Mahi Eats: Somm Cellar Door Edition
BY MAHI KUMAR
Somm gets an 8.2 on the PQQ, and I’m running to go back ALREADY.
4 JUL - 2023
A cellar door in the middle of the city? That’s new.
Somm, a recently opened location nestled in the midst of the Princes Wharf (near Wildfire and the Hilton) provides a whole new experience right in the centre of the city.
Bringing the “cellar door” concept unique to vineyards to a dining space in the centre of the CBD is not only conceptually exciting but the execution has delivered. The mood lighting of the interior, although very open and vast, gives the space a cosy and intimate feel. The colouring and design mix of natural materials (think lots of red and brown) mixed with the more toned down lighting, gives it a very sexy vibe which makes it perfect for a girls’ night or date night.
Labelled as “our new waterfront urban cellar door and bar,” Somm provides an array of New Zealand’s best wines and these are served up in wine flights (much like a classic tasting experience). I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Somm, because new openings are a dime a dozen these days in Auckland.
Short for ‘Sommelier,’ it really delivers on the promise to provide locally sourced wine options with a great story, and exceptional food to pair.
Although they consider themselves more of a snack and sip spot, the portions were well-sized that had me as satiated as a full fledged dinner would. Our wine choice to pair were glasses of the Te Kairanga (a Martinborough vineyard that I have visited several times) Pinot Noir, which we then found out was their most significant wine that they produce. Although they have an extensive wine list and we wanted to try a few, we loved the TK Pinot Noir so much that we ended up getting the bottle. I would definitely recommend asking your server to recommend wines. As its name suggests, Somm has an in-house sommelier to turn to for wine advice!
To start, we ordered the market fish crudo of the day ($24) which was trevally. Served with verjuice, citrus and fennel there was an absolute explosion of citrus and zest which was well complimented with the trevally.
We then ordered the crab apple and goat cheese salad ($26).I’m not much of a salad girl, but the sweetness of the apple was so perfectly matched with the goat's cheese. The walnuts gave the dish additional crunch to go with the pear and rocket. This was a hearty salad, well-sized and I would definitely get this again. It also complimented the dishes we ordered very well.
We next ordered the cauliflower ($24) which was a roasted cauliflower served in a skillet with welsh rarebit (which is essentially grilled slices of pure cheese on toasted bread). This added such a divine texture and it was topped with golden raisins. Again, divine.
My eating companions also enjoyed the crispy fried chicken ($27) which looked pretty hearty. It was served with hot honey and aioli so they were really raving about how there was the perfect mix of sweetness and creaminess mixed with the savoury chicken. Hot honey is having its moment right now, very much like how the spicy marg dominated the cocktail scene not too long ago!
Finally, we ordered the pukekohe carrots pizza ($23) which was cooked on 72 hour poolish dough. I had no idea what that meant but allegedly it means that it was proved for a very long time. It was a delicious roasted carrot pizza, which ordinarily wouldn’t be my first pick but layered with ricotta, a generous lathering of lemon zest and an even more generous garnishing of parmesan, it was top tier.
For the PQQ:
I was so pleasantly surprised by the portions at Somm, given they have prefaced themselves as a sharing-plate-and-snack cellar door. I am dashing right to the Quantity and giving it an 8. I was very full and satisfied.
This directly leads into the Quality. I like that the ingredients were well-thought out, the flavours were complimentary, and it was lovely to see locally sourced produce (shout out to the Pukekohe carrots!). The quality gets an 8.
For Price, this gets an 8.5 as a well-priced wining and dining experience. You get what you pay for in terms of portion sizes and the homegrown wine list is of top tier quality.
Somm has done resoundingly well on the PQQ scoring an 8.2 overall. I’ll definitely be back to try all the wines!
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