KEY POINTS:
Bar De La Marine squats on the Marseilles waterfront, dim, dingy, like a 30s' film-noir set (which it was). Last Easter. I'm waiting at the bar for a table, keen for classic bistro food. The barman asks if I'd like a drink. "Oui. Pastis."
Tabou flounces in the Kingsland streetscape, deep-brown and elegant, chic and Parisienne (which it is). Last week. I'm at the bar, a minute or two earlier than Juliette, finishing her French night-class. Will I have a drink while I'm ... ? "Pastis, please."
Winter hasn't quite arrived but the weather forecasters think it might be here by the weekend. Tabou has already begun the season's menu, and it's very French, very slow-cook, very comforting. Oh, and very rich.
Recreated from the seared platter of Fish, the second of Tony Adcock's upmarket fish'n'chipperies, the cafe-bar-restaurant is a tad more refined than most on this up-and-coming - or is it already there? So hard to keep up with Auckland's fads - strip.
Don't get me wrong, I like Kingsland. It's vibrant, energetic, fun. You come here for good, straightforward eateries and let the ponce happen on the other side of the motorway.
If locals had their way, you wouldn't come here. They gringe about outsiders discovering "their suburb" and spilling "their secrets" - an attitude that dissipates only in the stratosphere of "their property values".
Yes, we will get to the food. Juliette arrived and when a blonde says "Sorry to keep you waiting" in perfect French, what can a committed Francophile do? Except take her by the pinot and go to the table.
Falling upon the menu, we bartered choices with the aim of sampling as many dishes as possible. Cuisine is based on traditionelle; Downunder ideas liven and lighten the originals.
We'd made our decisions before the waitress turned up to tell us about the specials. Which changed my mind: snails were unavailable so another favourite, boudin, the skinless pork sausage in a bath of glistening green lentils. Perfectly turned.
For Juliette, braised and shredded duck with cepes in a pastry nest that allows it to be called tarte tatin. Drawing out the final tastes of walnut creme fraiche, she labelled it divine. And when that judgment comes from someone who's spent a couple of years being ordered about the kitchen of a Normandy gite, I believed it.
Rich food, I said earlier, but there was no holding us back. Coq au vin might not be something you've ordered since the 80s; come here to rediscover it. Flavours are intensified through long, slow, confit cooking: the chicken; the thick, reddish brown sauce with shallots, mushroom, bacon. With, naturally, potatoes pureed to near-cream.
Juliette's main betrayed nostalgia for Normandy, where they perfected the art form of cooking a pork cutlet like this, to melt-in-mouth tenderness. Doubt you'd find it served with a luscious celeriac mash anywhere near Rouen. We both tucked into gleaming, buttered green beans with the double crunch of toasted almonds.
Glancing over the wine list I'd thought it light on French labels, but on reflection it's cleverly contrived. Many of the Kiwi suggestions are, if not French clones, then Gallic-inspired. But we stayed true to the faith, hanging out with glasses of Chapoutier Cotes du Rhone Belleruche.
One last surprise: lemon tart, a sweet and sharp palate-tickler freshened with a bright feijoa sorbet, uniting the Old and New World flavours of this likeable bistro. Other things to like: mains are under $30, glasses of wine don't often touch $10, and there's a bar menu of amuses-gueles, which is French for tapas.
Tabou has been trading a matter of months and like so much of its patrimony it is improving with age. With Ben Convery gracing the kitchen and Rebecca Jones front-of-house, Adcock behind the scenes (his pedigree includes the lustrous Le Brie), it's a treat. We certainly thought we'd died and gone to Lyons. Or Marseilles.
Tabou
Herald Rating: 4 out of 5
Address: 462 New North Rd, Kingsland
Phone: (09) 846 3474
Web: www.tabou.co.nz
Open: Dinner Tues-Sun, Lunch Tues-Fri
Cuisine: Francophile
From the menu: Chicken liver parfait, sauternes jelly, cornichons $15; slow-cooked lamb, gnocchi, feta, peas, broad beans $28; Prune tart $12
Vegetarian: Non, madame
Wine: Good Kiwi, limited French
