Junipers, Parnell

By JENNIFER YEE for canvas

A new menu on Parnell Rd offering "Fine European food with a hint of German" has been beckoning us. Opened recently and already wooing the older Parnell set in a family-dining-room setting, Junipers resides down a wee lane opening into an elegant, brick-paved courtyard behind the Parnell icon of Antoine's.

Junipers' menu is uncluttered but with sufficient appeal for Neil the milk man and myself. The bread selection came with roasted fennel and feta dip — creamy and delicious. A garlicy babaghanoush and olive tapenade were tasty but no match for the fennel and feta combination. Warm, crispy rolls were absent but Chef says they are remedying this.

My speck pfankuchen — bacon crepe topped with mesclun tossed in a lemon yoghurt dressing — was a great starter, the lean loin bacon nestled in a thin crepe. However, the smoked salmon rosette on buckwheat blini with avocado and wasabi cream was lacklustre, the blini cold and firm rather than tender and warm from the pan.

We liked the complimentary shot glass of sweet and tart apple sorbet, which gave our palates a wake-up in readiness for Meat Central.

Neil's venison steak with a pistachio and pumpkin seed crust was accompanied by a delicious parsnip and potato rosti with a juniper glaze. My lamb was moist, pink and tender. Generous portions of lamb loin, spread with creme fraiche, egg yolk, tarragon, nutmeg and fresh breadcrumbs to bind, came wrapped in a blanket of wilted spinach. Served with redcurrant jus and wafer-thin potato ravioli filled with finely chopped mushrooms, chives, red pepper and a touch of garlic.

All main courses come with vegetables for the table at no extra charge. We enjoyed the accompaniment of these simple flavours: oven-baked tomatoes with herb crust, roasted potatoes and broccoli with hollandaise.

The small mains menu offers one each of beef, lamb, venison, chicken, poached salmon, plus a meat-free pumpkin and basil risotto with parmesan. We'd like to come back to try the grilled nurnberger sausages served with sauerkraut and mash with sweet mustard. And I'm sure the grilled beef fillet steak with braised oxtail, a stout demi-glaze and roast vegetables will also appeal to a wide audience.

The milk man is mad on cheese and our cheese plate was generous, with good-sized portions of vintage cheddar, a yeasty washed rind brick, hipiiti goats cheese and a mind blowing French Bleu de Auvergne. We managed to clean the plate.

The bubbling hot berry crumble of cranberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and apple had a marzipan flavour with walnuts, almonds and hazels mixed through. More like a berry and nut mixture with a Christmas cake flavour, it had the girls at the next table raving, but I'm just a simple girl when it comes to crumble.

The menu would do well to offer a few more authentic German dishes to play to the strengths of the chef, but hats off to this team of four, who are working hard to make a go of it. That it seats only 32 makes it the perfect size to hire out. The BMW club has just done so.

Service is friendly and appropriate.

OUR MEAL: $142 for 2 (one bottle of wine); entree $11-$12.50; mains $18-$29; desserts & cheese $8.50-$12

OUR WINES: and beer by the glass, $5.50-$10; by the bottle, $27-$59