Mezze Bar, Auckland central

Tapas are tops at the Mezze bar. Picture / Babiche Martens

Herald rating: * * *

If you've not ventured into Queen St lately, you mightn't realise that the city fathers - and the rest of the councillors, urban design planners, consultant arborists, communications executives and the sisters and the cousins and the aunts - are tarting up the old main drag.

The urban design faction are splashing out the thick end of 40 mil of yours and my rates on what the communications and public relations faction have decided is neither a makeover nor a refurbishment.

We are creating "the Living Room". Apparently the conceptualisation is ... well, it sounds as if we're retro-fitting the boulevard into some hazy reminiscence of pipe, slippers and cardies.

Herself and I were in town, our minds elevated to higher things by proverbs pasted on paving stones, when she looked up. "Why are those 60s lampshades hanging in the alley?" she asked.

"They are not hanging," I said. "They are an installation. They are intended to underpin the conceptualisation of Queen St as the Living Room of the city."

"Does this Living Room have a bar?" Herself asked. Fortunately we were right outside Mezze.

Several years ago Mezze was a few blocks up Queen St, on the Mayoral Drive corner. But as we are all too aware, things move downwards with age and it's now tucked in behind Whitcoulls on Durham Lane, though it gives its address as Little High St.

You feel at home as you walk in, always the mark of a good establishment. The long room with its concrete walls and all-too-obvious utilities could have been industrial but has been simply disguised as a Euro-influenced bar.

Divided into three, there's a dining area with tables and chairs comfortable in their mismatches, a traditional bar area, and coffee-inclined couches near the door. Just like a living room, really. Reds, oranges and creams soften those warehouse walls - and go nicely with those psychedelic lampshades.

Mezze's blackboard menu is an economy around-the-world ticket: small plates and mains from Med-rim shores, stopovers in Milan for a risotto, or Thailand for a green curry.

Herself enthused over that green curry, deftly presented in separate bowls for sipping or dipping. Checking it out, I had to agree. On my side, Moroccan meatballs glistened with yoghurt and tomato salsa, though the pilaf stuck to the bowl. Look, that happens to me too when I leave it in the microwave for a minute or two too long.

So, the smiling people in the kitchen and the happy-go-lucky staff here will not be too offended, I hope, if one suggests that this is not the kind of place you come for a stunning gourmet experience.

Come for interesting food in slightly bohemian, perhaps even Carmen-esque surroundings, with the Seville bullring posters, iron sconces and crosses.

Come with a good companion, because there's something about Mezze that encourages hanging out and chatting. And hanging out and chatting some more.

Come too, at any time of the day. Bev, my sister-in-law, and I landed there at lunchtime after she'd endured a four-hour exam, and assembled three or four platters of mushrooms and patatas bravas and pate and meatballs (Spanish this time) to get her over the nutritional deficit. A couple of chardies got her over the emotional surplus.

For "drinks are always served with the mezze and they are cold drinks. Alcohol is served with the spread in many countries, too," as the culinary dictionary has it.

Mezze offers a short and quirky wine list. On a winter afternoon there's nothing like getting a glass or two of Torres tempranilla on board.

Just to warm up the conversation, of course.

Mezze Bar
Address: 1A Little High St, CBD
Phone: (09) 307 2029
Open: 7 days from 7am to late
Cuisine: Global
From the menu: Basil, pesto, sundried tomato dip, almond and garlic skordalia, with breads $11.50; Fish grilled in Moroccan chermoula herbs, served with lemon couscous, cherry tomatoes, salad and aioli $22.50; Baklava, fig and honey ice cream $9.50
Vegetarian: Absolutely
Wine: Fun, good prices, lotsa glasses