Stylish cafe offers flexibility

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 24

Stylish cafe offers flexibility

VICTORIA STREET CAFE Parkroyal Hotel Phone 657-799

By

PAULINE MOORE

Diners at the Parkroyal’s Victoria Street Cafe cannot fail to be impressed by the surroundings as they flock to sample the fare at one of the city’s newest and most talked-about restaurants.

Some views encompass the sunken courtyard and the floral clock, extending across Victoria Square to the city beyond. Views of the restaurant’s interior take in several floors, each decked with greenery, the gold, light-studded lifts an intriguing feature. The grandfather clock added a classical note. When we ate at the Victoria Street Cafe recently, it was for lunch. Fortunately we had been warned to arrive early; bookings are not taken, and even though the restaurant seats 150, queues were forming before 12.30 p.m. We were greeted in a friendly manner and escorted to a seating bay which could accommo-

date six, or with two tables separated, two groups of two. Iced water and a generous quantity of white French bread is brought to the table as a matter of course, though we had to wait longer than usual for ours. While we were waiting we enjoyed the tasteful background music played by a pianist, but later this was replaced by recorded selections we did not care for. Flexibility is the beauty of the Victoria Street Cafe’s menu. A casual, light inexpensive meal with a friend, breakfast, a substantial business lunch or an evening meal can be selected by round-the-clock diners.

We began our lunch with appetisers. For Andrew, it was the least expensive option, fried cheese croquettes priced at $4.25 and for me the most expensive, the South Island smoked salmon platter with brown bread and horseradish cream at $10.50. This meant bypassing other tempting dishes in this section— chicken liver and green peppercorn mousse, avocado filled with shrimps and a

lime mayonnaise, smoked Canterbury lamb on crisp lettuce with a honeyed apple salad, chicken and mushroom casserole en brioche and poached seafood in a mustard cream sauce. Andrew’s three crumbed croquettes were served on a plate lined with a paper doily, and garnished with parsley. My delicious smoked salmon was served on lettuce and garnished with onion rings, lemon and capers beside two carefully cut triangles of wholemeal bread. Each dish was served on white china plates decorated with a subtle green-grey swirl pattern. The china, selected to blend with the decor, was an example of attention given to the smallest detail. Green was repeated in the dark green-grey surface of the tables, the flecked green carpet, the striped green shirts worn by the waiters and waitresses, and of course, the accented greenery provided by the plants. Against the cream background of the walls, it created a pleasant and restful effect.

We bypassed the soup section, which offered a creamy seafood chowder

or soup of the day. Seafood features strongly in most sections of the menu.

The salad section will have to wait for another occasion, but it is worth a mention on its own. Three salads feature here — lettuce and warm chicken livers with raspberry vinegar, prawn, mussel and scallop salad with dill dressing and fresh seasonal fruit with cottage cheese. Slimmers can atternatively help themselves from the lavish selection of the salad bar.

The snack, egg and pasta and vegetarian sections cater for a variety of palates.

Andrew treated himself to South Island salmon fillet and lemon sauce at $13.75 (the most expensive mains) from the seafood section, while I chose the chicken with a plum-and-walnut sauce at $11.50.

All mains are served with vegetables — alas, only two, potato and carrot rings. For an extra $4.50 we could have added salad, but for us, small quantities for a midday meal sufficed. Our meals were nicely

presented and delicious. The size allowed us to indulge in dessert and the selection of nine had us salivating in anticipation. Andrew savoured every mouthful of his banana and kiwifruit with vanilla ice-cream, caramel sauce and almonds while I had a big disappointment with the meal — the kiwifruit pavlova and mint was not available. Instead I chose a healthy fresh fruit salad with Kirsch, which I rated only mediocre. Our next disappointment was the coffee. An embarrassed waitress explained that the cappuccino we had ordered was not available because “someone turned the machine off.” She did at least give us a complimentary substitute. Our bill totalled $56.73. This included two glasses of wine, two appetisers, mains and dessert, probably not bad value for a special lunch.

A footnote. We appreciated the smoke-free area and the lack of ashtrays, a discouragement to smokers. The restaurant has wheelchair access.