Maison Vauron, 5 McColl Street, Newmarket, Auckland 1023, New Zealand
We went here because…
We went in to buy some French wine to take to a friends for dinner, however there was such a great vibe, we were caught in the moment and decided to have something to eat.
The food…
We were just looking for a snack and a couple of glasses of wine, we asked the wine seller/server, who said that the kitchen had closed, but she was sure she could make something happen (clearly she hadn’t been to the same hospitality school as many these days, where the only response is “No”). She said that she could organise a cheese platter or a charcuterie and cheese platter, we opted for the later.
The platter was quite outstanding housing a hard, a soft and a blue cheese, plus a substantial selection of cured hams, saucisson, chicken liver parfait, Olive tapenade and sliced cornichons and dried apricots and figs. Accompanying the platter was a generous helping of sliced baguette and as I’m special a (generous again) helping of gluten free crackers.
After spending a couple of weeks in 2019 in Provence eating and drinking a similar diet, it was like being transported back there. And as you are literally sitting amongst the wooden shelves piled high with French wine with no windows to see outside that you are actually in the back blocks of Newmarket and all the servers are French, it doesn’t get much better than that (for a small snack on a Saturday afternoon).
We didn’t manage to finish the platter, probably because The Wife tapped out and I can’t really do blue cheese.
The drinks…
Maison Vauron’s day job is a French wine merchant, and the restaurant is really a value add (in addition to the cafe and fromagerie downstairs). Therefore you are dining while sitting in the aisles of the shelving of thousands of bottles of wine from every corner of France, so while you may not find a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc or Central Otago Pinot, there will be something for everyone.
The Wife wanted a Rose from Provence and I wanted something with a bit oomph from Bordeaux (I have no idea what I’m talking about, but the server was happy to humour me and allowed me to think I knew a little bit about grapes from the region).
The service…
The server was fantastic, whether or not the kitchen was closed and she pulled some strings to make our food happen, we believed it and were very impressed that she had an attitude that is can be lacking in the hospitality industry today. Extra marks for putting up with my very average French, so many bumbling Francophiles must go in there trying to practice their language skills, (I bet it’s on the job description “part time French teacher for people wanting to say Je m’appelle ingenieur domestique”).
The atmosphere…
We were only visiting to buy some wine and were mesmerised by the atmosphere and ended up spending and extra $100 on a platter and a couple of wines, so it must have been good.
The price was…
~$100 for a sizeable platter of cheese and meat and 2 glasses of wine
Overall
Great spur-of-the-moment snack (although at $100 a packet of chips would have been cheaper) we couldn’t finish the platter and the service was spot on. Overall I would give Maison Vauron 8/10.
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