Soul Bar & Bistro (3)

Viaduct Harbour, Viaduct. Ph 356-7249.
soulbar.co.nz
Lunch & dinner 7 days. 

There was a “gourmet hotdog” on the menu at Soul at the very time reports were coming out of Sydney about the new fashion for flash takeaways. Soul keeps up. Proprietor Judith Tabron (above left, with restaurant manager Geeling Ching) runs the largest high-quality establishment in the city, serving hundreds of people daily from brunch till late at night. No other restaurateur in the country does it this well, on this scale. Despite all the recent action around our waterfront, Soul is still the finest place in Auckland to tarry by the water with a glass of wine and a plate of food. Chef Gareth Stewart is a master of the classically well-composed dish, and fish in all its glory is the mainstay of his menu. He has his “classics”, including salt-and-pepper squid, a fish chowder and whitebait, and yet, as that hotdog shows, he’s also always keen to show you something new. There’s also, most impressively, an entire vegetarian menu.

A favourite dish: Whitebait fritter with lemon butter and chives.
$$$$  |  FP  |  V  |  FR  |  C  |  G  |  B  |  BM  |  CL  |  GB      what’s this?

FINALIST
Best Service