Toto, Auckland city

By EWAN McDONALD for viva

Speaking - or rather writing - from an extensive knowledge of the Italian language (fluent in three dialects: menu Italian, taxi Italian, and "Do you have a room tonight?"), I'm pretty sure that there's no equivalent in that expressive, musical tongue for the French term "sommelier".

From French to English, sommelier is usually translated as "wine waiter". But the concept is much more: the sommelier is adviser, guide, mentor and, by the end of the evening and the size of the tip, friend.

Kerry Tyack, who has vast experience and knowledge of most aspects of the hospitality game, has pointed out that in France, restaurant guests - and that's another concept for another column - are not offered a wine list.

"Instead, once they have made their food choices, a sommelier brings a glass of the wine he believes will match their food perfectly. As the courses keep coming, so does the appropriate wine."

It is not widespread in Auckland because, as Tyack says, we don't have staff with the level of food and wine knowledge to make it work expertly.

Further, restaurants have only recently begun to offer wines by the glass, despite the wide range of cuisines they offer, from Asian to Mediterranean, to Pacific, to Northern European influences across their menus and over their courses.

A growing number - and we will put our hands up here - don't want wine by the bottle. Name one style that goes with his fresh thyme and orange blossom-scented pancake with cured tuna, avocado and celeriac remoulade, her seared escalope of ostrich with roast Jerusalem artichokes, poached cotechino and forest mushroom fricassee, then his risotto arribiata with pan-fried market fish ... oh, all right, champagne. But you're getting the picture.

At our better restaurants you can feel confident in ordering the food and saying, "Please bring us a glass of something that matches each course", and know that (a) chances are you'll receive a glass that's appropriate; (b) the person who brings it will be able to tell you why s/he's chosen it; (c) you may be drinking something you haven't tried.

Well, if you're in the hands of Jeremy Turner at Cibo, or John Ingle at Merlot, or Mark Wallbank at Rocco, or Josh Pocock at O'Connell Street, you will. We shall now turn our attention to a recent evening at Toto, which rather surprised us from a name restaurant whose core business is corporate and overseas guests, and which offers three options of Super Piedmonte at $1100 the bottle.

Now there are very few things in life that Ann and I disagree about, and one of them is Toto. It is only a minor disagreement: Ann flat-out adores it, but I have quibbles. Love the room and the ambience: it's the cheapest air ticket to Italy that you'll buy. Love the food: though there was a period about 18 months ago when the quality sagged and it veered into the self-conscious, but am happy to tell you that, this night, it was back to its very best. Think the prices are way up there, but that may have something to do with the television empire just across the road and those expense accounts and credit-card charges that Parliament is looking into.

So we were in a chipper frame of mind when we arrived on a midweek evening, to be greeted by the infinitely gracious host, Antonio Crisci, and presented with a menu that sits among the classics of Italian literature.

Toto has lifted its game since the designer pasta restaurants began muscling on to its turf a couple of years back, veering back towards the traditional with dishes like a herb and tomato ravioli with a basil sauce, light tastes that danced on the palate, and a rustic farfalle tossed with a caponata of aromatic vegetables (pine nuts, olives, Italian cherry tomatoes, basil and parmesan) that, by contrast, punched you in the nose, in the nicest possible way. We'd asked our obliging waitress to bring us suitable wine, and someone had chosen matching glasses of Ormond Estate 'O' Chardonnay 2002 which seemed odd, given the vast difference in the flavours on the plate.

Veal cutlets filled with ham and soft cheese, in the company of braised radicchio and capsicum; venison, wrapped in bacon, hanging out with salt-cured beetroot, oyster mushroom, with a Montepulciano jus: this food is not only hearty, expertly cooked and presented, but it has a bit of fun with the classic Italian ristorante recipe-book by mixing the traditional and the modern.

But again, we were surprised to be presented with the same wine. Well, to be frank, to have two glasses of red wine dropped off by a chap we'd never met previously in the evening (the fourth person, or maybe the fifth, who'd happened by). "There's your red wine," he said, before toddling back in the general direction of the kitchen.

With a turn that I would like to think a Juventus midfielder would have admired, he was tackled within three paces. "Would you mind telling us what it is?" He murmured some words of Italian which, thanks to the linguistic fluency that I may have mentioned earlier, I was able to translate as "Maso Campofiorin", and sped away. Turning to the wine list, I was able to read that is a full-bodied, dry Valpolicella which is sun-dried to bring out an aroma of dry fruits, almond and occasionally flowers.

Perhaps we're picky. No, darn it, we're not. When we've a wine match and we're paying $11.50 each from a by-the-glass offering that is somewhat more restricted than Toto's glorious main list, we should know what it is and have an idea why it's matched.

Love Toto. But ...

Open: Mon-Fri midday-late, Sat-Sun 6pm-late

Owner: Antonio Crisci

Food: Contemporary Italian

On the menu:Yellow capsicum souffle, twice-baked, served with basil and yoghurt sauce $18.50; Linguine, asparagus, prawns tossed with a cannellini and basil sauce $19.50/$24.50; Lamb filled with ricotta, goat cheese and chive served on broad beans and salsa verde $30.50; Mint brioche served with a skewer of fresh summer fruit, lemon and basil sorbet $12.50

Vegetarian: Goes with the territory

Wine: 200-plus choices including rare, precious and expensive Italians

Crowd: Suits - at lunch and dinner

Disabled access/toilets: Steps to enter, facilities fine

Parking: Chance your luck on the street after-hours; parking building over the road

Bottom line: Love the room and the ambience: the cheapest air ticket to Italy that you'll buy. Love the food: back to its very best. Inconsistent service and attention to detail keep it out of the top rank, however.

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