Jesse Mulligan Reviews The Alcott, A CBD Pub For A Surprisingly Good Dinner

Shortland St gastropub The Alcott is all that, and a bag of chips. I didn’t even mean to eat dinner here. I had met a mate for a drink after work and we’d taken advantage of The Alcott’s happy hour, draining one large jug of beer, then going back for “Do you know what I feel like?” I asked him. “A bowl of chips.” And, leaving him in charge of the jug, I wandered across to the bar. “Let me guess,” the bartender said. “You’d like a bowl of chips?” I was too proud to admit she was right. So I grabbed two menus instead and went back to my friend at the table. “It’s a long story,” I said. “You can have anything you want except chips.” The Alcott is on the site formerly occupied by Pilkingtons. Photo / Michael Craig The Alcott used to be Pilkingtons, a bar/restaurant I somehow managed to review twice in its relatively short life, in this glassy building halfway up Shortland St. I don’t know the story of how it became The Alcott, but there seems to be a shortage in the city of standard places you can go for a drink and a snack. Sometimes you don’t feel like a Seoul-inspired late-night kitchen, or a taproom offering 13 types of IPA. Sometimes you just want a jug of beer and some duck-fat potatoes (that’s what I went for instead of the chips, to prove that I truly am unpredictable). The Alcott's prawn meatballs. Photo / Michael Craig A range of specials is on offer, available via a slightly confusing loyalty programme that involves showing a branded sticker with an “A” on it. I’m not sure where a lawyer is meant to put this – on his lunchbox? – but the staff seem happy to hand out stickers to whoever wants them. Once that’s sorted, you qualify for a $30 jug of Tiger beer, which ... is that good value? The last time I remember noting the price was at Hamilton’s Hillcrest Tavern on Christmas Eve 1992, when the proprietor was celebrating the birth of our Lord by selling jugs of Waikato Draught for a record low price of $1 each. If this seems like a distant and obscure anecdote, I can promise you that it still holds a special and vivid memory for anybody lucky enough to be there. It is Hamilton’s version of the nativity scene. Back to The Alcott, where you can get a sirloin steak at a good price by showing your sticker, but only in conjunction with a full-price drink. I was too tired to think about this, so ordered the more expensive ribeye from the main menu. The bartender asked how I wanted it cooked and I replied, as I always do, “However the chef prefers.” This was medium rare, apparently, though the steak was thin, leaving little room for error. It was unfortunately medium when it arrived, and there was not much sign of the rendered fat that can flatter overcooking. This made the whole thing a bit dry and hard to love, even covered in a peppercorn sauce that was close enough to gravy. Bonus: it came with chips. The Alcott. Photo / Michael Craig But I really liked everything else. Prawn meatballs were springy and purposely misshapen in a rustic sort of way, and came with a brilliant coconut “broth” that was more like a thick laksa. A bisque risotto was a nice surprise too – if drinking a bowl of seafood soup seems too intimidating for you, what about the idea of stirring it up with arborio rice so that its intense flavour is absorbed by some decent carbohydrate? The risotto was decorated with roast cherry tomatoes, which worked, but a couple of small bocconcini balls were too fast out of the fridge. Most memorable of all was a really good olive oil, used to finish the dish in a way you don’t often see these days. Best of all was a completely indulgent wagyu cheeseburger on brioche buns: sweet and meaty and greasy and perfect with a big glass of beer. We cut it in half and that was more than enough on the night, but it’s not difficult to imagine getting a craving for this creation in the middle of the workday and dropping everything to go and get one. Photo / Michael Craig It’s a different sort of set-up from a usual restaurant: you order at the bar and are pretty much left to yourselves to work out what you want. The staff were lovely, and on the quiet night we visited I wondered if they might have talked us through the food a little more, because there is much more here than you’d guess from looking at the place. I don’t know where the chef hides, but I’d have liked to congratulate whoever has taken an ordinary bar menu and made it just special enough that you come in for a drink and accidentally stay for dinner. THE ALCOTT Cuisine: Modern gastropub Address: 41 Shortland St, central Auckland Contact: (09) 532 9555, thealcott.co.nz, @thealcott.nz Hours: Monday to Friday, breakfast 7-11am, bar and gastropub from 11am-late; Saturday, 12pm-late; Sunday, closed Drinks: Fully licensed From the menu: Crispy duck-fat potatoes $14; prawn meatballs $25; wagyu double cheeseburger $29; 250g ribeye steak $30 on the A-List deal Rating: 15/20 Score: 0-7 Steer clear. 8-12 Disappointing, give it a miss. 13-15 Good, give it a go. 16-18 Great, plan a visit. 19-20 Outstanding, don’t delay.More restaurant reviewsAccording to Dining Out editor Jesse Mulligan.