The French Cafe
210 Symonds St, Eden Terrace, Auckland
Hours: Dinner: Tues–Sat, Lunch: Friday
+64 9 377 1911

The French Cafe. It had been on my wish-list for quite some time (read: years!) before my parents treated me to dinner there on the weekend before I headed back to Melbourne for another semester of university. After a few dull and uninspiring food experiences in Auckland over the past month, I hoped against hope that this would break the mold: one of Auckland’s longest running fine dining restaurants, The French Cafe is currently owned by the husband and wife team of Simon Wright, executive chef, and Cheghan Molloy Wright, restaurant manager, and has collected countless accolades over the years, including numerous Metro Restaurant of the Year awards. It did not disappoint.

Located on an unassuming corner of Symonds Street, The French Cafe oozes elegance. Dark wood furnishings compliment the white tablecloths, hanging globes of light and the artwork: Karl Maughan paintings which more than make up for the lack of view. It doesn’t end there – around the corner is the kitchen, with a open panel giving glimpses of chefs hard at work to another room of diners, who are also treated on the opposite side to a glass wall through to the courtyard, used for dining in the summer months. And don’t go without seeing the new private dining room: airy, spacious and sophisticated, complete with a private kitchen, high ceilings, light wooden flooring and large sliding windows opening out on to the lush edible garden area – I dream of holding an event here.

Because our booking was from 6pm to 8:15pm, we were unable to try the six course tasting menu, which is a three and a half hour feast. No matter – the four course à la carte looked just as inviting and had the bonus of being able to choose from a wider range of dishes. A small taster of the evening to come arrived first: bite-size pieces of salty, gooey goat’s cheese encased in a thin, slivered wrap of zucchini, crumbed and fried. Confusement reigned for a moment with the next course – we had all ordered different entrees, hadn’t we? But no, this was just another amuse-bouche – bowls of delicately placed slow-caramelised onion with creamily filled interiors was transformed with french onion soup broth poured over it at the table – salty, strong and gone in minutes.

The entrees arrived quickly: my snapper cerviche, fresh, light and imbued with coconut and chunks of creamy avocado, given some bite with chilli and lime, texture with puffed rice. A triumph. The baked scallops were just as good – plated on piles of salt, the scallops meld with the creaminess of cauliflower cheese, rich truffle butter and parmesan perfectly. Dad, who incidentally ended up having many broths poured over his dishes at the table, loved the egg yolk confit, strongly flavoured with iberico ham and a meaty broth with smoked potato and buttered leek.

Warm, crusty house-baked bread rolls came out next, served with slabs of salty seaweed-laced butter and a smoked version. And the second course. A simple short pastry tart base is topped with the earthy sweetness of onion, fig and beetroot, a touch of red wine syrup and a dollop of show-stopping roasted french goat’s cheese. My carmelised pork belly arrives in a glistening slab, nestled in with roasted carrots and rich carrot puree, mildly spiced flavours of gingerbread and texture of finely chopped almond, and a langoustine (which, I realised when I saw it, is a species of lobster). The Akaroa salmon was Dad’s choice, served in a shallow bowl with crayfish, salty wakame butter and crisply dehydrated brassica leaf, completed at the table with the salty Japanese flavoured hot dashi broth. All a celebration of contrasting textures and complementary but innovative flavours – we couldn’t get enough.

Welcome gaps between the courses were offered – we might have struggled if it had been full steam ahead all evening. Friendly but not overbearing, you are hardly aware of your cutlery being changed and drinks topped up, or even of other diners around you – the service is seamless.

Of the third round, Mum’s was the clear winner: aged beef cooked medium rare, tender and rich, topped with a simple wasabi butter and samphire, a green coastal-growing edible plant, plated alongside the contrasting slow roasted eggplant, black garlic and pumpkin. The roast duck leg, permeated with citrus, was similarly devoured, with wafer-thin crispy skin and a sweet kumara mash alongside. The market fish was snapper, though perfectly cooked, flaking with a crispy outer skin, it was the least punchy dish of the night: served with a sweetcorn puree with small bites of lobster, vibrant broccoli stems and a crunchy topping of pearl barley and basil, I felt like it needed something more – though this was probably a product of the extraordinarily high bar set by every other plate.

Dessert didn’t need a debate – it would have been unthinkable to miss it. I couldn’t pass the first item on the menu: textured chocolate. Fragments of chocolate meringue are propped up around a spoon of caramelised milk chocolate sorbet and a cascade of hazelnut crumble with grated chocolate shards, all offset by carefully chosen, sharp, juicy segments of fresh mandarin. Best dessert was hotly contested by the deconstructed lemon meringue option chosen by Mum, where piped towers of gooey, distinctively sour Italian lemon meringue are lightly browned with a blowtorch and coupled with lemon curd, textural pastry crumb, both fresh and freeze-dried blueberries, a scoop of white chocolate sorbet surrounded by thin, crisp white chocolate meringue pieces and garnished with a sprinkle of white chocolate powder.

An oasis of calm on busy Symonds Street, it seems as if The French Cafe can do no wrong. Confident and unobtrusive service offers modern yet unpretentious French cuisine making the most of New Zealand produce, with techniques polished through years of innovation and tireless work in The French Cafe kitchen: it is a must try. The best restaurant experience I have ever had in Auckland, hands down.

Rating: 10/10
Pro tip: book ahead if you have a specific date in mind as they are in high demand
Don’t miss: anything, really, but the lemon meringue dessert is particularly good
Features: six course tasting menu (must book for 3.5 hours), functions room with private kitchen
Price range: $100-140 per person ($140 for tasting menu), plus alcohol

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