Euro Bar and Restaurant - CLOSED

A landmark on the landscape of Auckland's dining scene and the perfect destination to impress.
Stephen Heard
January 19, 2021

Overview

Euro has been dishing up its polished fine dining cuisine on the edge of Auckland's waterfront for over 20 years, always serving as a reliable beacon of hope and quality in an area swamped by tourist eateries. Now, in line with the city's current move away from the exuberant multi-course dining style, the restaurant has been reinvented with a slick new fit-out and more relaxed dining experience.

The restaurant has moved away from its traditional dining style to offer new shareable dishes created by executive chef Gareth Stewart. Stewart's new menu has been pulled back so diners can have the option of ordering six or seven dishes to share and having three of those on the table at once.

The new menu is set across three sections — The Garden, The Ocean, The Land — and includes the likes of Fiordland red deer tartare, smoked jumbo turkey leg, cauliflower cacio e pepe, monkfish in green peppercorn sauce and bang bang squid.

The latter is paired with spicy sambal and comes topped with puffed rice, cashews, spring onion and coriander — creating a forkful of flavours and textures. The raw big eye tuna is another vibrant choice; cubes of the fish are presented alongside crisp radish, green tomatoes, smoked chilli oil and a giant fried rice cracker for scooping. The chicken liver pate was another highlight of this tasting menu experience. The light and creamy spread is complemented by crispy chicken skin and grapes. Pile all of the above on toasted sourdough.

Elsewhere, there's Taupō lamb rack with saag pureé and butter curry leaf oil, gnocchi carbonara and crispy spuds served with hung yoghurt for dipping. Euro followers will be pleased to know that fresh oysters still make the cut.

Euro's interior has also been completely reworked by interior design studio CTRL Space. Following co-operator Paula Sigley's "slightly modernist, club-by-the-sea" brief, the ceiling has been brought down to give a wider view of the water and the floors have been lined with pink travertine tiles. Interior curtains have been added to define smaller, more intimate dining spaces in a softer way.

The restaurant will also showcase the work of local artists with the seasons. The first campaign features photography from multidisciplinary artist Meighan Ellis, whose imagery also inspired the yellow colour palate that will be utilised throughout the restaurant in summer.

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