Rocco, Ponsonby

Roast pork chop filled with chorizo, pancetta and apple stuffing. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

The more easily shocked canvas reader may wish to move on at this point when I confess I haven't been to eat in Ponsonby for some time. The parking is often a chore, I've encountered some pretty amateur service but, most of all, I've become a little jaded by every Auckland foodie taking as a matter of faith that it has the best collection of restaurants in Auckland and, therefore, the best in New Zealand.

But my contrariness was given a deserved blow on a visit to Rocco, a visit which was reminder of why people do bang on about Ponsonby.

There was a good cheerful crowd. Not family dining but a good range of ages from the young couples barely keeping their hands off one another to the older groups looking keener on satisfying different appetites.

And the culinary desires are well served here. I was set on the idea of the duck confit with roasted pear and celeriac puree but the waiter made a persuasive case for a shared tapas.

This featured marinated mushrooms, baby octopus, grilled lamb kebabs and salt cod balls, a sort of upmarket fish cake. It was enjoyable without quite living up to the advanced sales pitch, more the cafe end of the spectrum than restaurant, with some of the meat appearing to come from very athletic lambs heading for maturity.

Things moved up a notch with the mains. The signature dish of squid ink noodles with a rather exotic seafood stew and smoked paprika sounded interesting but a little heavy although, when I think of it, my actual choice of the roast pork chop filled with chorizo, and pancetta and apple stuffing was hardly likely to feature in the Weight Watchers' pamphlet. But it was worth the mouse-squeak voice of conscience.

Our other choice was difficult with the simple beef fillet with roast mushrooms and porcini mash being edged out by the dukkah-crusted tuna on a zucchini babaganoush. It was a good mix of complementary tastes, nothing over-elaborate but interesting.

The desserts were tempting and we fell. I am never quite sure why people wax eloquently about quince and having had the vanilla poached quince with cinnamon icecream, I'm still not sure. Pleasant but dull. The ginger pannacotta had more life about it, which is not something you can say often about pannacotta.

Our wines by the glass from a decent list were good, with the Voss pinot noir, in particular, being a pleasing match for the tapas and with an aromatic Domaine de Beaumalric muscat augmenting the desserts.

The service was very Ponsonby — of the slightly flamboyant rather than the too-bored-to-deal-with-you variety. There are lots of bodies and while our main attendant came close to being OTT he stayed on the right side and added to the enjoyment of an entertaining and relaxed evening.

Rocco even has an advantage over many of its Ponsonby rivals in that it has pleasant looking premises rather than a shop front.

There have been a number of establishments here of varying degrees of success and longevity but Rocco shows what can be done with the combination of good food, excellent service and prices that leave the plastic bruised but not battered.

Where: 23 Ponsonby Road, (09) 360 6262
Our meal: $175 for tapas, two mains and two desserts, four glasses of wine and one dessert wine.
Our wines: From $8 to $15. By the bottle from $38 to $970

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