Victoria St may be home to the country\u2019s hardest-to-find Mediterranean restaurant. But Jesse Mulligan thinks the food is worth the search. <\/p>\n
\n I knew Angeline would be a little offbeat, simply because of how I found it. An industry friend commended it as \u201cseriously worth a look\u201d but there were
\n few other signs it even existed. I scraped a phone number from Google and called to see if there was a spare table. A deep voice on the other end paused, then said: \u201cI\u2019m sure that we can accommodate you\u201d. It felt like I was going to dinner with the Addams family.\n <\/p>\n
You really have to want to find this place, but once you\u2019ve trudged up Victoria St and weaved your way through various roadworks, you\u2019re rewarded with a string of pretty fairy lights and some outdoor tables that signal you\u2019ve arrived. Angeline is the night-time identity of Scarecrow, a Mediterranean deli of some years standing and not at all spooky.<\/p>\n
Angeline is the night-time operation of Scarecrow Deli. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
In fact, the overall vibe is of eating dinner in somebody\u2019s living room. The two waiters are the mother and daughter owners\u2019 husband and boyfriend, who both affect a quaint 20th-century approach to service \u2013 chatting about this and that but retaining an elegant formality on all matters regarding food and wine. The latter is something of a speciality, with dozens of bottles open on a table near the front door. They\u2019re spread out on a white tablecloth, and each has its own tiny and distinct tasting vessel to help them keep track of what they\u2019ve poured and who they\u2019ve poured for.<\/p>\n
Price per glass is steep but by the bottle it\u2019s a steal. How does that work? Is he pouring 250ml glasses?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know I\u2019ve never really thought about it,\u201d the husband replied. \u201cI suppose I should some day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given that they have no media profile and that walk-ups basically need to be wearing crampons, I was delighted to see the place reasonably busy. A couple of graduates, a happy family, two tourists who spoke not a word of English but seemed confident they could achieve their dining goals by staring blankly at the waiter every time he asked them something. The host reckoned most people find the place through word of mouth, and the food was good enough that I believe him.<\/p>\n
The slow-cooked pork terrine on the menu at Angeline. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
The menu is French and fairly classical, with a few twists introduced by an executive chef who trained under Georges Blanc, owner of France\u2019s longest-running Michelin-starred restaurant. With that background, you know the technique will be near perfect; the only question is whether you\u2019re in the mood for this style of cuisine on the night. <\/p>\n
Though the menu looks a little plain on paper, the dishes are much more ambitious and beautiful than their descriptions suggest.<\/p>\n
Angeline’s strawberry and tomato tart. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
I ordered a tomato tart, expecting that the tomatoes would be cooked in some form. But I was surprised by one of the most beautiful spring dishes I\u2019ve encountered. A flaky pastry base is layered with soft goat\u2019s cheese and then heaped with a bounty of multicoloured tomatoes, and even a few slices of strawberry. They spill out over the plate and the simple combination \u2013 fresh acidity with tangy creaminess \u2013 was a true delight. I did struggle logistically with the pastry\u2019s texture \u2013 like trying to pick up Weet-Bix crumbs with a knife and fork.<\/p>\n
The other entree was a terrine, beautifully presented with a little Dijon on the plate and, balanced on top of the meat, a range of elegantly assembled pickles: sliced cornichons, mustard seeds, green peppercorns and cocktail onions.<\/p>\n
They offer three different steaks but all of them are eye fillet. Crazy times. I chose filet mignon No 3 and it arrived sliced and perfectly rare, with a lovely peppercorn sauce and little else. This was the one dish that definitely was as simple as it sounded but there was not a single thing to complain about. If you\u2019re in the city and feel like steak, you can\u2019t miss here.<\/p>\n
Angeline’s snapper bouillabaise. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
Unaccountably, this dish was served before my bouillabaisse, and when the latter arrived a long time later, missing the \u201caromatic vegetables\u201d promised on the menu, it felt like something fishy was going on, and it wasn\u2019t the snapper. But the dish was, again, technically perfect \u2013 a fillet laid skin-on and skin-up over a thick, peachy-coloured soup with huge seafood stock flavours.<\/p>\n
I was too full for the creme brulee my friend had recommended, but they insisted I try a truffle made by their pastry chef. It was so good \u2013 intensely chocolatey, springy to the touch \u2013 I regretted not ordering dessert.<\/p>\n
Angeline restaurant in Auckland’s CBD. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
Walking away from this restaurant, I decided the thing I liked most is that it is unlike any other place you\u2019ll eat. Even the best new restaurants arrive on an established spectrum where almost every element is familiar in some way, but Angeline seems like it\u2019s been invented from scratch. As far as I know, the proprietors haven\u2019t run a restaurant before, and though that no doubt affects outcomes from time to time, it adds an individuality to the experience which is increasingly hard to find.<\/p>\n
Address: Scarecrow, Victoria St West, Auckland central<\/p>\n
Contact: 021 424 294, angeline.co.nz <\/p>\n
Hours: Thursday to Saturday, from 5pm<\/p>\n
From the menu: Tomato tart $24; country terrine $26; snapper bouillabaisse $40; eye fillet $70; creme brulee $23<\/p>\n
Score: 0-7 Steer clear. 8-12 Disappointing, give it a miss. 13-15 Good, give it a go. 16-18 Great, plan a visit. 19-20 Outstanding, don\u2019t delay.<\/p>\n
According to Dining Out editor Jesse Mulligan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria St may be home to the country\u2019s hardest-to-find Mediterranean restaurant. But Jesse Mulligan thinks the food is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[315404,1887,156,564,315405,1345,2537,24552,2538,39540,111,139,69,90,2539,763,1870,11420,223,36672,2821,19985],"class_list":["post-643343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-angeline","tag-countrys","tag-entertainment","tag-food","tag-hardesttofind","tag-home","tag-jesse","tag-mediterranean","tag-mulligan","tag-mysterious","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-restaurant","tag-reviews","tag-search","tag-st","tag-the","tag-thinks","tag-victoria","tag-worth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643343","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=643343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}