Tapas in Taupo at Vine

VINE Eatery & Bar

Cuisine: Mediterranean & New Zealand

Address: 37 Tuwharetoa St, Taupo

Phone: 07-378 5704

Website

Drinks: wine, craft beer, cocktails

Reservations: it does get busy...

Three of us were passing through Taupo on the way to Hawke's Bay and wanted a dinner break. We rolled into Vine at 7.30pm on a Friday night without a reservation. 

It was incredibly busy and the place is huge. Seriously huge. There are different areas all over the place, around the fireplace, table and booth settings indoors and out, and even two private rooms upstairs. As soon as we were seated I figured we'd made a mistake - with so many people there seemed little chance of anything resembling a quick bite.

How wrong I was. The service was swift and efficient and, despite the crowd, the food came with no noticeable delay. Good work guys!

They also have a huge menu, stretching from tapas and starters to pastas, platters, regular main courses (which sounded delicious) and more. Again that can often be a bad sign but here each dish was distinct and focused. We decided to share a bunch of stuff so ordered from the tapas section.

• Tempura cauliflower wings w sweet and sour glaze  $14
• Portobello mushrooms, macadamia, sundried tomato & gorgonzola (GF) (V) $16
• Paella balls, prawns, chicken, squid, chorizo, panko crumbed w spicy salsa & aioli  $16
• Panko crumbed squid w tartare sauce $15
• Smoked lamb & wild thyme croquettes w peppercorn & mint jus $15

 

Lamb croquettes

 

Mushrooms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Squid

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cauliflower

 

 

Paella Balls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  What can I say? We were all very happy. Things that particularly caught my attention were:

• The Paella balls were quite spicy and really good - almost a paella play on arancini (and given that arancini means "little orange" they really did look like arancini!). 
• The squid looks a little overcooked but it wasn't - it's just a dark colour. 
• Caulifower was fantastic, just the right amount of crisp and with a delicious sauce - very popular. 
• The mushrooms were very groovy - I don't remember having nuts with mushrooms before and the macadamias worked well as did the little hits of blue cheese. 
• But the winner for me were the croquettes, just the right amount of smokiness from the lamb and with a great sauce. And properly made with a bechamel sauce holding the lamb inside the crumb. Damn fine! 

We didn't have anything very interesting to drink, though I had a very nice C/O Pinot Noir. It seemed foolish to hoe into their cocktails with another couple of hours driving ahead. But if you're in Taupo I can highly recommend Vine.

 

All in all it is an incredibly impressive operation, especially given its size and the fact that it's open seven days from 11am. Excellent service and excellent food, all delivered in a timely fashion and reasonably priced. What more can one ask?