The cosy feel of Oscars

Press, 23 September 1988, Page 27

The cosy feel of Oscars

OSCARS OF MERIVALE 190 Papanui Road Phone 557-382 Licensed and 8.Y.0. By MAURICE HUNTER Oscars is conveniently situated at the end of a small arcade under the Village Gate sign in Papanui Road. The entrance opens to a pre-dinner cocktail area. A semi-circular bar with comfortable seating for about 20 is provided in the form of booths upholstered in sage green and separated by cafe-style curtains in the same material. We had not made a reservation, and were requested to take a seat while the receptionistwaitress checked to ensure that we could be accommodated. It was a comfortable enough area, although we would have appreciated the additional comfort of the wall-heaters on a cold night. My suspicions that we were asked to wait so that we would spend some pre-dinner drinking time

were laid to rest when, before we had finished our first drink, the waitress reappeared to lead us upstairs . to the restaurant. The bar seating of booths and upholstery was repeated in the restaurant, with the addition of two tables which could accommodate larger parties of a total of about 30. It was a cosy, attic-like atmosphere, with exposed wooden beams, stippled ceiling and good lighting. Each booth had ample room for four. In some restaurants, the places would have been laid for six. They could have taken more as, on this particular Friday evening, the restaurant was buzzing with its full complement, but Oscars’ management apparently puts customer comfort before maximum dollars. Oscars has only recently had a change of management and there are obviously some aspects still to be sorted out, but the staff of two

waitresses and a wine stewardess were coping very well, particularly since, the kitchen being on the ground floor, they had to run up and down the stairs for every course — great training for ironwoman contestants. We did not voice our thought that a dumb waiter would be an advantage for fear of reprisals. The blackboard menu was compact and very reasonably priced, the most expensive main being $13.50. Ignoring some very bad spelling and beginning with delicious, ovencrisped garlic bread ($1.50) — no quick job in a microwave here — which we ordered to keep the wolves at bay while sneakily taking notes for future reference, we proceeded to the one soup on offer, leek and potato ($4).

It was a good-sized serving and, as all good soup should be, piping hot. Tiny cubes of potato and leek floated in a

creamy mixture, suitably garnished and flavoured with — was it oreganum? Whatever the herb, it was delicious. The fact that I had difficulty in preventing my chin from being adorned with threads of leek was no fault of the chef. Oysters naturel or Kilpatrick (half dozen for the moderate, one dozen for ' the greedy) came next, followed by two courses which could be ordered either as entree or main — salmon and mushroom filo or Gnocchi Verda. Thirza’s half dozen oysters Kilpatrick ($4) were perfect. They were served on the shell, liberally sprinkled with chopped bacon and chive, had just the right flavouring of Worcester sauce, and were delicately grilled to ensure that the tender lusciousness was preserved. Here is a chef who understands all about oysters. He did pretty well with my salmon and mush-

room filo ($5.50) too. A triangle of light, crisp and crunchy pastry, well filled, was excellent; it was just the right-sized serving, and was garnished with sliced cucumber, lemon and alfalfa shoots. In addition to the two courses mentioned above, mains consisted of avocado vinaigrette, steak and kidney pie, port fillet schnitzel, grilled sirloin with mushroom sauce, fish of the day (deep fried Akaroa cod), liver and onion with madeira sauce and chicken filo with camembert and grapes. Thirza’s chicken filo ($12.50) left nothing to be desired; the filo pastry was light and crisp and the chicken tender and moist, combining excellently with the camembert and grapes. It was accompanied by a garnish of cucumber, lettuce, parsley, tomato, bean sprouts and cottage cheese. My steak and kidney pie ($8.50) should rightly have been termed kidney

and steak pie. Under a large oval of pastry (the chef, Lloyd Miller, certainly shows a deft touch with pastry) reposed a generous serving of mainly kidney, but with a rich sauce which made it a flavoursome course, especially with the same garnish as Thirza’s chicken. For dessert, Thirza chose fresh fruit and pineapple yoghurt ($4.50), a good assortment of fruits which combined well with the natural yoghurt. Similarly, my peach cheesecake' ($4.50), judging by the little black seeds, appeared to be more passionfruit than peach. Bottomless cups of Cona coffee at $2 each completed a most enjoyable meal, for which a pair of nondrinkers would have paid a modest $53. We left with the avowed intention of paying another visit for lunch, the cost of which usually runs at around $lO for a threecourse meal.