Dinner at Clarence Bistro

CLARENCE BISTRO
Cuisine: Fine dining, modern New Zealand
Address: 51 Willow Street, Tauranga 
Phone: 07 574 8200
Website 
Drinks: Fully licensed
Reservations: Recommended

I went for lunch at Clarence Bistro a few weeks back but I've never been there for dinner. Until a friend had a surprise birthday party a couple of weeks ago. There were fourteen of us in the group so this was a good test of the restaurant's ability to cope with larger parties while retaining standards.

The Bistro has somewhat changed since I was last here and had the Express Lunch. That option is no longer available. Lunch is now a la carte or an option of degustation menus, while the dinner menu has options for 2 or 3 courses from the a la carte menu, or a 5 or 7 course degustation. I'll get back to these and the prices later.

Unusually, the restaurant was happy for people to mix and match at the table: most places require an entire table to have the same option with degustation menus so this was an impressive display of control, or would have been if any of us had taken the option. As it was we all selected from the a la carte menu, which has three choices for each course. 

Let's have a look at the food. Here are two of the starters...

BBQ Oyster Mushroom, Macadamia, Sea Succulents, Mushroom XO

Seared Venison, Beetroot Variations, Bitter Chocolate, Raspberry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mushrooms were the winner here, meaty with deep rich flavours a beautiful charred edge and lots of flavourful umami - it was a taste of autumn on a plate (even if it happens to be spring!). 

The venison dish was a study in beetroot and as such was very good, the dried raspberry providing a welcome zing and the light dusting of chocolate a lovely grace note. The only issue I had is that with the vension cut so thinly - pretty much like carpaccio - it was completely lost against the beetroot. I had a similar dish for lunch at Clarence and the venison was cut much more thickly. That was more a venison dish, this was essentially just a beetroot one. 

On to the main courses and people had all three, which were:

 

55 Day Aged Beef Tenderloin, Onion Soubise, Bone Marrow, Wild Garlic, Pickled Onion

Open Lasagne Confit Tomato, Silken Tofu, Salsa Verde, Cavolo Nero

Roasted Local Fish, Charred Cos Lettuce, Peas & Feves, Smoked Yoghurt, Guanciale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't try the vegetarian option, though reports are that the open lasagne was very good, as was the fish, which I seem to remember was snapper. I tried a bit of that and it was moist and worked well with the yoghurt and various greens.

But I had the beef and it was simply fantastic! After being aged that long it really is quite special and demands respectful cooking. This was done perfectly (that's a medium rare in the picture - the several steaks around the table were all exactly as requested) with the bone marrow cream filling the tangy onion shells and a sweet rich soubise (hidden underneath). There was also a little meaty jus - it was a top class dish and all the steak-eaters agreed. 10/10.

 

And so to dessert. There was also a cheese and a Petit Fours option. But the two pretty much everyone had were:

Milk & Honey Local Honey, Honey Mascapone Ice Cream, Lavender

Chocolate Dark Mousse, Milk Aero, Salted Ganache, Creme Fraiche

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, again, there was one clear favourite, which was the chocolate. I don't think the pictures do it justice as there were more layers and textural variations than it shows. It was a great dessert.

The Milk & Honey was also fine if just a little plain. The sponge was sponge and there was some honey but there really wasn't enough variety to make it interesting. Pleasant rather than knockout (which is what the chocolate was!).

All in all it was an excellent night and the restaurant and staff did a really good job with a table that had a tendency to move around a bit and do all the things waiters hate. To drink we had two wines throughout, the Squealing Pig Rose and Takapoto Pinot Noir (RIP Andy Anderson, we still miss you). They were both very good and once again I forgot to check the prices.

 

And I should say something about prices. The ones here might cause some consternation. Now I absolutely believe a restaurant can charge whatever they want - you can choose to eat there or not. But many people when going to Clarence may be unaware of their current minimum pricing. Which is $69.

 

There are two degustation options: 5 courses - $95; 7 course $115. 

But there's also the "a la carte". It is priced at $69 for 2 courses, $79 for 3 courses. Which means that the cheapest dining option at Clarence is $69. This is not a place you can go and check out by trying  couple of entrees. And it means the 2-course option is a tad pricey. The 3-course option seems perfectly reasonable to me for fine dining - it comes out at $20 entree, $40 main, $20 dessert, but that 2-course one might give people pause. Having said that the restaurant was completely full from start to finish, and we came in early.

Foodwise I had slightly mixed feelings. Overall everything was very good. A couple of dishes were a little underwhelming. Not in any way bad, just not knock yer socks off good. On the other hand the beef main (and the mushroom entree and chocolate dessert) were overwhelmingly wonderful. You pays your money you takes your chances...

There's also one thing I might just point out before closing that I did find particularly strange. You might have spotted it. The menu contained none of the following: chicken, duck, lamb, pork. That in itself is something quite unusual.