The Simunovich Olive Estate - Bracu Restaurant

First time driving past ‘Auckland’s finest country restaurant’, I nearly mistook it for a lavish private home of a wealthy uncle I don’t have. 

Located in the Bombay Hills, on the Simunovich Olive Estate, Bracu beckons its guests with the effortless confidence of a host who knows that if you have driven 35 minutes out of your way from central Auckland, you need no convincing to stay for dinner. Once seated on the veranda which orbits the restaurant, I was eager to see how the Metro Magazine’s 2013 Best Rural runner up measures up.

Well to begin with, it measures down. The (mouthful of a) menu of the ‘Four Courses of Seasonal Fare Designed to Showcase the Garden and Bracu’s New Wood Fired Oven’ featured all the key words ‘truffle ice cream’, ‘alpine salmon’and ‘pokeno pork belly’ to make this an experience worthy loosening my belt in public. But apart from the clever trick with a green ‘veloute of asparagus’, which the waitress made a point of circulating the table with and finally adding at the last minute to our ‘truffle ice cream’, the first course was unremarkable. Or maybe it was but I would of needed more than the one spoonful assigned to me to come to appreciate that.

The unremarkable Velouté of Asparagus with Truffle Ice Cream

But once the entrée of ‘Benmore Alpine Salmon Lightly Smoked Over Olive Wood, Avocado and Bloody Mary Vinaigrette’ arrived, it became apparent that all that my mouth was going to be full of tonight were words, instead of forkfuls. The presentation was immaculate but the portion size quickly made me regret passing up ‘Wood fired Sourdough with Cultured Butter and Simunovich Estate Olive Oil’ in an attempt not to fill up on starters.

Portion Controlled Benmore Alpine Salmon Lightly Smoked Over Olive Wood,
Avocado And Bloody Mary Vinaigrette

Bracu’s house wines come from the Duck Point vineyards and the Sauvignon Blanc in particular, with its   unobtrusive crispness, showcased the ‘Pork Belly and Fillet with Buttercup and Sherry Vinegar Jus’ main. And this course around, the minimalist approach to portion sizes worked in the pork belly’s favour because anything that rich and succulent in taste would have been overwhelming on a large scale.

Succulent and Satisfying Pokeno Pork Belly And Fillet With Buttercup And Sherry Vinegar Jus

The ‘Lemon Soufflé with a Blueberry Ice Cream’ dessert was the shortest and most straight forward offer on our tongue twisting dinner menu and ironically proved to be the most filling. I imagine the dessert chef must have earned his patisserie stripes with this little number because the soufflé was everything you have come to believe to be an unattainable baking myth - a high rise golden top which when prodded into reveals itself to be fluffy and creamy bubbles of dough of feather lite density. The experience, for the first time, made me appreciate the French origin of the word soufflé meaning to ‘blow up’.

The sweet send off Lemon Souffle With Blueberry Ice Cream