It feels to me like a destination location when I get out to visit Hobsonville Point. A quickly expanding suburb that is part of Auckland, yet is more like a small town with cosy farm surrounds and a distant view of the ‘big smoke’.
The new kid on the block is Fabric Cafe Bistro, located on the water’s edge near the ferry terminal. I’d describe the interior as minimalist-contemporary with a high ceiling and a gently-lit interior which was rather inviting on a cold winter’s evening.
The menu is a one-pager that offers 3 courses and a few options for sides. Starters (NZD 17 – 23), mains (NZD 24 – 36) and desserts (NZD 12 – 18). Having only opened a few weeks before, our waitress was polite but lacked in-depth knowledge of the food when we asked her questions about the dishes. We eventually decided on our choices and settled in for the evening.
To start we shared some confit mushrooms with some parsley, basil and pumpkin seed pesto (NZD 10). For mains we tried the Potato gnocchi with ricotta, mushroom drizzled with sage and almond burnt butter (NZD 25), Duck leg ragu with homemade pappardelle, rocket pesto, pine nuts and pecorino (NZD 28) and Lamb rump, pumpkin, baby carrot, dukkah, coriander and goat’s cheese (NZD 32).
We were absolutely blown away by our main meals! Every detail was carefully thought out and the taste and presentation of the dishes could not be faulted. The gnocchi was the overall highlight for me, as they were the lightest and most fluffy gnocchi I have eaten, ever. The portion sizes aren’t big though and I was rather disappointed to still be hungry at the end of the meal.
We decided to draw out the evening with a cheese board and it was pretty much what one would expect from a standard board (NZD 18).
For dessert, the highlight for me was the Rosemary creme brulee served with lemon sorbet (NZD 14) (a rather odd combination which somehow worked). The Chocolate profiteroles (NZD 12) looked the part and were pretty good. I had high hopes for the Panna cotta, poached rhubarb and thyme crumble (NZD 12) but it didn’t deliver the rich flavour I was expecting and I was equally disappointed with the Manuka honey ice cream (NZD 12) which was soft and had started to run by the time it got to the table.
It wouldn’t be considered a cheap night out but the quality and taste of the food will have me spend the money and definitely pay them another visit. As the restaurant is just in its early days, my hope is that they focus on producing desserts that match the flavours and finesse of the main meals as well as increase the portion sizes of a few of their signature dishes.
If you haven’t been, it is seriously worth trying and I look forward to returning to test out their outside deck when the sun is shining!
- food – 4/5
- price – 3/5
- service – 3.5/5
- atmosphere – 4/5
