Address: 23 O'Connell St, Auckland City.
Phone: (09) 309 5456.
Our meal: $286.70 for two starters, four mains, three desserts, wine and beer.
Our wine: By the glass $9-$18, by the bottle $40-$180. A bottle of 1998 Esk Valley The Terraces will set you back $295 - when it's available.
Verdict: A warm welcome and friendly, informed and efficient service make up for some lapses in the food.
KEY POINTS:
The last time we went to Merlot, there was a power cut.
Not Merlot's fault, of course, they'd paid the bill, but their section of O'Connell St was in the dark because of a blown pole fuse or some such.
A few customers left, but for those of us who stayed, the chef's heroic efforts with the gas hob in the mostly dark were greatly appreciated.
It was not so much dining by candlelight as cooking by it as well. When I booked for this visit, new owner Andree Anderson rashly promised that the blackout would not be repeated.
Fortunately she was right. She and her partner Carol Wall have been at Merlot for only two months, and the style and pace of a small inner-city wine bar and cafe are a welcome change after Andree's 10 years or so at the much bigger Belgian Beer Cafe in Vulcan Lane.
Our dining mates Lorraine and Warren arrive before we do and are already happily ensconced at the bar with large glasses of wine.
We settle at a table at the back of the restaurant where there is room to spread and discuss recent weddings and forthcoming travel.
No hassles here with tables too small to accommodate both plates and glasses.
The menu is short at Merlot - seven starters and nine mains, with a couple of blackboard specials. That's fine, because it is, at heart, a wine bar, and a very good one.
It's all pretty standard fare; fish, lamb and steak, risotto and pasta. The blokes start with salt and pepper squid for Bill and chicken livers for Warren.
The squid is tender, by a hair's breadth, and the chilli, garlic and dipping sauce are well-judged enough not to overpower the flavour of the squid.
Warren is delighted with the livers, which come with watercress salad and port wine jus.
They have a nutty flavour, are cooked so that the inside is still pink, and the jus adds a subtle tang. He's passed on a second glass of red so we decide to share a bottle of 2007 Saint Clair Sauvignon Blanc, suggested by Andree.
Good suggestion; the wine is crisp and clean without the overly grassy thing that sometimes happens with a sauvignon. Bill sticks with his friend Stella.
On with the game. It's the first cold snap of the year so Lorraine opts for the braised pork belly on kumara mash with apple sauce on the side. It's hearty enough without being daunting, well-cooked and deliciously sticky.
Warren's crumbed veal fillet with potato salad and green salad is reminiscent of that good ol' 60s standby, wiener schnitzel, but thicker.
It's tender, which some kitchens cannot manage, and he's content. Bill's tagliatelle with prawns, garlic and chilli sounds promising, but a heavy hand with the chilli renders it much too hot. Bill struggles.
My tarakihi, from the specials board, is excellent, topped with herbs but not thereby overpowered. I retire defeated, but the men, being real Kiwi blokes, cannot resist the lure of an apple and mixed berry crumble with ice cream. Just like Mother used to make.
Merlot's comprehensive wine list leans heavily towards reds, as you might expect. The names suggest that the list is carefully chosen by someone who knows what she's doing (Carol, as it turns out, with Andree's help): Craggy Range Sophia 05, Alpha Domus The Aviator 02, Sacred Hill Helmsmann 02.
Merlot's food is reliable if unremarkable. The service, the toilets (red, like the name, and nicknamed Moulin Rouge) and the wine list redeem it.
OUT OF 10
Food: 7
Service: 10
Value: 7
Ambience: 9
