597 Mt Eden Road,
Mt Eden
Auckland,


(09) 638 9676

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5 out of 5

Since being awarded Metro magazine’s Best Local Restaurant last month, we imagined bookings for Bowmans Restaurant would have gone through the roof, so we were fortunate to be squeezed in at the last minute on a wintery Thursday night.

When we arrived at 8.30pm, the joint was humming; the noise level comfortably high—and every table appeared to be warm, engaged, and having a jolly good time of it.

Bowmans is appointed like a posh home dining room; all creams and brown and plain wooden furniture. There are some rather unpretty awards on the wall, but other than that, everything is simple and attractive.

The wait staff, young and groomed, are very patient with the indecisive diner. We’d heard reports of uppity service, but didn’t catch a single whiff of it.

Bowman’s wine list is broad ranging and reasonable too, although we managed to request two that weren’t available that evening. Never mind—the ciabatta and macadamia butter with three kinds of salt (listed under an entrée menu entitled ‘First Impressions’) that arrived soon after our Rabbit Ranch pinot noir ($45 a bottle) more than made up for this.

Considering the dining room (which seats around 50) was at capacity, mains (known at Bowmans as ‘Second Editions’) arrived promptly.

If you can judge a hotel by its beds, then surely you can judge a restaurant by its steaks. Few chefs believe the diner who requests rare, however, Bowmans does—the thick scotch fillet with mushrooms ($29) was divine.

A very generous serving of prosciutto-wrapped snapper ($30) was served with parsnip puree. Running around the bottom rim of the deep dish, the puree was sweet and subtle, and there was just enough crunchy prosciutto to accompany every mouthful of fish.

Though sated, we were reluctant to stop, and shared a citrus panacotta ($13); a rich lemon treat (or ‘Final Fling’) which was delicious, but not as good as its accompanying berry and lemon curd sauces.

Sometime after the final mouthful, we realised we were the last diners left in the restaurant. However, staff didn’t hurry us—and it was only once we started looking around that our bill was delivered.

Wonderful food, excellent service, and a warm respite from the winter outside.