A Taste of France

A new addition to the cheap-and-cheerful part of Queen St, the French crêperie and café by the name of Le garde-manger, is a somewhat unexpected appearance. While kimchi is not featured anywhere on the menu, prices remain respectable for that part of town, and the green eggshell coloured walls and whitewash banisters stay true to the phrase ‘cheap and cheerful.’

Le garde-manger is a discovery made by my friend Amy one night when searching for a quick, pre-theatre bite near K’ Rd. An empty restaurant in most people’s books, is synonymous with scary. But when time is of the essence, as was the case on the night of Amy’s fateful discovery, an empty restaurant seemed more than ideal. Unhurried on the night of my visit however, I started to worry when the only other three patrons began to leave. Such worry was in vain however, as by the end of our night, nearing on nine, the restaurant was almost full.

The menu at Le garde-manger features an extensive range of crêpes and French staples such as French onion soup and escargot. Feeling like some heartier fare than galettes and crêpes, I ordered the perennial beef bourguignon from the black board specials. I was later very easily persuaded by our highly attractive waiter to follow my beef bourguignon with a lemon and sugar crêpe (with a scoop of ice cream of course.) Amy plumped for the crêpe with jam, declared to be light, with nice crispy edges, and strawberry jam that was ‘jammy.’ Hers was nothing out of the ordinary, much like my beef bourguignon. The flavour of wine was evident, but not particularly full-bodied like expected; the addition of kumara was unusual but welcome, however the burnt taste resulting from a failed attempt at browning, was not. It could have also done with longer cooking, as the beef remained tough, and the crusty bread that accompanied my meal was paradoxically chilled.

Le garde-manger French Restaurant

466 Queen St

Auckland CBD

Ph (09) 362 0655