Wellington's best kept secret. The food quality is first class and presentation is fantastic as is the ambiance. The lady who owns the place provides top class service and knowledge which is second to none.
Went here for dinner midweek when it was nice and quiet, so the service was quick and our waitress very friendly. We had the lamb and steak with side salads and red wine. Good selection of wine and the food was fine, but we were expecting a bit more for that price range.
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
This is a lovely little restaurant that, I think, hasn't realised its own potential. It has an attractive exterior, a nice, cosy, intimate ambience. It is a perfect space for an intimate French dinner.
We went yesterday, a spur of the moment decision on a Thursday evening. Apart from Hillside, in what was Charlie bills, I find Aubergine the most promising of its neighbours. I like the name, the exterior view, the menu, but the restaurant has intriguing issues.
Only two tables were booked and I always feel awkward and sorry for the owners when that happens. Feeling sorry in a restaurant isn't a good sign and a real sign saying "open 7 days including public holidays" made me guiltily put away my little notebook and consider the lot of restaurateurs, especially where there is one front of house and one cook (at least I think that was the case).
Our meals were the salmon, the terrine, and the scotch fillet with potato dauphine.
Everything was perfectly cooked - the beef excellent - the salmon tender flakes - the terrine nutty textural and meaty. Combinations worked and clearly each dish had been honed to near perfection.
We did have minor gripes however - the toast for the terrine was very ordinary, the potato dauphine (which was too obviously pre-prepared) in its china bowl shouldn't sit in the gravy - you want the potato to soak up the juices.
Dessert was a shared sticky date and walnut with vanilla ice cream - the sticky date was brilliant - the best I've had -, but the ice cream ordinary.
A cheese plate came with a nice blue but very ordinary commercial crackers.
The menu at Aubergine doesn't change - when I first went years ago it was basically the same. It's as if it has become fossilised, unchanging except for a few shortcuts being taken (crackers, toast, dauphinois, ice cream).
To my mind, and some would regard that of questionable value, Aubergine needs to be braver and climb out of a rut. The menu must change - French cuisine is seasonal as well as regional and an unchanging menu can't be seasonal. I think there needs to be a separate specials menu, and the extras like the ice cream, crackers and the bread for the terrine should be prepared in house - they don't take long to prepare in sufficient quantities and can be preserved to varying degrees.
Aubergine has been given a restaurant design gift and it needs to live up to it. It could be brilliant but it fundamentally lies in the doldrums.
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