Dine by Peter Gordon

I have never been quite so underwhelmed by a restaurant as I was at Auckland’s ironically named Dine last night. After a 50 minute wait between ordering and receiving our mains, the amount of food on my plate (duck, allegedly) was so microscopically parsimonious I had to check my watch to make sure it wasn't still the 80s. The menu said the dish included Brussells Sprouts. By this it meant there would be some Brussells Sprout leaves on the plate. Probably enough to constitute one tiny little sprout.

I do realise that the whole fusion thing is meant to be about flavour, but you do have to feed the person. Besides which, they went for a fairly minimalist approach in that department, too.

My wife's meal, which she said tasted quite good, was room temperature. She would have sent it back, but by then it was 10 O'Clock, and we were not prepared to wait any longer to eat. The restaurant's only saving grace was our lovely (if somewhat embarrassed) waitress.

How this place is a finalist in the current Cuisine awards while the always brilliant Engine Room is not, is entirely beyond me.