: If it stays this good Deco will join the very small club of excellent Titirangi restaurants. Their Turkish and Middle Eastern flavours are strong and exotic, and their classic New Zealand dishes are well put together, excellently cooked and presented. Meanwhile, the service is charming, if obviously amateur, at this stage. We'll look forward to returning in another few months to see if Deco fulfills its early promise.