The French Cafe: RIP My Bank Account

It hasn't rained since Saturday! Thank goodness!

I've got one word for you: degustation. For those that don't know, a degustation is to sample several tasting dishes, which are served one after the other at a moderate pace. With most restaurants that offer a degustation menu, the amount of courses served can range from 5-10. Experiencing a degustation menu was on my list of things to do before I leave (countdown at this stage is 50 days!). But ever since I had dinner at Sunday Painters, I had been worrying about whether I could handle a six course menu. I knew that the six courses were going to be smaller than normal a la carte dishes, but I want to enjoy my food experience and I don't enjoy eating when I'm particularly full!

The French Cafe

210 Symonds St, Newton (Auckland City)

I've never really experienced fine dining before. Smart casual dining? Oh yeah, sure. But fine dining? Unknown territory. Fine dining also implies that it ain't gonna be an affordable meal. The French Cafe has a big reputation in Auckland for being one of the best restaurants in Auckland, and if I was going to spend some money, might as well go to The French Cafe, right? I booked about a fortnight in advance and was pretty lucky to get a reservation. So it probably pays to book a reservation a lot earlier than that. I was told that it was the last table available for that night and had to be finished before a stipulated time, which was fine by me. What was weird though was that the table next to ours was vacant while we were there (last minute cancellation?).

A few years ago I bought The French Cafe cookbook for my brother as a Christmas present, which was bloody expensive in hindsight. Honestly, I had no idea about The French Cafe when I bought it. So much has changed since then.... From what my mind can recall, my brother had just gone there for the first time and it seemed like he somewhat implied at the time that eating there was kind of a big deal. I guess it was/is a big deal, because it's not like people choose to eat at fine dining restaurants all the time (...unless you're massively loaded). He has been there a few more times since then and I was recommended to try the tasting menu (6 courses, $110/$175) as opposed to the chef's tasting menu (10 courses, $145/$230), because in his words [after eating ten courses], "You don't feel so good afterwards." Duly noted, thank you. With the tasting menus, you can opt to do it with or without matching wines, but we chose to do it without. That didn't stop me from ordering a glass of wine though. :) Vegetarians are in for a treat, because they've also got a six course vegetarian tasting menu on offer too.

I forgot to take proper photos of the decor/interior of the restaurant, but the interior is amazing. Very classy. Strangely enough, if you know what The French Cafe's cookbook cover looks like, you'll have some kind of idea of what it looks like. The first photo you see when you browse the website is pretty much close to where my table was.

The waiting staff are extremely thorough. They pretty much go through the menu with you and provide estimated timeframes of how long the degustation menus take. The six course menu takes two to two and a half hours, and the ten course menu takes approximately three and a half hours. The waiting staff also take the time to explain what each course is once they present it to your table. I can completely understand why they were awarded Best Service in the Metro Restaurant of the Year Awards.

Before starting with the first course, a complimentary bread roll is offered. On the side, there's a small dish of thyme butter and truffle olive oil. The thyme butter was pretty good, but the truffle olive oil was a winner. Strangely enough, the most disappointing part of my two hour meal was the bread roll. It was rather tough –very hard to cut or tear into. I shamefully used my hands to tear the roll apart due to my impatience. How can you stuff up a bread roll???

I was pleasantly surprised to see an amuse bouche being delivered to our table. So it wasn't exactly a six course menu. Excellent. I was so surprised about the amuse bouche, I sort of forgot what the waiter said when he was talking about what it was. All I can remember him saying that it was a mushroom soup. Now, I had a look at my brother's French Cafe cookbook and I'm pretty sure that this dish was a mushroom cappuccino with a truffle foam. On the side (behind the soup) were potato-ish beignets (I swear I heard someone say goats cheese, but that could've been my imagination...I'm pretty certain it was potato). Good golly whatever it was, the soup and the beignets were fantastic. Even Rapper T liked it, and he detests mushrooms! To detest mushrooms is a complete and utter crime. Silky smooth mushroom soup and the beignets were fantastically warm.

