Dennis and Rosamund Knill
La Marée
Menu 8
Cuisine 7.5
Wine List 8
Service 8.5
Décor 8
Value for Money 7.5
The engaging synergy between the sea and land is well executed with a menu that is back on form with seasonally influenced and creative food tempered by reassuring flavours.
Sofitel’s restaurant on the Viaduct has recently undergone a makeover and renamed La Maree (translated: ‘The Tide’). The cuisine here at times has been a bit of a hit and miss affair lending weight to the notion that hotel restaurants do not rival Auckland’s discerning dining out scene. Being a seafood restaurant the menu is devoted to seafood but with a slight detour with meaty mains to satisfy carnivores and vegan dishes to keep the vegetarians fed.
In the kitchen is Marc De Passorio a contemporary chef with a French attitude and two Michelin stars under his belt and a menu scattered with seafood delights. As one of the first places in the city to get serious about seafood no meal is complete without a menu harvested predominantly from our backyard. Included are two old-fashioned virtues as a seafood platter ($185), mussels, oysters, scallops, clams scampi, Alaskan crab served with mayonnaise lemon, apple vinegar and bouillabaisse ($89) mussels, lobster, clams, scallops and fish fillets.
Conservatives can relax as you can still get oysters on the shell ($30-55), crayfish ($MP) served with risotto and parmesan, line caught market fish ($43) served with vegetables, cauliflower cream and lychee, yellowfin tuna ($44) marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil, poached octopus ($42) with watercress and spinach. For true blue meat eaters eye fillet ($45) with creamy leeks, caramelised onions, mushroom cream and potato fondant and lamb rack ($45) served with potato mash, mushroom and fricassee. Sides are predictable ($12-14), green salad, steamed vegetables, fries and potato mash. Desserts ($20 to $22) cover the fruit and chocolate bases with aplomb
And they’re serious about wine offerings with a long list that showcases local heavy-hitting vintages including some great finds from their last bottle selection. Classic stuff, all of it, as long as you watch what you’re drinking. Either way the list deserves more drops by the glass.
And the verdict? Portions aren’t huge and prices aren’t small with dishes lacking in ingredients. However dining here is largely satisfying supported by engaging free-thinking waiters that make for a tangible culinary experience.
