Restaurant review: Eight Point Two, Birkenhead

Fresh fig and serrano ham salad at Eight Point Two. Photo / Nick Reed

Address: 82 Hinemoa St, Birkenhead
Phone: (09) 419 9082
Rating out of 10: Food: 8, Service: 7, Value: 8, Ambience: 7

Conventionally a career path takes you from the small businesses in the suburbs to playing with the big boys in the city hot spots. But Des Harris, who has established an enviable reputation at the deservedly highly ranked Clooney, has spread his wings in the opposite direction by taking on an additional role as executive chef at Birkenhead's Eight Point Two.

This was already a well-established fixture on the local landscape but Harris has brought his individual style to its appeal. The menu is small, which I usually take as a good sign in a neighbourhood restaurant, but with an abundance of imagination. The small plate options boast the characteristics of flair, with the pork and morcilla croquettes involving a pickled mustard seed emulsion and the inevitable calamari accompanied by preserved lemon mayonnaise.

Harris' predilection for bits of sweet fruit like dates, prunes and feijoa is in evidence and all the dishes are beautifully presented.

We started with an outstanding salt baked celeriac soup topped with apple puree and walnut, just the thing on a chilly winter night, and with a wonderful subtle flavour. I chose a more summery salad of fresh figs and serrano ham, prettily decorated with green beans, toasted cheddar and almonds, clean flavours to refresh the most jaded palate.

With the main courses, the vegetarian options of a butternut risotto and the potato gnocchi with coddled egg, golden beetroot and hazelnut had some appeal, but a bit of meat has an irresistible lure when it's chilly, and the braised short rib of beef earned its place. The meat was as tender and flavoursome as you would expect and its sherried prune and cauliflower partners were a good match. The menu listed cabbage but the greenery looked rather more like crisped kale. Whatever it was, it provided a crunchy contrast.

I rarely order chicken when eating out as it is so often bland but here the chicken leg confit proved a good choice, the meat transformed into memorable mouthfuls of texture and flavour. The accompaniments of cherry relish, sharp leek, mushroom, a green emulsion and creamed potato constituted a hearty dish which made our side order of beans with coconut and almond seem redundant, good though they were.

By this time we were not up to a dessert each. My schoolboy longing for vanilla rice pudding listed with the grown-up additions of ginger, feijoa and coconut was ruled inadmissible but the mere name of the Mad Bugger's Hinemoa honey custard was irresistible and it was a delight for the sweet-toothed with a hint of sharpness contributed by raspberries.

Even under the guidance of menu creation from hands less gifted than Harris I suspect that this place would punch at a higher weight than the average local restaurant. There's a good wine list. It is well run with competent service, physically comfortable and well spaced and visually pleasing with the old villa interior beautifully maintained, if a little stark with its abundance of stainless steel fittings.

On the evidence of our midweek visit it pulls in a decent range of local customers and, with the added incentive of being offered a regularly changing range of dishes from a top-tier chef, it seems certain to continue being an attraction.

Our meal: $201.50 for two starters, two mains and a side dish, one dessert and five glasses of wine.
Wine list: A well-judged list with a good selection by the glass. The Nga Waka Martinborough Chardonnay was outstanding as was the Miette Grenache Shiraz Mataro from the Barossa. The Tupari Awatere Dry Riesling had made a pleasant start.
Verdict: A neighbourhood restaurant with some style has been given an additional touch of class. Well worth a trip for a relaxed evening, even if you are not a local.

- Canvas