Madame George Restaurant in Karangahape Rd. Photo / Alex Burton
Madame George Restaurant in Karangahape Rd. Photo / Alex Burton
In their own words: “We celebrate modern Peruvian cuisine, whilst celebrating local products and producers.”
First impressions: Why are we sitting outside when there are so many empty tables inside? Our allocated spot for three included an end chair that pushed into the area otherwise known as the footpath. Ifmy husband was a car, someone would have certainly posted a whingy photo on a community Facebook page. Madame George’s dining room has doubled since my last visit but did you even eat on K Rd if you weren’t, almost literally, on K Rd? Last Saturday night was cold. We were looking for dinner, not street cred. We asked to move.
In the kitchen: Busy chefs - less busy extractor fans. I ate my dinner and left smelling like everybody else’s which, I dutifully acknowledge, wouldn’t have happened if I’d just stayed outside.
On the floor: Four different waitstaff brought four very different wait games to our table. The service was mostly superb (including a very well-handled last-minute change to my cocktail order). Less optimal? In my opinion, you should only pull up a chair and/or ask what we’re having, if “we” are actually splitting the bill.
The menu: The supermarket isn’t the only place where food prices are rising and Madame George’s website had not been keeping up with inflation. Raw fish-based ceviche and spicy-fruit aji amarillo-spiked tiradito (snapper and trevally, respectively, on the night we visited) were listed online at $19 a plate but were $26 apiece in real life. The once $7 bread was charged at $9 and larger plates ranged from $33-$42 (in some cases, $9 dearer than a pre-visit internet check suggested). Flavours lean to South American fusion - tallarin saltado, for example, is an udon noodle and sirloin steak stir fry - and I can’t think of anywhere else in the vicinity where you can pair a quinoa tamal with your (innovative and delicious) cocktail.
Best bite #1: If you order one thing from this menu, make it the bread. If you order anything else from this menu, pair it with the bread although, perhaps, consider sharing. I was a little shocked to discover we’d spent $27 on kawakawa-infused ciabatta and smoked butter (it just hadn’t occurred to me that a single roll would be $9) but they are big, warm and crusty and the butter is lick-your-knife good.
Tiradito and a Pisco Sour at Madame George. Photo / Supplied
Best bite #2: The flipside to that all-permeating smoky grill was the scorched char that took chunks of sirloin to next-level stir fry and did even more magical things to the winged quarter of a chicken. Its skin was blackened, sticky and sweet and the interior succulent. The chicken was our favourite protein of the night, even if the promised arroz verde (green rice) was more of a token gesture than a full-sized accompaniment.
The jury’s still out: If you’re expecting your chicharonnes crispy, be prepared for disappointment. If, like me, you’ll eat pork fat pretty much any way the kitchen cares to serve it, then you will enjoy this sharable bowl of sweet, braised nubs of belly meat ($18).
On the side: Get the vege. Crunchy where it counts (stems, etc) and soaked in ginger and soy everywhere else, it was one of those plates of food that turns out to be surprisingly memorable. The cabbage, for example, is napa, rather than your basic green and those wrinkly leaves make all the difference. More surface equalled more places for the liquidy pan juices to settle.
Dessert: “Panna cotta” translates as “cooked cream”. In this case, the crema is noce di cocco, aka coconut. Wobbly, vegan and generously topped with a really well-balanced rhubarb-based sorbet, our entirely non-vegan table loved everything about this dish. High praise too for the pisco-infused dulce de leche ice cream sandwich. Very rich ice cream inside a very short, slightly bitter cocoa shortbread was an adult hot chocolate, served cold and with a spoon.
Perfect for: The bread, butter and cocktail crowd.
How much: We spent $263 for three (including three cocktails).
With 11 cocktails to choose from its going to be a good time from the get-go, but for me, a pisco sour is like my tataki, my tartare, my carpaccio or my cheesecake. Meaning if I see it on the menu I MUST have it. But there’s literally pisco in over half the cocktail recipes, so I definitely won’t be driving. McLeod’s, Garage Project, Parrot Dogg and Morningcider flesh out the beer and cider choices, while the wine list is both compact and curious. Want a glass of fizz? You’ve only got one option and that’s a $22 flute of Villa Sandi prosecco. Like, it’s lovely, but twenty two dollars? For a glass of something you can buy for $22 a bottle on blackmarket? If you prefer champagne prepare to part with between $210 and $600 a bottle for Pol Roger, Krug or Cristal. I’m loving the by-the-glass selection of whites and reds which all run along the lesser-known line. Try the $15 Jade and Jasper Fiano or the Swift Hawke’s Bay chardonnay, the tea leaf-toned Loveblock “Tee” organic sauvignon blanc for $14. If you’re not sure about spending $115 on a bottle simply labelled Herzog “Mistral”, fret not, it’s actually a blend of viognier, marsanne and roussanne. Rosé lovers rejoice, the Chateau Roubine at $15 will perk up even the most jaded tastebuds while a glass of Dune McLaren Vale Shiraz Grenache Mourvedre ($15) or the Casa Viva Carmenere ($14) from Chile will shiver your timbers in the tipple department. - Yvonne Lorkin
