Dineout - Le Cafe

by Bev Doole
Le Café

Address:
12-14 London Quay
Picton
www.lecafepicton.co.nz


Phone:
03 573 5588

Open:
7 days
7.30am-late

4 and a half tomatoes

Food: Bistro meets fresh NZ
Service: Got it sussed
Atmosphere: Funky and friendly
Drink: Summerhouse Pinot Noir


Here’s the test of a good restaurant – we walk in for dinner at Le Café in Picton about the same time as chef/owner Peter Schöni is walking out. I ask if he’s finished for the day. “Maybe. I’m going home for a game of chess with my daughter. If I lose, I’ll be coming back.”

This either means he knows how to train and trust his staff, or he’s more interested in pawns than prawns these days. Le Café has been around for a while. It opened in 1995, a haven for locals and ferry passengers looking for real coffee from one of those big hissing and spitting machines.

Fifteen years on, the coffee is still the best in Marlborough and the café by day transforms into a restaurant by night. If it’s summer there are sidewalk tables with a view through palm trees to the harbour. But tonight it’s cold and drizzly and we’re inside looking for hearty food.

The freshly baked loaves cooling on the side are enough to make us go for dips and bread to start. The hummus has a good savoury snap of sesame but the Seresin olive oil would be better absorbed by some of that fresh bread rather than the toasted wholemeal slices on our plate. No such quibbles about the entrée of surf clams – six plump shells, steamed with garlic and a broth that’s essence of the sea. I ask for a spoon to savour every drop.

The same sure hand is behind the Kai Moana main – a luscious risotto of groper, mussels, and paua with creamy, perfectly judged rice and a riff of lemon zest. A masterful risotto is the sign of a good restaurant (as is iced water put on the table without asking, which also happens at Le Café).

My Angus ribeye steak ticks all the boxes – aged, succulent, and medium rare as requested. With red wine jus and grilled potatoes this is simple bistro fare, but simple isn’t usually done this well.

The produce at Le Café is local and organic where possible. The clams come from round the corner in Cloudy Bay, lamb and beef from down the road in Koromiko or Port Underwood. And small Marlborough and Nelson wineries also feature. The Summerhouse Pinot Noir has just the right balance of cherry and spice for the steak, and from over the hill the Greenhough Chardonnay is suitably creamy with the risotto. Both were by the glass and ordered after a slightly frustrating Q and A session with the waitress – Which winery? Which year? What was the Riesling again? All that’s needed is a short list tucked in with the main wine menu.

Dessert has to be light and the feijoa sorbet hits the right note – tart and refreshing and bang-on seasonal. Food of this standard usually comes with starched linen tablecloths and much higher prices. Le Café is casual and friendly, but don’t be deceived – this is a sign of confidence not complacency.

As for the return of Peter the chef? Well, a blackboard above the kitchen may hold the clue:

● The little ones come first;
● Food needs to be caught and prepared before it is eaten; and
● The King takes a break when he likes.