Cable Bay Vineyards Restaurant

The 25-minute uphill walk from the Fullers Quick Cat ferry to Cable Bay Vineyards certainly helps develop an appetite and this restaurant, with its prime view and carefully executed dishes, is a worthy destination.

We begin with a smiley French welcome and a quick tour of the tasting room. The building’s Artspace features
a Dick Frizzell exhibition but, aware of a looming crowd, we opt to move through to the already buzzing wood-and-glass dining room. A helicopter swizzles
on the lawn and the house is full, with around 100 luncheon diners burbling volubly. Fading out in the distance, Auckland’s CBD recedes into a non-speaking role; a backdrop to the main act of chef Will Thorpe, directing a troupe of dancing flavours from his open kitchen.

Restaurant manager Andreas Markgraf and his staff are composed under fire; his suggestions for glasses of Cable Bay wine practised and accurate. Complimentary bread and Waiheke olive oil are delivered without fuss.

The season is given a starring role on the menu blurb, so I look forward to my scallops, which the waiter assures me are local. We can see the gulf and practically taste the Coromandel when Atlantic scallops with no roe are served. Their origin is reconfirmed only after my surprise sends the waiter off to the kitchen. Still, the trio is perfectly cooked, napped with pan juices and partnered with al dente green peas and soft slivers of Serrano ham.

Bistecchine crude – raw, marinated, wafer-thin beef – proves a visual delight as turmeric-yellow slices of pickled fennel splash their colour against dollops of white buffalo mozzarella and indigo micro-greens. The zing of marinated anchovies energises the dish.
For mains, we choose pork belly and a confit leg of duck “with ham hock garbure”. It’s just a French word, explains our waiter. “What does it mean?” I enquire. “It’s the way it’s cooked,” he bluffs, seeming unlikely to volunteer that it is really a stew.

Chefs Sam Clark and Thorpe once again dress to impress with their tidy and tender tiles of pork belly, adorned by medallions of regal purple Maori potato. My confit duck has been spared the salt or fat extremes that the technique often exaggerates, and the accompanying white onion puree and truffle juice are similarly handled with restraint and respect. The garbure of ham, pulses and vegetables is enjoyably hot (heat is so often the missing ingredient on a plate).

We move on to a substantial, sweet and cakey pear and frangipane tart, and a creamy, airy Valrhona chocolate pavé served with delectable salted peanut ice-cream, explosive raspberry jelly globules and a little brownie.

Either in the tasting room or at the table it is worth trying Neill Culley’s respected Cable Bay wine, made on site from grapes of various regions, but there’s something extra special about enjoying a glass that expresses the winery’s own terroir, and Cable Bay Chardonnay does not disappoint.

The acoustics of the restaurant are making me wish I were in the quiet, industrious kitchen, which is travelling like a well-tuned model train at top speed, as Will Thorpe directs the bobbing heads and nimble hands of his team. The sculptures outside also bob their salute as the chopper rises, heading back over the water to the hubbub of the CBD.

12 Nick Johnstone Drive, Church Bay, Waiheke Island, ph: 09-372 5889, cablebay.co.nz
Lunch 7 days from 12pm, dinner Thurs-Sat from 6pm
Mains $42-$45