Clare Inn, Auckland... what a find!

We went to the Clare Inn one Sunday evening, hungry for good Irish Pub food. Some pubs in NZ are very friendly and welcoming and others look real sleazy or are really a "guy's only" kind of watering hole. However, we had heard a lot of good things about the food here, so off we went.

Not quite sure of what it'd be like, we pushed open the doors and entered into a cool dark hallway Took a while for eyes to adjust after leaving the bright afternoon sun outside on Dominion road, we saw that the walls had dark wood panelling, lots of framed awards for food etc. Straight ahead as you entered was the bar (they had their priorities right) and to the right was a small room where happy people were having a few pints and on the left was what looked like the front room of an old country inn. We had not made any reservations, thinking that arriving at 6pm should find us quite a few empty tables. Wrong. Nearly full. Lots of regulars, having a drink or two and some tables well into their food. It looked as if we had wandered into the home of an extended Irish family.

We had a very friendly and warm welcome, and were seated at a little table for 2 by the fireplace (not lit, since it was summer). Service was quick, efficient, we got our menus and looked through the small but very enticing menu whilst enjoying our drinks from the bar (a Guinness and a lager). I think it's better for a restaurant to have a small menu and do it well, than to have zillions of items and all of them mediocre.

Beef and Guinness Spring Roll, Salad Greens

For starters we shared a beef and guinness spring roll. Very tender and tasty beef in a crispy skin, served with salad greens, followed by Slow Cooked Duck, Courgette fritter, pickled beetroot and Blood Orange marmalata. This has to be their star dish. The skin was crisp and light, meat tender and falling off the bone, full of flavour. Richness nicely balanced by the blood orange marmalade which was sweet but had a good amount of acidity.

Slow cooked Duck, Blood Orange Marmalata

Friend had Beef and Stout Wellington (which turned out to be a larger version of the Spring Roll). The green pea and smoked pork puree that came with it was to die for - just smooth enough, smoky, porky.. if you like mushy peas and smoky bacon, this one's for you!

Beef and Stout Wellington, Pea & Smoked Pork Puree, Whole grain Mustard

After such a feast, we could not manage dessert after that.

As we enjoyed our food, the place more and more crowded and it REALLY felt like some kind of family reunion that we had stumbled into. People seem to know each other, pulled up chairs and chatted. They did not mind us "strangers" and we did'nt feel out of place, and no one rushed us to finish our food and vacate our table.

What a find... we'll be back

The Clare Inn, 274-8 Dominion Road, Auckland, New Zealand. Tel: (09) 623-8233