The first course was a marinated snapper with crab, avocado, chilli, pomelo, coriander, and fresh coconut. The top of the dish was described by the waiter to be a "thai salad". Yeaaah, wasn't exactly 'thai' but it was a nice salad. The whole dish tasted extremely fresh and light, as it should be for a first course. The avocado at the base of the glass actually made it a bit heavier, which is kind of strange since avocado isn't exactly heavy in taste. Rather than eliminating it from the dish, less avocado would suffice.

The second course on the menu was a butter-poached Moreton Bay bug, with braised oxtail, artichoke puree and a parsley oil. I forgot to take a photo at the beginning, sorry! I took one subsequent to a few bites (pretty much a third of it was already consumed in my mouth) and it didn't really do the dish justice, so no photo to show you! Again, sorry. When I first saw the menu online about a month before going to the restaurant, I was kind of scared. Why? I saw the word 'bug'. I'm so silly sometimes. I did some research and found out that it is part of the lobster family, therefore my initial hesitance was ridiculous. The butter-poached bug was perfectly cooked and really worked well with the hearty braised oxtail. The puree and the parsley oil really balanced out the whole dish magically well.

The third course was a roasted french goats cheese with an onion, fig and beetroot tart and a red wine syrup around the tart. Little blobs of balsamic around the tart too. Oh, and there's an edible flower on top! The whole dish is pretty as a picture. I saw a picture of it during my "research" and the uniformity is amazing. This is one of their staple dishes that they seem to keep on their degustation menus all year round. Now if Rapper T's food fear is mushrooms, mine is beetroot. Ughh. When I was reaching the end of the dish, I was so aware that I was eating beetroot that my mind was thinking, "Ohmygod. Beetroot. I'm eating beetroot." Never do that. It tasted better when I wasn't freaking myself out. Surprisingly, I really liked this dish. Simon Wright and his team are really good with balancing different flavours together, as the goats cheese worked well with the sweetness of the tart. The pastry was thin and extremely delicate too.

For the fourth course, you're given the option of either duck or fish. Seeing as I already ate fish in a previous course, I chose the seared duck breast with sweet spices, asian greens (bok choy), mandarin puree, and kumara. The sauce is a mix of duck jus and orange syrup. I chose duck for a couple of reasons. One, I love duck. Two, I saw Simon Wright cook the larger version of this dish (a 'main' size) on a Masterclass episode of Masterchef New Zealand and it looked fantastic. If I ate from the a la carte menu, I would have definitely chosen this dish.

This was my favourite savoury dish by a landslide. It didn't disappoint. Everything was perfectly cooked and all of it worked well together. I loved the different colours on the plate too. I'm usually not a fan of incorporating fruits into savoury meals, but the mandarin really worked well with the duck and kumara.

Ah, now on to dessert. The fifth course was a feijoa sorbet, with an apple compote, butterscotch foam, and a sprinkling of pain d'epices (a french gingerbread). Just thinking about it right now, yummmm! The butterscotch foam really makes the dish spectacular, because otherwise the dish is rather tart from the warm compote and cold sorbet.

The sixth and final course was a baked chocolate souffle tart with double cream ice-cream, cappuccino foam, a bit of chocolate sauce smeared on the side, chestnut puree (I think), and a caramel crisp on top of the ice-cream. I really thought the previous dessert couldn't be topped, but I was wrong. That chocolate souffle tart was so bloody good, I wanted another one to take home. The creamy and chocolatey flavours made me feel really happy. Surprisingly, it wasn't overwhelmingly sweet nor heavy. The cappuccino foam was splendid too. Mmmm coffee! I was feeling pretty full after the savoury courses, but I definitely could've eaten another souffle tart and more of that ice cream too!

In the envelope above is a copy of the tasting menu. Why they give it to their customers... I do not know, but I love the effort. The dark brown pouch? Inside it is the receipt. Is it weird that I thought the whole thing was adorable? As I said earlier, the service is excellent. Waiters were professional with concise explanations/descriptions for every course, receiving the bill really quickly after asking, clearing our dishes and filling our glasses of water promptly. Efficient, yet not overbearing.

Verdict: Yes, it's an expensive meal. But definitely worth it if you want to celebrate a special occasion or experience an enjoyable and sophisticated degustation. The French Cafe is definitely a good place to start. The service is sublime, and the food definitely doesn't disappoint. (Yep, still thinking about that souffle tart and that duck).