Orbit, Sky Tower

5:00PM Saturday May 19, 2007By Reviewed Bridget Wilson for Canvas
The maple-and-soy marinated venison. Photo / Paul Estcourt
Herald Rating: (Out of ten)
Food:8Service:3Value:5Ambience:7
Thank goodness I didn't wear heels. Belinda did and I felt for her as we wended our way back to the car through the dreadful SkyCity carpark. How come they spend all that money on such a fabulous building and then make the parking experience such an ordeal?
Same with the dining. Great food, stupendous view, but let down by the waitpeople.
But it was a special experience. I fell a little in love with Auckland by night from way up there. It looked so beautiful, twinkling below even that pohutukawa sculpture (a travesty, said artist Belinda) by the start of the motorway looked lovely all lit up. The Herald building was a Lego piece, the container terminal all flashing lights and the size of a piece from a Meccano set; same with the bridge. The city looked so different and we spent a fair time arguing about what was what the lights must have been the Alexandra Park Raceway (or was it Eden Park?). Was that Dominion Rd lined with orange lights? Had American performance artist Christo wrapped the Aotea Centre or does it always look like that? And of course this was all complicated by the fact that we were slowly going around in circles one revolution an hour. So we'd just get our bearings and another landmark would come in to view and wed get disoriented again.
We were pretty hungry after our trek from the carpark - the signs really didn't help and so were glad when some quite good bread arrived pronto. The waitress seemed in a hurry and I wondered if we'd have to eat quickly, too, so our table could be readied for the next sitting. The place was booked out.
The entrees arrived and all three were great. Les maple-and-soy-marinated rare venison ($18.50) was fabulous and colourful. My scallops (S18.50) were a riot of colour and tasted glorious. Belinda got two steamed Alaskan Red King crab legs with a nice buttery sauce ($26), which, despite their long journey (presumably frozen) were very good.
Small service point: I don't appreciate having to clear a space for arriving plates of food because waitpeople haven't bothered to take away empty ones. Big service point: do not scrape leftover food and stack plates at the table no matter how dexterous the waitperson, this is a no-no and not something you expect to see at a top spot.
As the bridge hove into view for the second time we were finishing our mains: eye fillet with kumara mash ($32.50); chicken breast on potato mash with a rich herb cream sauce ($28.50); and grilled salmon fillet ($29.50). It had been a great meal. My very thick but excellent steak had nearly done me in, so Belinda and I decided to do a lap and check out the clientele. No one seemed to be even looking at the view, let alone pointing like us. Odd, I thought was it not cool to be even a bit awed by it all? We certainly were.
The puddings a semi-frozen mascarpone cream with vincotto and Marsala caramel, a honey and mango brulee with pine nut nougatine and mango compote, and far too many handcrafted chocolates (all $13.50) were fabulous.
Included in the meal ticket is a visit to the viewing platform on the floor below. Belinda and I held tightly to a rail as we walked over the thick glass with views to the ground way below while Les kept his back resolutely to the view and watched a little doco about the building process. We shot back down in the lift (more scary glass under foot) and, reeling slightly from the speed of it all, were ushered out into a tacky gift shop bearing no resemblance to our entrance and setting up the whole where the expletive are we? all over again
Where: Orbit, Sky Tower, Cnr Victoria and Federal Sts(09) 363 6000The wine: From $7 to $24 a glass; from $29.50 for a bottle of New Zealand sauvignon blanc to $295 for champagneOur meal: $251 for bread, three entrees, three mains, three sides, one glass of wine, one bottle of beer, one litre of mineral water, three desserts, and three coffees.Verdict: View to die for, very good food, patchy service and hellish parking.