Review: Pilkington's, Auckland CBD

Tiramisu at Pilkingtons. Photo / Chris Gorman

Address: 41 Shortland St, Auckland
Phone: (09) 336 1857
Rating out of 10: Food: 6, Service: 7, Value: 7, Ambience: 6

It wasn't until I ate a mouthful of the fillet steak that at last I was satisfied. This tender, well-seasoned piece of meat, served with a dreamily creamy potato dauphinoise, was the kind of cuisine we'd been expecting all evening. But until then we'd been disappointed.

We had booked at Pilkingtons in Shortland St for 7pm, were warmly greeted, and our waiter offered us water while we checked out the menu and wine list. Both were mildly unusual. At Pilkingtons, meals are divided into small (from $12), medium ($16), large plates (up to $39) and desserts ($14). Meanwhile, the wine list has plenty of choices by the glass, in 150ml and 250ml sizes, and covered the big names.

Our drinks were accompanied by a free appetiser, upon which we fell with delight until we bit into the baked brick-hard toast, which wasn't saved by a bland hummus-style spread. The wine helped, but even that couldn't save our small plates. The ham and cheese croquettes for two of us to share came as three plump, deep-fried cigars that looked good but tasted neither of ham nor cheese and were so over-salted we sent them back.

The crumbed mussels were over-cooked, dry and stringy, with no sign of the promised crab meat and bits of shell in my sample. Only the Thai vegetable salad (a medium plate) was adequate.

Luckily, three of our large plates were up to the standard we've come to expect from Pilkington's new chef, Alex Strobach, whose dishes never failed to impress us at the O'Connell St Bistro. My steak was excellent, the lamb rump was rare, tender and tasty but served with gnocchi, which didn't quite work, and although the sweetcorn risotto was up to standard, the confit duck leg was dry and overcooked.

Our side dishes were dismal, too. The roast pumpkin was barely okay, the roast cauliflower soggy.

The best desserts by far were the tiramisu and the orange custard. The coconut lime rice pudding, which I was really looking forward to, was dull and not sweet enough.

The sad thing is, Pilkingtons is so beautiful it deserves the finest food and music. Part of the city makeover that started with the Britomart precinct and is now moving steadily uptown, the fit-out by Cheshire Architects, with its sweeping marble staircase and outdoor garden bar, is exquisite. Inside, a huge, decorative bar dominates a room that feels like a Garden of Eden. Its curved banquettes are covered in old-fashioned flowery and butterfly material; bowls of greenery and more flowers are lit by wonderful, low-hung glass orbs, which cast a romantic light over the whole place.

But there the atmosphere ends. Outside in the courtyard area a DJ presides over a musical line-up that dominates the entire place with a heavy base that never lets up.

As we left, we compared notes. Not everyone had found the music so irritating. We all loved the decor. Our waiter was great if subdued, and we weren't charged for the salty croquettes. To be fair, Pilkingtons has been open for only a couple of months. Let's hope these are settling-down problems and soon it will offer cuisine that matches its marvellous decor.

Our meal: $301 for five glasses of wine, two small plates and one medium, four large plates and three desserts.

Wine list: A good representation of our brightest vineyard labels, plus an excellent array of beers, spirits and cocktails.

Verdict: Okay for coffee, lunch and maybe a quick dinner on the way home from work. It's a shame because, given a more sophisticated music mix and more attention to some basic problems with the food, Pilkingtons would be a grand asset for a section of the city that's becoming cooler and more popular all the time.