when I visited<\/a> a couple of years ago. Confusingly, one of the best dishes here is the goat, though it\u2019s served bone-in, so before ordering make sure you and your client are comfortable enough to navigate it together. <\/p>\n![\"Fino]()
Fino or manzanilla, a bone-dry sherry, is Jesse Mulligan’s recommendation for the best pre-dinner drink. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Pre-dinner drinks recommendations<\/p>\n
Jesse, this might sound like a strange question but what do you order as your first drink in a restaurant? Just curious?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to go past a beer and I\u2019ll usually look to see what they have on tap \u2013 it\u2019s hard to review a beer if all the restaurant has done is open the can. I was at an Italian place the other night and ordered a Peroni for this reason, even though it\u2019s not my go-to brand. When in Rome, etc. <\/p>\n
I sometimes find cocktails a little full on and I like what they\u2019ve done at places such as Gilt, where you can get a \u201cmini-version\u201d of, say, a Negroni. As with most mini things, they\u2019re not especially economical but you do spend less overall. <\/p>\n
If I\u2019m with my wife we\u2019ll often order bubbles to celebrate the kids not being there a lovely evening out, plus the temperature and fizz is a good way to find out if the restaurant knows what it\u2019s doing. <\/p>\n
But my favourite first drink of all is bone-dry sherry \u2013 technically a fino or a manzanilla (fino-by-the-sea). Any serious wine expert will put a sherry among their top 10 favourite wines, despite its reputation as something your nana drinks at Christmas. It\u2019s a full-on drink so be prepared to recoil at first, but served with food, it is unbeatable \u2013 you might even describe it as moreish. <\/p>\n
![\"Charred]()
Charred avocado toast with coriander and kimchi from Rhu in Parnell. Photo \/ Rhu<\/p>\n
How is Parnell looking these days? We don\u2019t venture over that side very often but restaurants keep popping up in my Instagram feed and I wonder which ones are worth trying? <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a really impressive strip. I would say it rivals Ponsonby Rd but while there may be roughly the same number of quality restaurants, Parnell is still a much more conservative vibe (in Ponsonby, the teenagers dress like Sabrina Carpenter; in Parnell, they dress like Katherine Mansfield). <\/p>\n
If you\u2019re heading over there, start with pizza. Napoli Contemporanea has just been named one of Asia-Pacific\u2019s top 50 pizzerias for the second year in a row. You might be thinking that\u2019s like being named one of Europe\u2019s top 50 pad thai restaurants but given the huge Italian immigrant population Down Under, it\u2019s a huge achievement, so put them on your list for a margherita. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s a bit of an Italian stronghold there, actually, with the brilliant Cornelia and the classic NSP. Beyond that, look for Top 50 favourites Rhu, our supreme winner Tala, and you can find out what I thought of newcomer Aarth in my review this coming Wednesday. <\/p>\n
What you\u2019ve asked, and what he\u2019s shared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his fortnightly foodie advice column, Viva\u2019s resident dining-out editor shares his recommendations and insider advice. This week,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1665,3952,3390,9853,75514,36979,32896,1888,83891,75512,6101,55097,78,5501,2936,2537,52155,2538,111,43,139,69,43239,187935,42775,10710,10270,180,1961,1529,3765,23498,75513,686,14605,187936],"class_list":["post-355393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-advice","tag-aucklands","tag-best","tag-column","tag-diningout","tag-drink","tag-editor","tag-first","tag-foodie","tag-fortnightly","tag-good","tag-highend","tag-in","tag-indian","tag-insider","tag-jesse","tag-jesses","tag-mulligan","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-parnell","tag-predinner","tag-recommendations","tag-resident","tag-restaurants","tag-shares","tag-this","tag-three","tag-tips","tag-upmarket","tag-vivas","tag-week","tag-whats","tag-wheres"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}