Restaurant review: Botswana Butchery, Auckland CBD

Venison Fillet entree from Botswana Butchery. Photo / Nick Reed

Address: Ferry Building, 99 Quay St, Auckland
Phone: (09) 307 6966
Rating out of 10: Food: 7, Service: 8, Value: 7, Ambience: 7

Anyone these days who dares to revel in their good fortune in contrast with the plight of others risks being hammered on social media platforms as a nasty bastard. But I must admit to enjoying a moment or two of schadenfreude as I sat in the comfort of a box seat at Botswana Butchery watching the late commuters run for their ferries into the teeth of gale-driven winter rain.

And Botswana Butchery is a comfortable sort of place, both physically and in its food. This is not cutting-edge cuisine but the familiar, tried and tested, and the busy atmosphere shows there is a place for this approach just as much as for the avant garde of the culinary arts. The customers were by no means all members of Auckland's glitterati, although the prices demand a certain level of disposable income, but were diners with an appetite for a good, sound feed. Even the music is mainstream and at a level that encourages conversation.

The restaurant's name implies the main thrust of the offerings with the conventional starter and main sections backed by a "from the butcher's block" listing nine cuts of meat with more than 10 options of sauce and butters. There are other options but the vegetarian who ventures into this territory doesn't have much to consider beyond onion soup and a pumpkin and pine nut tortellini.

We started with one of the slightly less obvious choices in the peking duck. This was absolutely standard; thin pancakes in the steamer basket, cucumber, spring onion, hoisin sauce and slices of duck breast. It was no better but no worse than any other example of this familiar favourite. My first course upped the game a bit with a well-judged minted rabbit risotto, just the right texture and with slivers of wild rabbit loin.

I was unable to resist the lure of the wild again - it was that sort of night outside - in my main course from the butcher's list. This was the Raukumara venison fillet and it was very good. Bursting with flavour, competently cooked and with a roasted head of garlic that added sweetness and depth. When it arrived, I thought that perhaps the portion might be a little meagre for the bigger appetite but the meat was so rich that it was more than enough and the excellent duck fat potatoes and green beans with a macadamia dressing we ordered as side dishes were something of an indulgence.

Our other main was the market fish, one of the five options listed as "from the ocean". This was a couple of pieces of john dory, well handled so as to remain moist even if the skin was less crisp than perfection might demand.

A couple of chocolate options, a cremeux delivering a rich chocolate kick, and a well-textured fondant pudding with a strong cherry element, along with a cherry sorbet rounded off a satisfying meal.

If you are going to stick to a simple approach you need to adhere to the traditional virtues of quality ingredients well handled and Botswana Butchery met these criteria. The site, of course, is one of the best in town and, on a sunny evening, watching the passing parade enjoying the delights of the harbour would bring an added guilt-free pleasure.

When the proprietors first brought their Queenstown enterprise north, this reviewer and others were less than impressed by the service but on this occasion the correct food and wines arrived at the right time, the attention was professional and unobtrusive and we left feeling rather more cheerful than the weather.

Our meal: $249.10 for two starters, two mains and two side dishes, two desserts and four glasses of wine.

Our wine: A formidable cocktail and wine list although the selection by the glass is not overwhelming and priced at the high end. The 2013 Craggy Range Martinborough riesling and the 2013 Man O' War Valhalla Waiheke chardonnay started the evening well and the Cape Mentelle Margaret River 2012 shiraz set off the venison well.

Verdict: Not cheap but it delivers solid, professionally handled food in a great setting.

- Canvas