Casita Miro (4)

3 Brown Rd, Onetangi, Waiheke.
Ph 372-7854, mirovineyard.co.nz
Lunch Wednesday-Sunday; dinner Friday & Saturday.

There’s a fun thing going on at Casita Miro, in the Miro Wines vineyard on Waiheke. Madame Rouge, they call one of their wines, and Summer Aphrodisiac is another. The staff celebrate every day that eating and drinking are part of the larger pleasures to be got from life when you set your mind to fun. To put that another way, there’s love in the food, titillation in the wine and all manner of (civilised) delights in the service. Start with their honey-roasted olives. If the season is right, try the lamb. Cooked in the rich flavours of the Mediterranean and so delectably falling apart, it is a dish to throw at the heads of half the other chefs in town who think they know what to do with sheepmeat. This year, they’re expanding: while proprietor Cat Vosper (above) continues to offer a mix of small plates and larger ones in the restaurant, she is also opening a sherry and tapas bar next door.

A favourite dish: Portuguese cataplana (soup) with seafood, chorizo and white beans.
$$$  |  FP  |  V  |  FR  |  C  |  G  |  B  |  CL  |  K       what’s this?

RUNNER-UP
Best Rural Restaurant
FINALIST
Restaurant Personality of the Year: Cat Vosper