Black Barn Bistro, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay

So, on my fifth post, I've already broken the self-imposed rules of this blog. The Black Barn is emphatically not in Auckland, being a good five hours' drive south, so although I suppose you could make it there and back for lunch at a stretch, I wouldn't advise it. I did consider not writing about this visit, but frankly it was good enough to break a rule or two, and by my reckoning this place could teach a number of restaurants around the world a thing or two about value, service and so on.

A bit of context. The Black Barn is a winery, farmers' market, bistro and (occasionally) concert venue situated on Te Mata road, just south of Havelock North. As a winery, it turns out very small quantities of smart, elegant wines with a touch of French style, including the best sparkling wine I've had from NZ so far, beating Pelorus, the Lindauers and so on hands down. Soft, rich and refined, with a full palate of citrus and stone fruit, it's got those slightly mushroomy, yeasty tones reminsicent of toasted coconut that can only really develop in a vintage (which it is, despite no mention on the label) with a bit of bottle age. All this for not a lot of dollars at all.

The rest of the wines are similarly good, and as you might expect have pride of place on the Bistro's menu. The Bistro itself was part of the natural, organic development of the Black Barn site, and on the many sunny days Hawke's Bay enjoys, they serve lunch in the sunken courtyard outside. This has to be one of the most gorgeous places I've eaten; with views stretching out into the vineyards on three sides, and shade provided by vines curling up and over the courtyard, it's pretty stunning.

Service is relaxed, efficient and friendly with a touch of restraint. Not dissimilar to London's River Café, I reckon (where, contrary to some reviews, I actually enjoyed really good service). All this, though, serves only to support the main event - what comes out of the kitchen.

I HATE food blogs where the authors studiously photograph each course and post the resultant shots on their reviews. It's vulgar, and apart from anything else the sight of some spod photographing their meal in a restaurant is just all kinds of wrong, but in the spirit of breaking my own rules, here's my main course - a whacking great slab of pork belly, juicy and meltingly tender, with all the right kind of spices and a stunning lychee/chilli salsa on the side with enough acidity and chilli kick to lighten the deeper flavours of the pork. Perched atop all this was a single raviolo, full of delicately flavoured pork and moistened with a little delicate, soy-spiced broth.

Pretty much the best dish I've had in quite some time. Alongside this was a glass of their superb Pinot Gris, rich enough to stand up to the punchy flavours of the food but still offering refreshing crispness on this hot afternoon.

Dessert-wise you're spoilt for choice, and so the kitchen very obligingly offers a tasting platter featuring a miniature version of each one, which personally I think every decent restaurant should do. Neatly lined up, and very prettily turned out indeed, were a very serviceable crème brûlée, a terrific lemon semifreddo, an intriguingly perfumed lemon jelly, a lemon tart with a pink 'wig' of candy floss, and a tiny black forest cake accompanied by a swirl of kirsch-scented cream. Absolutely tremendous, every one.

My only disappointment in the whole experience was that our plans for the afternoon prevented us from staying there til sunset, working through their very tempting wine list. Rumour has it they're planting Tempranillo and a few more aromatic whites this year, so I'll be looking out for those next season.

And we'll be back in February next year, having selected this as the venue for our wedding reception.

Agave, Waiuku

The lunch sitting is often not the best judge of a restaurant's mettle, I think it's fair to say. The reduced menu and second-tier staff, combined with the fact that ones main focus is usually not the food, tend to make it unfair to rate the place on that meal alone. Still, I can't see myself getting out to Waiuku any time soon, so I will.

Castaways itself is a lovely place. We were there for a wedding, which in and of itself was superb, as was the accommodation at the venue. Judging by the surroundings, we expected something reasonably impressive, but unfortunately were sorely disappointed. The challenge in writing a review of somewhere like this lies mainly in knowing where to start.

So I'll start at the beginning, shortly after the mild shock of realising that, at 31 I was the youngest diner by about 40 years. Where are all the young folks?

Anyway, I'm not normally one to focus too much on service, but in this case I think it's merited. Attempting to have our order taken eventually turned into a comic farce, with me first trying the 'looking expectantly up from the table' technique, then turning my chair to face the pass, then raising a hand when the waitresses walked by, to actually waving both arms above my head for some time. Roundly ignored by every waitress who walked past the table, I eventually, about 15 minutes later, went up to reception and asked them to sort it out.

