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The Engine Room

May 24, 2016 Restaurants

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What makes it special?

The Engine Room has won its category every year since it opened 11 years ago. It’s so smart and so friendly, too — the room and the service — and most of all the food is simply brilliant.

Behind the scenes

They renovated two years ago, adding a bigger bar, doubling the capacity and making the place even more elegant than it already was. But they kept the blackboard menu filled with favourites. Goats’ cheese soufflé, steak frites, schnitzel, churros con chocolate… it’s bistro food, “food you can cook at home”, except the only way you could really do that would be to kidnap Carl Koppenhagen, the chef whose magic makes these simple dishes sublime. Even then, how would you replace the other essential ingredient — the engaging panache of manager Natalia Schamroth?

A favourite dish

Veal schnitzel with potato rosti, coleslaw and caper butter.

What it offers

Free-range chicken and/or pork / Bar / Craft beer selection

 

5 spoons

Neighbourhood Bistro
Bookings: Yes
Price: $$
Seats: 80
Chef: Carl Koppenhagen

115 Queen St, Northcote Point. Ph 480-9502, engineroom.net.nz
Hours: Lunch Fri; Dinner Tue-Sat. $$

Winner, Best Neighbourhood Bistro; Finalist, Best Service; Finalist, Peugeot People’s Choice Award for Auckland’s Favourite Dish: Double-baked goats’ cheese soufflé

Latest

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Metro N°441 is Out Now.

It’s our annual, inflation-busting ‘Where to Eat for Less Than $25’ list (with thanks to Uber Eats) issue! PLUS the Summer Books Special and the Auckland Property Report Card (with thanks to Barfoot and Thompson). Also, Sir Bob Harvey looks into the missing treasures in our museums and talks to Jacqui Knight about monarch butterflies. AND NOT ONLY THAT: Emil Scheffmann looks into our secondary art market, Matthew Hooton and Morgan Godfery look into the new government, Jamie Wall into the tennis, Hana Pera Aoake into the Māori response to the war in Palestine and Abby Howells into being the lion in the Wizard of Oz. We also find the 10 Best Bakeries in Auckland, a great recipe for a Japanese Breakfast and the king of the supermarket pasta brands. All this and much, much more.

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