Euro Bar, Auckland City

By EWAN McDONALD for viva

The fashionette , in pants and boots and skimpy dress - she will tell us on TV later in the week that her latest range is inspired by Annie Hall - sashays to the table under the illuminated clock in front of the fire.

At the next table, the Formerly Famous Footballer is having a night out: a quiet one, since he's still in recovery. And across the aisle the Fiddling Filigree Merchant (didn't think I could keep that alliteration thing going that long) is, with dishevelled hair, looking more Paganini than the buttoned-down retailer of his advertisements.

Ah, Euro on Saturday night. Celebrating its fifth birthday last week (five guest chefs from around the Pacific Rim, full houses every night), the original Princes Wharf bistro may be the ultimate Auckland bar and restaurant. Jafa Central, you could say.

Which makes it a great celeb-spotting place to take visitors from Hawkes Bay, or in the case of John and Robyn, who are with us tonight, Taranaki. And Euro just happens to be a damned fine restaurant, too.

Not a cheap'n'cheerful one, however. Only four months ago we were just a couple of boat-lengths away at White and wrote that "sooner rather than later, Auckland diners will have to face an unpalatable truth: we're not far off the $40 main".

Well, we're here. Roast rib of beef with bearnaise sauce, Vegemite-glazed potatoes and Caesar salad: ching, ching - $40 even. And if you want to melt your gold card, Michael James will send out the MJ - chargrilled beef tenderloin with a crayfish and truffle souffle, salmon caviar, melted leek and rose champagne sabayon - at the bargain price of $60. Just the sort of meal for a wealthy former All Black.

For once, the four of us can say that we are made of leaner stuff. Robyn and I enjoy the honest tastes of a corned beef terrine, Dijon mustard foam, purple puri puri potatoes and truffle salad, a witty rendering of the favourite Kiwi Saturday night dinner.

John and Ann go retro, too: prawn cocktail, only slightly modernised with the citrus overlays of barbecued lime relish and tangelo mayonnaise; potato and whitebait fritter, tarted up with shellfish ratatouille.

When he took over the kitchens last year James promised he would keep a signature menu of favourite dishes, and Ann marked Euro's birthday with one of her happy returns, the crisp rotisserie duck. Served on wilted bok choy, sweetened with a mandarin and plum glaze, spiced with Szechuan seasoning, I believe it dates from Simon Gault's earliest adventures on the docks: we could tell it was as good as ever because we weren't allowed a taste.

After you've run your eye down the winter menu, you won't be sitting back and thinking: hmm, subtle, piquant touches. Nah, this is strong, meaty stuff. Hare, braised long and slow in shiraz. Pork chop - almost the whole ribcage, actually - smoked, cooked confit-style on the bone to preserve the flavour.

Seeking something lighter, John was well pleased with chargrilled lamb loin and its pals, nicoise vegetables and capsicums.

Course-by-course glasses of wine to match the meals, attentive and assured service, a warm atmosphere (that did get a little too warm later in the evening with a full restaurant, that fire and a few courses on board), Euro is doing rather more than keeping up the style and standards that it's set itself in its first five years.

With James promising more cutting-edge food, Euro will celebrate quite a few more birthdays as one of the city's A-list restaurants.

Open: 7 days, noon until late

Owners: Richard Sigley, Brian Fitzgerald

Executive chef: Michael James

Food: Contemporary

On the menu

Deconstructed crab and crayfish bisque with seaweed crackling $16.50

Roast medallions of venison with lyonnaise potatoes and Morello cherry jelly $35

Opera slice with caramel sauce and mandarin sorbet $15

Vegetarian: One option on main menu, one on signature menu

Wine: Extensive

Parking: Wilsons on the wharf. It's going to be an expensive night anyway

Smoking: At the bar. Never noticed it, myself

Noise: Urban

Disabled access/toilets: Two steps to door, separate facilities

Bottom line: Special, can't wait to go back

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