Overview
In homage to this year's Bastille Day, Concrete Playground invites you to take stock of Auckland’s thriving French dining scene -which looks to be enjoying a wee bit of a renaissance of late. I sense a conspiracy. The end of the global war on carbs was perhaps the perfect opportunity for the Auckland French community to unite to harness the addictive qualities of butter and cream; to have us mercilessly salivating once again over the recklessly good cuisine of l’Hexagone.
More to the point, the frogs are an industrious bunch who’ve been hard at work colonising the four corners of Auckland with a slew of new cafés and bistros to compliment the entrenched classics. These are our favourites from Auckland's French revolution.
Bon appètit.
1. The French Café
While predictable, it would be a sin to divest this cherished institution of first prize. With its permanent perch in the highest echelons of Auckland fine dining royalty, the French Café is a (pricey) pass into the exclusive world of haute cuisine that has little competition in this hemisphere. And it’s no private fact that the service invariably toys with perfection.
This season’s tasting menu includes egg yolk confit, roasted quail and seared langoustine with artichoke, cauliflower and beurre noisette. Your wallet may even survive the experience intact if you opt for the à la carte option.
210 Symonds Street, Eden Terrace
2. Frenchie
This thriving establishment down the Three Lamps end of Ponsonby Road has had a sexy makeover and she’s turning heads. The crêpe machine’s had the boot to make way for a sultry bar à vin and bistro where owner Alex Roux is continuing the legacy of his former flames Pastis and Bouchon, both of which enjoyed their own successful eras on the Auckland French dining scene.
This place is possibly the Frenchiest of them all, capturing that nonchalant joie de vivre that appeals to all of us. Like your quintessential bistro which can be found all over France, there’s a blackboard menu that you have to wait your turn to see, the staff struggle to find any adequate English word to describe 'fricasée' and there's a liberal selection of reasonably-priced French wines, some with carafe options (¾ litre). In spite of the casual service, the food is delectable (the duck confit literally slid off the bone and voluntarily into my mouth). Francoise Hardy and Serge Gainsbourg croon away - hardly audible above the din of the packed downstairs area on any weeknight. Real Frenchies even occupy the café tables outside the front entrance puffing away into the evening, a final nod to the stamp of authenticity.
265 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby
3. Le Petit Bocal
Sandringham road made love with a Parisian, and the resulting kid is hypér cool. This low key little eatery exudes a subtle industrial chic that only the French can pull off. The impressive full-spectrum menu is surprising for the café’s compact size, ranging from the native staples you'd expect to the more elaborate of kiwi brunch creations with a Frenchy twist (the Breakfast Bruschetta merits a mention).
They do eggs much better than real French cafés, the coffee is superb and the polite but gossipy staff only add to the charm. Le Petit Bocal is open through to evening, where you can come pick at one of their lavish charcuterie platters over un verre or opt for the seasonal dish of the evening. La classe.
177 Sandringham Road, Sandringham
4. L'Oeuf
L'Oeuf is another trendy bijou blossoming deep in Auckland suburbia, pulling a steady stream of well-dressed visitors with its eclectic menu and contemporary looks. Hot on the trail of a recent trend in modern Parisian cafes, the cuisine is not particularly French with a diverse menu of plates featuring nationalities of their own (perhaps just a tad eurocentric). The Cambodian: sticky rice and succulent lychees. The Russian: vodka-cured salmon with poached egg (standard). The Geisha. Retro hanging plants, and the like. You get it.
This place belongs somewhere near Canal Saint Martin in the tenth arrondissement of Paris where no one actually eats anything -they just slink about in skinny jeans, floppy hats and Van Halen t-shirts. Mt Albert just got a whole lot cooler.
4a Owairaka Ave, Mt Albert
5. L'Assiette
This bright and airy Britomart café is a favoured morning spot for cultured business folk and Saturday morning cyclists with a penchant for viennoiserie. I would even dare to suggest that their Petit Dej (café + jus d’orange + croissant) shuns to mediocrity the vast majority of Parisian cafés serving the same (ensnaring naive tourists who should have known to head straight to the boulangerie, but I digress).
L’Assiette bake their pastries on-site and non-stop to accompany their solid all-day brunch menu of gallettes, omelettes and crêpes. And then they hook you in for good with a hershey's kiss on the side of your (great) flat white. By night L'Assiette continues to shine with tasty supper offerings and desserts to die for.
9 Britomart Place, Auckland City
6. La Cigale
This solid establishment isn't a native but has certainly earned its reputation as the best French-style market in Auckland. On weekends the bustling atmosphere and swirling aromas of beef bourguignon pies, rotisserie chicken and croissants aux amandes keep all types entertained. The vibrant internationalism of the market stalls give it a non-Parnellish diversity a little bit like the real France.
By night the airy warehouse that houses the deli, boulangerie and café transforms into a buzzing dining hall with mismatched tables and chairs spread like a classy patchwork over every inch of floor (imported, bien sûr). An evening there is one to remember with lip-smacking French-inspired food served like a family meal in the middle of the table. And I haven't even got to the cheese trolley. Who cares if no one speaks French, parce que c'est si bon!
69 Saint Georges Bay Road, Parnell
7. La Fourchette
This freshly painted newcomer to Saint Heliers is doing something right. In the company of stripe-clad Sunday brunchers and thickly-accented French wait staff you could just about believe you’re seaside Saint Tropez (not in Auckland retiree central). Despite the cold concrete block of a building they’ve made the modern space work with a lofty mezzanine and nautic fit-out.
I like gauging French cafés by the calibre of their goat’s cheese salad, and the generous slice of chèvre chaud at La Fourchette did not disappoint me. La Fourchette is a polished jacques of all trades seeking to satisfy all kinds of francophilia.
8c Turua Street, Saint Heliers
8. Torchon French Creperie
Located in a street-side stall of the magnificent Elliot Stables heritage building in the heart of the city, Torchon French Creperie subscribes to the classical doctrine of kitschy French pop culture references with tea towels adorning the ceiling (yip, that’s what “torchon” means). But it works. This laidback eatery has preserved a solid longevity over the years with a rep for consistently good crêpes.
Funghi fans need go no further than the forestière, a tasty buckwheat gallette piled high with sautéed mushrooms in a naughtily-good cream sauce. It’s rich but not rich enough to stop the gourmand within the best of us buckling in for the dessert crêpe, the options for which are plentiful and worth every bit of the guilt that ensues.
39 Elliott Street, Auckland City