Toto, Auckland City

Toto executive chef Sergio Maglione. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

(Herald rating: 4.5 out of 5)

I thought it might be a good joke to take the Television Critic to Toto which goes about its very good business in the shadow of the Death Star, aka the TVNZ building.

Toto is where the telly types go. I once met Mr Paul Holmes here, out on the balcony where you used to be able to smoke. So we did. A lot. Now that Helen has banned the fags, Toto has set up a nice little area off the side of the balcony for the criminals. It has plants and a candle - and a barbed wire fence just outside. I asked owner Antonio whether the wire was to keep smokers in, or out. Oh, in, he said grinning. How very civilised. And in, of course, is exactly where you want to be because Toto is the sort of restaurant where you feel instantly at home and never want to go home.

As it turned out there weren't any telly types that I could see. So the joke turned out to be on me, and my wallet. It's dear here. But nobody forced us to drink that $65 bottle of wine. You do that sort of thing at Toto: it is a place that encourages the large gesture.

Toto, with its rickety chairs (well, mine was), slippery cushions and mismatched tables, feels both elegant and homely. This is quite a trick to pull off but it has been managing it for years.

There was a lone diner wearing shorts and, after he had finished eating, a very contented smile. There was a table of blokes talking property prices in Hong Kong and Euros and they were so boring I thought I'd die of having to overhear them.

But then the food came and their horrible talk became just a small irritation of the sort you might get from a distant buzzing mosquito in some beautiful place.

We were offered a little amuse bouche to begin: a china spoon with a mouthful of steak tartare. Well, grazie. The TC had, because he has happy memories of having had them before here, half a dozen Ostriche alla Toto: Clevedon oysters wrapped in cured salmon on crostini with fennel, capers and shallot dressing.

He wolfed those down faster than the blokes at the next table could send you to sleep. I had decided on the assagini, which is an offering of three little entrees chosen by the chef. He had chosen to do three things with buffalo mozzarella. I could eat about a hundred things done with buffalo mozzarella, but was happy to settle for these three. They were: cheese with sweet and sour aubergine; in a perfectly lovely tortellone of buffalo, ricotta and walnut; and a deep fried one which is one thing I could do without having done to cheese.

He had the Zuppa which was a huge pudding bowl of seafood soup - more of a stew, really, it could have fed an entire conference - and it was stacked with, from the top down, an oyster, a big fat prawn, scampi, cockles, mussels and a wedge of nice white fish. There was also some squid impersonating rubber. This was a shame but the broth, once you got to it, was simply wonderful, like eating saffron-scented silk.

I had some lamb, which came with a lovely little potato pile and some truffle oil. It was not the best lamb I've ever had, despite it probably being the best cooked lamb I've ever had. The meat let the kitchen down, but they did choose it.

I regretted the lamb, and the fact that I had eaten far too much cheese to make pud a possibility. So of course we had one. We shared a cassata di more, described as an ice cream cake, but it is not the sort of thing you used to find at kids' birthday parties. In the middle of the tiny berry cake is a sliver of mint ice cream in the shape of a mint leaf. Antonio later said he would give me the recipe. This was kind but bonkers. I said no thanks, I didn't want it.

Why would you when you can go to Toto and have them make it for you?

It was a brilliant pud. Was Toto brilliant? It was a bit like the place itself: comfortable and elegant and just missing out on being - on this night at least, and mostly because of the lamb and the bores - one of the best dining rooms in town.

Address: 53 Nelson St
Ph: 302 2665

Owner: Antonio Crisci

Head chef: Sergio Maglione

Wine list: Plenty of it; adequate by the glass

Vegetarian: Have a nice little insalata Mediterranea, dear, because I'm not letting you near my buffalo mozzarella.

Bottom line: A classy but never prissy restaurant with lashings of flavour and style to match.