Soljans Café, Kumeu

Some years ago, back in the UK, I worked in marketing for one of the UK's largest independent wine retailers. As part of the job, the occasional perk included trips to wineries around the world. Almost invariably, the following rule applied: the more expensive / flash / pretentious the restaurant, the more bland / boring / overpriced the wine. I don't mean to be overly judgemental here, but it does make sense - there's not a lot of money in wine, so if serving pretend haute cuisine to tourists makes more of it, more effort should be expended in that direction. If the wine suffers as a result, so be it.

This, it has to be said, is a viewpoint borne mainly of European vineyards, and my experience in New Zealand has been slightly better, if not entirely different. The food at Mills Reef, for example, is excellent, and the wine is well above average. The food at Black Barn is terrific, and the wine is similarly great. Soljans also proves me wrong, being entirely average on both counts.

Saturday lunch is prime time for winery restaurants, most of them not opening for dinner. As such, Soljans was packed, and we were fortunate to get an outside table - inside looking, sounding and feeling like a school cafeteria. A delightful view of the car park and SH16 was spoilt only slightly by a few well-manicured vines. The menu is an interesting read, with more ingredients per dish than I have in my pantry at home, and the wine list is comprehensive, covering all the usual suspects at very reasonably ($8-9 a glass) prices.

I put myself in the hands of whoever wrote the menu, going for the recommended Pinot Gris with my Croatian salt and pepper lignja (squid), and yes, it was a pleasant glass of wine which would be perfect for someone who didn't really like Pinot Gris. No real varietal character, some fruit salad flavours and a twinge of acidity. To their credit, the bar served it at precisely the right temperature, rather than chilled to within an inch of its life.

Food-wise, my squid was excellently cooked, not rubbery in the slightest, and the spiced coating, despite there being a ton of competing flavours in there, actually worked quite well. Roughly ground spices meant for a fairly gritty mouthful though, and the heaps of dry spice did detract from the tenderness of the squid. A bit of sauce, whether integrated or to the side, would have helped here. Accompanying salad was fine, simple and fresh-tasting.

A quick straw poll around the table had similar results - all good, not great, satisfactory, not thrilling. At around $30 per head, I reckon that's about right, too. On the whole, we'd come out here to get out of the city a bit, to meet up for Saturday lunch and do the social thing, and to that end it served its purpose well. If you're visiting this winery expecting great wine or top notch cuisine though, you might well be a little disappointed.


Soljans Café
366 State Highway 16
Kumeu
Auckland

+64 (9) 4125858