Apero

Apero is one of my most favourite places to go. It is a warm and welcoming little place, part wine bar, part bistro. It refreshingly takes bookings. Their food, made from the heart, is delicious. This was the place I picked for a late birthday celebration between three friends. 

I love discovering new and delicious wines and this is the place to do it. Their wine list is lovingly curated and extensive, just ask the personable Loz  or Mo for a recommendation and let them do the rest. I had an interesting white described by Loz as "if viognier and riesling had a baby". Two of my favourite wines melded into one? Yes please!

We gals started with hot, crisp fingers of goats cheese croquettes laced with Kamahi honey. It's a classic, and a winning combo. We then moved on to something Apero excels at: meat, in its various guises. We ordered their charcuterie platter and a bag of crusty, warm bread. Baguette, sourdough, some little bun that I swear is potato-based, all so good especially with a slick of butter.  The generous platter consisted of two types of salamis, a slab of porky terrine, a quenelle of rilette and a perfectly smooth pate, and all the mustardy and figgy trimmings a good charcuterie platter demands. 

No visit to Apero is complete without ordering a length of their house-made pork sausage (sold in quarter-metre measures). Words fail me when it comes to their sausage, an inviting fat, pink snail of meat served with a sharp walnut mustard and pickles to balance its unctuousness. It is better experienced than read about. Apero's menu is as much a celebration of vegetables as it is of meat and their roasted cauliflower with goat's curd, almond and mint raises this common vegetable into greatness. Their medley of fresh mushrooms sautéed with (loads of) garlic and herbs is another favourite. For more possessive sorts their menu has an ever changing  roll call of seasonal mains from which to order.  

Apero is the kind of place where one can find all the makings of a good time: good food, good wine, and good company. I can't wait until my next visit. 

Apero
280 Karangahape Rd
Auckland CBD