When we arrived our table was looking straight back at the bridge one way and in the other direction out to Bean Rock, masked only slightly by an evening haze. Ferries were buzzing about and a tug was nudging a container ship into the stream. Then, of course, as the restaurant slowly turned to present Auckland's inland face, we were treated to the relentless dull banality of the great majority of our city's hideous architecture. But then I remember it's still the season of goodwill and concede that some of the newer buildings are less grim than too many of their predecessors and there is some innocent fun to be had in creating lists of the good, bad and the ugly from such an unusual vantage point.
The views are undeniably great but they won't sustain the idea of a special occasion on their own. The food has to come within reasonable distance of matching them and Orbit gets across this line. The menu is dependent on regular favourites treated in a fairly conventional way, which is, I guess, carefully calculated to meet the demands of the customers they expect. But the food is competently executed, well-presented and delivered with efficiency.
Surprisingly for such a well-run establishment, the menu published online differed substantially from that offered in the restaurant and I was a little disappointed that the venison loin with blackberry gastric, whatever that might be, had disappeared. But I had my deer meat fix by starting with a venison carpaccio pastrami, which had a decent flavour and was livened up with the crunch of hazelnuts. Our other starter was a ceviche with the fish cut into very small bites and nicely marinated with an appealing, sharp citrus zing.
My main course was a fair-sized slab of eye fillet, expertly done to my requested medium rare, and served with the traditional red wine jus and a couple of portobello mushrooms. The bubble and squeak, however, was weedy and boring and would never have passed muster at the Clerkenwell Workingmen's Cafe where I first acquired my passion for this dish. Our other main was the lamb loin, again in a generous serving and well-executed with an appetising little feta polenta cake and resting on a green, minted puree. When it came to desserts, our iced rhubarb and strawberry parfait looked rather like the sort of dish that would appeal to a child, its bright colour topped with a little pink meringue. My choice was a little more sombre and was, in fact, a little trio of delights with a strong coffee creme brulee and a good, tangy, salted caramel icecream and a little nut-studded cake.
This assembly of first course, main and dessert came as a package priced at a good value of $72 per person, another reason for Orbit's evident popularity. The service is commendably efficient and particularly good at engaging with customers, which was obviously going down well with the out-of-towners who make up a substantial percentage of the clientele. If you are a local, there is the bonus of eavesdropping on the tourists' opinions of Auckland - they seemed overwhelmingly favourable although one wondered if they would remain so high when they dropped from the elevation of Orbit to the seedy tattiness of central Auckland.
Our meal: $193 for two entrees, two mains, two desserts and four glasses of wine.
Wine list: A reasonable, if not exciting, list with a praiseworthy New Zealand emphasis. The Dog Point Marlborough sauvignon blanc made a refreshing start and the Akarua Rua Central Otago 2013 pinot noir and the soft Te Awa Left Field Hawkes Bay 2013 syrah went well with our meat dishes.
Verdict: Good value and sound enough food in a setting hard to beat for providing a special-occasion buzz.
