Roxy Restaurant Review Auckland City

Ah Roxy, reminds me of a lame English 70s band, and i don’t have the fondest memories. Fortunately tonight I will remember for a long time, and all for the right reasons. Roxy is an area of Auckland, formerly the red light district, that reminds me of Meatpacking district of New York City. With its brick buildings and hustle and bustle late night feel, the loud punters and drunk but social revelers crowding the street.

Roxy is one of Auckland’s smart new restaurants that has made itself at home in Fort Lane, along with its sister, but more casual, restaurant Everybody’s. With the Al Capone’s doorman standing guard of the elevator asking patrons whether they’d booked in that Italian American slur and dressed in black, it makes you wonder what sort of den of iniquity you’re about to enter. Tonight though I must have had the correct password, and greeted him with the correct shake, for I was allowed in.

Up to the second level in the elevator, no wonder we have a high obesity rate, the doors open to reveal a dark but charismatic, but quiet high ceilinged building. We’re asked for our coats and jackets, very formal for Auckland. I guess then that this must be downtowns fine dining. No longer do you have to go to the burbs to find it!

We sit. We casually wait for our table guests. Menus are handed out. White linen serviettes are a nice touch. Chairs far too comfortable to hold conversations without having to lean forward, almost uncomfortably so! Guests arrive.

We are greeted by our waitperson for this evening. Robin of Nottingham distributed his wealth of knowledge of the menu in precise detail. Every dish was deconstructed, actually there was an awful lot of deconstruction at Roxy.

Slow poached egg, Jamon Iberico de Bellota, polenta, manchego, green tomato

The whole evening was conducted by Robin, he’ll have a hard time going back to Nottingham after his stint at Roxy. Confidence was backed up by his thorough knowledge of the menu, and when we asked a question that he didn’t know the answer to he said as much. He talked and recommended dishes for the whole table, he talked about matching wine, a job that I always give to someone other than myself.

We were brought a fine selection of entrées with no double ups. I chose  ’Slow poached egg, Jamon Iberico de Bellota, polenta, manchego, green tomato’ the egg just cooked enough for my liking, the runny yolk oozed across the plate and doused the other ingredients with its love.

I did get menu envy though, and wished I’d tried “The Whole Duck ”, by description it’s not an entré. Whole duck is pieces of meat from every part of the duck as an entrée really appealed and looked magnificent. I always get menu envy though, I also envied all of the other main courses and desserts on the table.

What really impressed me about Roxy is the concise menu. All interesting dishes, all can be made well, and it also cuts out the choice for the patrons. I try to avoid restaurants with menus as thick as bibles. Wine lists needn’t be tomes, just make sure that all bases are covered.

For my main course I chose the ‘Aged beef, pressed oxtail, spinach, maxim potato, bone marrow, red wine sauce’. The maxim potato was mm perfect and cooked beautifully. The beef simply melt in the mouth succulent and delicious.

Don’t get me started on desserts. I always try to avoid them. I usually ride the cliché of judging a restaurant by its creme Brulée. This time I’m seduced by the figs, not just any old figs, but ‘Adriatic figs, candied pain d’ epice, fromage blanc, salted walnuts, fig water’. As it turns out I made the right choice. Still I had menu envy as the look of the brulée was majestic.

All in all Roxy is the type of place you take people to impress and maybe indulge in a little after dinner action close by. It’s within easy walking distance from all of the nightlife that Auckland has to offer, but you can just relax and have a roadie there. And when I say relax, I mean it’s hard not to relax in their comfy chairs at the end of the evening.

Oh and the toilets look war ravaged in a trendy way!

Total bill for 4 was about $180/head: 5 beers, two bottles of wine, a glass of dessert wine, glass of calvados, 4 entrées, mains and desserts.

5 stars

09 929 2701

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Written by Jayson Bryant

Jayson’s roots in wine began when his father literally dragged him round France and injected his passion into him. From the age of 8 his family took month long holidays in France travelling through all regions and sampling their wine.
UnScrewed has reinvented the concept of wine tasting in New Zealand and along the way found a new and willing audience. In addition to encouraging straightforward wine tasting, Jayson educates viewers about the effects of regional factors (soil, sun, wind) on wine flavours, and how to buy wine.

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