The French Cafe experience

I had to make a trip up to Auckland to interview for my visa and I just had to try one of the restaurants up here. I was tossing up between Meredith's, The French Cafe, and Cocoro. After ummm and arrrr-ing for a while I decided to try The French Cafe (mostly for the location, less so because I thought it stood out of the three). Little more ummm and arrrr-ing because I didn't have anyone to go with and my bank account wasn't looking particularly great after KCs binge. But like my buddy Iain said, #YOLO. 

Before I headed to The French Cafe (TFC from now on), there was another place I wanted to check out. The Depot. It was a chic looking little place, reminded me little bit of bars and eateries in Brooklyn I saw on my last visit. I sat at the bar, the menu is a A3 size piece of paper which has all the food and glass pours listed. I had to ask for a beer list and stuck with trusty old croucher's. This was a pre-game warm up session so just got a few things from the raw bar. 

3 each of Tio Point oysters, diamond clams and Tua tua's. Tio point oysters were delicious as ever, although not a big and plump as I've had previously. The clams were wonderfully briny. But it was the humble Tua Tua's that took me by surprise! My only experience with them were throwing them on the rocks and feeding them to seagulls. Damn seagulls, they have good taste. They were salty at the start and finished with such delightful sweetness with all the briny juices down my throat oh! and the texture.......eh hem, I am still talking about the shellfish of course. 

Foodgasm. I was having one. 

6pm comes around, it was time for me to head to TFC. Got there and it's located in a very unassuming area for a fine dining restaurant, like a cafe more than a restaurant. Once you walk in to the dining space though you don't notice the street at all and is very elegant I thought. 

Everything you would expect from a fine dining restaurant was there - crisp linen, nice glassware, suited up FOH and the cabbage candle thing. 

They brought me the aperitif list first. The list didn't have any prices on it, which I thought was quite clever and also the fact that they had a separate list was very cool. I ordered a glass of Rinquinquin. The kind French waiter pronounced if for me and turns out I need to build up heeeeaaaappps of flem before I would be able to say it right. You know, the French hhhgrrghghgrgghgg sound? Yea. 

Out comes the drink then the menu. I already knew I would do the degustation menu but I look at it anyways. I don't know if it's a French thing but, on their ala carte menu, they divided the savoury courses to 3 - appetisers, entrees and mains. Again, not sure if that's a French thing but again, I thought it was a clever idea. Really liked the font, the paper and the menu cover too. Yes, I notice these things because I'm weird. 

This post is getting really long..so lets get into the foods. 

Amuse bouche. Cheese wrapped in filo & pumpkin soup. Normally not a fan of pumpkin but that was so creamy, sweet and tasty. Super crunchy and cheese for the other thing. 

Thyme butter (left) & smoked butter (right) 

I love all things smoked so I was happy. 

First course, 'fruits of the sea'. Clam, cured tuna, poached scallop, rock oyster, seaweed, dashi jelly, ginger, wasabi cream (might have been langoustine there as well). I loved this dish. Kind of like deconstructed sushi I guess. There was puffed rice which gave nice crunchy texture. No wine with this one. 

Akaroa salmon, verjus, creme fraiche, watercress, apple and caviar. Yea, caviar. Like 12 of them. I lol'd. It was good but least favourite dish of the night. Just felt that the beautiful salmon got over powered by apple and watercress. The 3rd man Riesling for the match. Apples, herbs, I could see where they were going with it but apple lived and salmon died with the wine. 

Champion of the night! Caramelised pork belly, langoustine, carrots, almonds & ginger bread. Whoa. What a dish. Langoustine was cooked beautifully and so sweet. Pork belly, just melts in the mouth, carrots nice and sweet. The only thing was that the belly was missing the crackling. Foodgasm no. 2 was had at this point. Alsatian Gewurtztraminer to match and was a faultless match. 

Egg york ravioli, smoked potato, peas, asparagus, Parmesan, iberico ham. It was like Sunday breakfast reconstructed fine dining style. At this point I had the wines poured blind just for extra fun points and I was so confident that the matching wine was lightly oaked Chardonnay. Nope. DENIED! It was Paritua Grace Sauvignon Blanc. Had another taste after being told what it was and still didn't get sauv. Wine witchery at play, mind fuck was had. 

Roasted quail. It was good. 

Duck with mandarin & kumara. It was so very similar to the duck dish at work I just kind of laughed. I guess duck and mandarin goes well together and mandarin and kumara are a good combo as well. Those who work at The White House will know. 

Chocolate. Lots of chocolate. And mandarin. Very rich. It was matched with something I've never heard of before. French fortified wine and it was the best match of the night. That little bit of mandarin just made the match perfect. 

All and all it was awesome. I was very impressed. The service was formal and impeccable. The French waiter was NOT arrogant. In fact, he was quite friendly and professional. Every time I went to the bathroom it was cleaned and tidied. Yes, I notice these things because I'm weird. 

These guys are good. I can't comment whether it deserves to be awarded as the best in NZ simply because I haven't eaten at enough places. In saying that though, they certainly have set the bar very, very high. Deep down, I wanted to be able to critique it but there was nothing to do so with. 

Well done The French Cafe team. 

Well done.