Takapuna Beach Cafe: Inventive Menu and Stunning Coastal Views

The food is inventive, sometimes difficult to categorise, but prices might sting a little. Given the shortage of serious restaurants in the area, it’s a bit of a shame there are two with names so similar they often get mixed up. I ate this time at Takapuna Beach Cafe but there are people who will read this whole column and still think I’m writing about Takapuna Surf Club, where the Dr Rudi’s crowd have been running a crowd-pleaser menu for the past few months. But no, today we’re at the old Hip Group joint, next to the boat ramp at the northern end of the main beach. Hip Group were unassailable in this spot but never got an evening service going. When they sold up, they offered the business first to their restaurant managers, who apparently mortgaged everything to buy it. As far as sure bets go, a seaside eatery with ocean views in one of New Zealand’s most affluent suburbs would have looked pretty good, though I suppose in this country you’re only ever a natural disaster away from destitution. Things are going well so far though, and they’re treading softly but surely with an experimental new liquor licence that allows diners on the premises, somewhat romantically, “from sunrise to sunset”. “We will eat fast,” I promised our excellent adult waiter, who had a sort of seen-it-all professionalism that made us all feel relaxed. “You have heaps of time,” he reassured us, though in the end we didn’t. We began at 6.15pm and ate the last mouthful of flounder at 7.59pm with 60 seconds of legal dining left, removing any chance of dessert (the chef took pity on my mother, the birthday girl, and sent her away with a box of homemade Christmas mince pies). So arrive early and order large. It is a lovely menu with some lovely drinks too; the owners make a point of supporting single-family businesses such as the Neudorfs of Nelson, Ma Maison of Martinborough and the Pujols of Prophets Rock. Mum was feeling celebratory so we took an outdoor table, ordered a bottle of Kumeu River Methode for the table and drank it out of pretty champagne coupes. “The view changes depending on the weather,” observed our waiter. “When it’s still we see paddleboarders; when it blows we see wing foilers.” It was a wing foiling night and for me not quite warm enough to feel comfortable when the easterly wind gusted. My fault for not wearing long sleeves though, and those in our party who’d dressed properly were very happy. The food is inventive and sometimes difficult to categorise. The inevitable tuna crudo slices came with segments of blood orange (actually they looked like normal orange to me but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt), horseradish dressing and more heat from a Japanese green chilli ferment. Charred sweetcorn was cut down the cob into four narrow lengths, the first time I’ve ever seen that (it’s slightly more convenient to eat and looks interesting). It came with ajo blanco (thick sauce of blitzed almonds) and snowy parmigiano straight off the microplane. (By the way, paying $26 for one cob of corn may sting a little and you do sometimes feel like the view has inflated the prices – sparkling wine, for example, begins at $24 a glass.) Offering whole flounder is a bold and beautiful choice, and it was one of our favourite dishes, adorned with chopped green herbs and a butter described as “bagna cauda”, which usually means an emulsion of anchovies and garlic. Beef, a protein which is increasingly hard to price competitively, comes in at $55 here and it’s flank, a secondary (though delicious) cut. That steak was our pick of the night, tender and glazed sticky with a homemade barbecue sauce. Contrasting with the meat were freshly blanched snowpeas, bright and green and crunchy. The roast chicken main is a good one too but make sure you order at least a couple of sides, including the Caesar salad – thick Cos “batons” served upright in a glass and slathered in the usual accompaniments so you can pick them out one at a time for some cold crunch between mouthfuls of meat. Cucumber salad might not sound exciting but this was a dish of delicious confidence, the star ingredient shaved into ribbons then tossed with potato, olives, croutons and more parmigiano. This is a cafe doing dinner and it sometimes feels that way – imagine all that food I’ve just described fighting for space on a small bistro table. But you really do have to work hard to find anything to complain about here. The food, service and drinks are fantastic, and that’s before you’ve even considered the view of Rangitoto, New Zealand’s newest land mass. You can see exactly where in the world you are, but you’re so close to the Gulf that you can smell and hear it too. If you’re looking to take an out-of-towner somewhere special, put this in your top five. Takapuna Beach Cafe Cuisine: Bistro Contact: 22 The Promenade, Takapuna, Takapunabeachcafe.com Drinks: Fully licensed Reservations: Accepted From the menu: Tuna crudo $28, grilled corn $26, half roasted chicken $49, flounder $60, baby caesar $16, potato pavé $20, cucumber dinner $29, steak $55 Rating: 18/20 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’t delay. According to dining out editor Jesse Mulligan. 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