The Cellar Room

I like restaurants with their own wine retail shops. They intend to have lower mark-ups on the wines, and that’s a big plus point in my book. Moomba at Boat Quay is a good place, with solid good food to boot. Incontro at Robertson, is another favourite of mine (although I recommend going for the cheese/meat platters rather than the main courses).

I have heard of the Cellar Door for the longest time but I never got around to checking out the place. Vivo is just one of those places I don’t frequent so often. They have recently removed the corkage charge, previously imposed when you buy from the retail shop to consume at the bistro. So I figured this was a sign for me to check out the place.

The first male waiter who served us was very friendly, telling us about the wines and cheese they had. The other lady who served us subsequently had a really sour face and made us feel second class (she was fawning over the Caucasian couple beside us!).

For the month of October, they have on promotion some wines which are discounted. I thought the two whites we ordered were rather good value:

Ata Rangi Pinot Gris 2010 (Normal $48.60 OFFER $41.31) – we had a bottle of this and it went beautifully with the cheese platter. I think it would be a very pleasant drink on its own.

Villa Maria Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc Taylor Pass 2009 (Normal $54.90 OFFER $46.67) – this was one of the more complex NZ SBs I’ve had to-date. There’s some chalkiness, which was interesting. Strangely, this complimented our Eggs Benedict well.

Foodwise, the selection was not large. There were quiches and chicken pies, all-day breakfast sets, some main courses etc. Desserts were limited to mainly cakes. But what they did have, they did reasonably well. Don’t order the mussels though – expensive and very mediocre. I would be back to try the quiche and chicken pie.

And more wines. Of course.