So after a while, the food arrived. Fish and chips for most of us, fillet for one. The yawning chasm of time it took for it to get to the table was explained by the fact that our steak-eater, due to being heavily pregnant, had ordered it well-done, something translated by the kitchen into 'unrecognisable'. Now, I'm British, so I'm used to overcooked beef in restaurants (I'm a blue-rare man myself), but this was something else. Grey, hard, chewy... well beyond well done.

The fish, rumoured to be bluenose, was no better, unfortunately. Dry, stringy and chewy, with thick, hard lumps of weirdly tasteless batter clumped around it, I'm not sure what they did to it to get it like this, but it's surely against the Geneva convention.

The final insult was the chips. Come on guys, it's not hard to get this right. Even local Waiuku girls must have noticed, on their 'extensive travels through Europe and Asia', that serving shop-bought frozen, CRINKLE CUT chips in mid-priced restaurant is just plain wrong. If I'm wrong, guys, pull me up on it, but if these weren't shop bought, someone needs hauling over the coals for producing the worst chips I've had in New Zealand to date.

So there you have it. If you're in the market for some really sub-standard food, ineptly served in a beautiful location, this place ticks all the boxes.

Agave
685 Karioitahi Road
Waiuku
Auckland
09-235-5130
www.agave.co.nz (really don't click this unless you feel like being catapulted to The Internet, circa 1995)

Verve Cafe, Parnell

I have just had the best muffin of my life (and there've been a few, I can tell you) here. Raspberry & white chocolate, in case you're interested, and a damn fine coffee to boot. Beautiful outside deck area, would recommend this place for anything from breakfast to quick coffee on the go.

311 Parnell Rd
Parnell
Auckland City

09-379 2860

Mexican Café

If I'm honest, I was in two minds about whether to kick this blog off with a few words about this restaurant or not - certainly when I found out that I'd be going here I'd sort of written it off as another sorry Mexican attempt with plastic cacti all over the place and watery margaritas etc etc etc. You know the type.

However, two things made me decide to include it. Firstly, because on this blog I'd committed to writing about every eating out experience I had whilst living in Auckland, and secondly because it was actually really rather good.

Purists, sticklers for authenticity, Mexicans, look away now - Mexico City this isn't, but what they do turn out here (your usual fajita / chimichanga / burrito fare) they do exceptionally well. Again, authenticity demands tapas-style servings, multiple dishes per person and the occasional belt of eye-watering chilli heat, but the Mexican Café simply isn't about that.

What you can expect here is hearty servings of flavoursome, well-handled food, veering more to the Tex-Mex than just Mex. Some of the chaps around the table went for the fajitas and were rewarded with huge sizzling plates of meat with soft, warm tortillas to build their wraps with; others went for the loaded nachos and struggled to finish it. Personally speaking, my choice was the beef chimichanga, slow-cooked beef wrapped in a tortilla and deep fried. It's a tricky thing to get right - often greasy, heavy and overcooked, but this was spot on, light, crisp and packed with flavour. The accompanying refried beans hit the spot too, with a cheeky tickle of spice in there alongside beans which were, correctly, just about to turn to mush but not quite.

My only criticism was the rice, which was some sort of odd super short grain, almost the texture and consistency of cous-cous, and with none of the usual tomato / chilli flavour you'd expect.

On the liquid side, you'll be sensibly ignoring the wine list, I imagine, so plump instead for a Dos Equis, or perhaps a Modelo Negro, both great imported lagers to see, with ripe hoppy, malty flavours to stand up to the robust Tex-Mex standards. Margaritas are so-so, served in plain tumblers and crying out for a salted rim.

So all in all, it's not haute cuisine, it's perhaps not an ideal date venue, but if there are a few of you and you fancy a lively night out without spending a fortune, this is just the ticket. Expect to pay about $20-30 each before drinks.

 

Mexican Café
67 Victoria St West
Auckland Central
(09) 373 2311

www.mexicancafe.co.nz