Vinnies, Herne Bay

By EWAN MCDONALD for viva

Yes, there are lamb shanks still for tea. But it's been a year since the owners, Prue Barton and David Griffiths, went to see what new terroirs the craggy ranges of Hawkes Bay might hold. Has it made a difference to Vinnies?

The unequivocal answer is yes and no, which is as unequivocal as you can expect from a Libran.

These days, Vinnies lists Griffiths and Michael Meredith as executive chefs. Griffiths and Barton may be clocking up uncountable frequent-flyer miles to and from Napier, but it is Meredith who is in the kitchen almost every night and the food has moved on to a more contemporary New Zealand style, seafood-influenced.

On a Vinnies menu of a year ago, Griffiths suggested an indigenous delicacy of crayfish cappuccino with a warm truffled potato salad topped with a medallion of crayfish; on this week's menu it becomes crayfish ravioli with poached Pacific rock oyster and Puy lentil broth.

An entree of duck liver parfait with wild herb salad, cherries and brioche has made way for the exciting explosions of cannelloni of duck with mushroom, cauliflower cream, sweet onion and crumbed duck liver.

Quail and duck leg are so last year: they've gone and there's a wickedly witty homage to the famous Kiwi Sunday roast. If you order "cumin spice lamb loin, with kumara gnocchi, chevre, and tomato and chilli jam," you'll be presented with a dish that looks like mum's roast lamb, some peas and carrots in gravy, little round roast potatoes and knuckle-bone size pieces of kumara.

It's only as you navigate your way around the plate that you realise that the "peas" are Japanese soybeans, the "potatoes" are deep-fried goats' cheese, the kumara has been cooked as gnocchi, and the "gravy" is a deep, red, rich jus. Someone with a sense of humour created that dish, and I raise my glass of James Murdoch cabernet franc to whichever of the two executive chefs it may have been.

The hallmark of Vinnies food over 12 years has been dedication to sourcing the best ingredients and superlative execution in the kitchen. Pan-fried hapuku on creamed butternut (with a Voss St Martin Martinborough chardonnay) may sound darned simple but sometimes that's the hardest trick to pull off; Meredith did so with a few little added extras that you can find out for yourself.

And yes, we have moved on to discussing the mains before the entrees. Isn't it so often the case that the first course is the sweetest? These were remarkable - that duck cannelloni and crayfish ravioli, mentioned earlier (Domaines Schlumberger pinot gris from Alsace with both) - but this was a meal which built in intensity, flavour and enjoyment, right through to the finale, a tasting plate of desserts.

We've ticked off the yeses, so what are the noes? Make no mistake, it's still a fine dining experience; Stephen Bennett MW's wine list is, as ever, extraordinary; and the service is far better than the so-often average experience around the city. The room, understated as ever, becomes pretty as the sun goes down and the outside tree lights and inside candles take over.

The "old" Vinnies was such an extension of the personalities of Barton and Griffiths that perhaps the "new" one should be considered a different restaurant. Barton imbued the "old" Vinnies with her style, and you will notice that is not there now. So many of those front-of-house staff were her handpicked, hand-trained waiters that the present crew, in comparison, appear a little less assured or relaxed.

And perhaps it has a little to do with fashion. The trend is to more relaxed dining, of the Cibo-Soul-Rocco mode, that Vinnies appears a little ... shall we say more mature, in the Antoine's-Otto's mode.

Which is not bad company to keep. For at this level things are measured not in stars or even half-stars but in fractions of stars. And Vinnies is, most assuredly, still one of the stars among this city's restaurants.

Open: Mon-Sat from 6.30pm. Lunches Mon-Sat from noon throughout this month

Owners: Prue Barton, David Griffiths

Executive chefs: David Griffiths and Michael Meredith

Manager: Paul Simmons

Food: NZ contemporary

On the menu: Northland smoked eel with seaweed, Japanese pickles, cucumber, fresh coriander, toasted sesame oil $19; Confit of corn-fed chicken with soft polenta, sauce mole and baby leeks $33; Caraibe chocolate mousse with mint jelly, pistachio praline and morello cherry syrup $15

Vegetarian: One entree, one main on menu

Wine: Extraordinary selection

Smoking: Outside

Noise: Jazz noodlings

Parking: The wide, unmetered boulevard of La Rue Jervois

Disabled access / toilets: Street entry, narrow doors and halls to facilities

Bottom line: It's been a year since Prue Barton and David Griffiths opened Terroir at Craggy Range in Hawkes Bay and left the day-to-day care of their elder child to chef Michael Meredith and manager Paul Simmons. It's still a fine dining experience with a more contemporary menu, superlative wine list and service that's far better than most, but the ``new'' Vinnies lacks a little of Barton's style.



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