Sails

By EWAN McDONALD for viva

A legend in its own lunchtime, Sails is breezing through its 20th anniversary. That's a remarkable tribute to one of our dining institutions.

Of course, if Ports of Auckland has its way over what we Aucklanders naively thought were open harbourside spaces, but the publicly unspirited corporate knew was real estate, the owners might have to change the name to Sales.

Actually, it might have been Oars. The restaurant's home used to be the West End Rowing Club house, before the land around it was filled in for the harbour bridge and motorway, completely ruining it for rowing races. The club paddled off to the other end of Westhaven and more recently to Avondale.

So Sails opened in the empty clubrooms and, through two decades and three owners, has been a second home to a loyal core, often characterised as people who arrive around noon in Audi and Lexi, in suits, company plastic in the wallet, its famous fish'n'chips on their minds.

The owners have a restaurant pedigree reaching back to the incomparable Orsini's in Wellington. Phillip and Valerie Littlejohn's son, Bart, began working there when he was 15 and bought Sails in 1991. Valerie is a director and, marking nearly 50 years in the hospitality industry, the first woman inducted into the NZ Restaurant Association's Hall of Fame.

The Sails management are upfront about their philosophy: "If you employ the best chefs and ensure they have access to only the freshest, top-quality ingredients you'll get award-winning dishes. You can't compromise on either, but of the two the chef is definitely the most important."

And they've a fair claim to host one of the better chefs in the country. Jason Blackie has been executive chef for the past three years. National Supreme Seafood Chef last year, he judged the awards this year. Front-of-house is in the manicured hands of Gerard Mooney, a 10-year veteran at Sails, and Jurgen Aurednik, trained in the hotel arts in Europe and the US.

Time to read the menu. Sails has always been associated with seafood, though Blackie plays concertos on beef fillet, roast duck and lamb rump, too. "When dealing with quality produce the less you do to it, the better. Don't try and change the flavour, rather enhance and complement it," reads his mission statement, which lesser chefs who like to tart up every component of a meal might do well to read and digest.

You musn't tart up an oyster, according to Ann, which is why she takes his Bluff oysters au naturel. Blackie's light touch was evident in Steph's sashimi and sushi, while my peppered ostrich fillet, with crispy polenta, porcini and foie gras and Dick's steak pie, redolent with mushrooms, capers, gouda and prosciutto dust, were much more robust.

Sails' fish and chips are as much of an institution as the view over the yachts in the marina, which might be why they're so popular with those leisurely lunchers. As an evening meal they were, like the Waitemata outside, not sparkling. We were more moved by dishes such as the roasted snapper fillet: lighter, more tender, more zing, especially with nutty potatoes and a tangy tomato dressing.

Two chose the monkfish, a special that seemed to be the hit of the evening ... well, that and the sommelier's last two bottles of Sacred Hill cabernet sauvignon. Sails is one of the few restaurants in the country which continues to employ sommeliers, under Conrad Hardy, to guide diners through its impressive list of more than 150 wines, predominantly New Zealand vintages.

Coffees and delicious handmade petit fours finished a meal that was pleasant and enjoyable. It's hard to fault Sails for its food, its superlative service, its remarkable wine. Maybe it's a place that you should go to at lunchtime, to enjoy that view, that unparalleled feeling of being on one of the yachts.


Open: Dinner seven nights, lunch Mon-Fri

Owners: Bart Littlejohn, Valerie Littlejohn

Executive chef Jason Blackie

Food: Modern NZ

On the menu: Olive-crusted squid with Greek salad, cumin seed tzatziki and butternut mussel broth $16.90

Garlic-rubbed lamb rump on gratineed layered potatoes with aubergine salsa, portobello mushrooms and cabernet reduction $29.90

Oven-roasted hapuka fillet with kumara and basil hash brown, zucchini and smoked salmon orange sauce $29.70

Pavlova tower with frozen apricot nougat and cardamom cream $13.80

Vegetarian Nothing on the menu

Wine: On an impressive list, premium NZers predominate

Noise: Tinkly

Disabled access / toilets: Dining-room is upstairs, then downstairs

Parking Acres of free spaces

Bottom line: Twenty years of seafood and foreshore issues are celebrated at the Westhaven waterfront institution. It's a class act from the management, front-of-house staff, sommeliers and especially chef Jason Blackie, who has a winning way with modern seafood dishes. We reckon you should go at lunchtime to enjoy the view, that unparalleled feeling of being on one of the yachts moored outside.

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