Wino's, Auckland City

By JENNIFER YEE for canvas

The boys were out of town and Wino's wine bar cafe seemed like a good place to catch up with the girls. You need to navigate the roadworks in heels to get here but wine is mandatory on these occasions and Wino's prides itself as a wine bar first and foremost. The establishment offers cafe-front views opening out to the streetscape. The dining space is understated, but somewhat spartan if you're the first ones there. One of few places in the inner city that has an open air courtyard, this will come into its own over summer, though the couches indoors are for all seasons.

Anna, Dawn and I travelled and ate our way along the length of Vietnam together and we like nothing better than a good natter over a good glass of wine.

Throughout November and December Wino's is running a Masi promotion featuring wines from the Veneto region of Northern Italy and doing the Italian wine and tapas menu combo that seems to be the fashion at the moment. I enjoy my tapas Spanish-style with a dry sherry, and Wino's offers a choice of five including the Lustau San Emilio Pedro Ximenez. There is definite appeal in shared plates of tasty morsels such as squid filled with boiled egg, garlic and parsley; light gnocchi with young spinach, napped with aromatic sage butter. We wolfed these down between us as well as pan-fried lamb cutlets with lemon and zucchini.

The selection of first plates is good and they also offer a range of five interesting platters to share instead of a traditional main. The idea is to encourage you to sample from their comprehensive wine selection and enjoy food and conversation. And that we did, with a bottle of Mt Difficulty pinot noir 2002 from Central Otago.

The platters are reasonably priced and all tastes are pretty much catered for: the stuffed squid mentioned above, baked mussels with parmesan, parsley and garlic, roast zucchini and black olive tapenade; or sourdough toasts, Parma ham, Napoli salami, Bresola, artichoke, marinated mushrooms, extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic.

We chose the paella de rape y gambas con azafran — Arborio risotto with seafood. This came with generous servings of monkfish and tiger prawns flavoured with onion, capsicum and saffron. Our dish was enough for the three of us to share and still leave room for a bit of pudding.

Unfortunately the kitchen didn't have their plate-warmer on for our first two courses.

Wino's prides itself on its wine cellar knowledge and kindly sets out its wine menu under style, country and region focusing on New Zealand, Australian, French and Italian wines. (Please note, the Millton Briants Vineyard Viognier 2003 is from Gisborne, which is not in Hawkes Bay.)

We were surprised by the sudden appearance of warm dessert plates (it's a good thing) along with a good citrus and pistachio souffle and toothsome chocolate and apricot tart. I like the fact that souffles have had a revival this season. They're not that hard to make, hold well and the boys like 'em.

Service: For a quiet night, it could have been more together. Let's hope that when this place is busy, the adrenalin and some rhythm kick in.

OUR MEAL: $166 for 3, with 1 bottle of wine. Tapas plates $6-$15; platters $18-$43; desserts $8.50

OUR WINES: by the glass $7-$15; by the bottle $29-$182 (for the'98 Allegrini La Poja).


* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, party places and entertainment in canvas magazine, part of your Weekend Herald print edition.