Petit Bocal

A Wednesday afternoon. A rare moment of warmth and sun in a week that's getting colder and closer to Winter by the day. A train across town, and through suburbia to meet a group of genteel ladies to talk all things food and wine while partaking in a mouthful or two, and a drop to go with. 

A quite dining room. French wine. The mild aroma of a simmering duck. Glasses clinking, mellow murmurs and the odd peal of laughter. 

You gotta love a dish that calls itself Pigs and Pickles. Pork terrine, duck rillettes, pickled onions and cornichons - you can't go wrong.  Another dish, 'Duck, Duck, Goose' took me back to childhood games, but was far from childish with more duck rillettes, a confit duck terrine and a creamy chicken liver pate to die for. Alongside these were plates of freshly baked bread and Xavier's plate, a selection of cheeses with quince paste, grapes and walnuts.  But perhaps my favourite plate was the axe: honeycomb, warm goat's cheese, fresh figs and... more walnuts. They seem to like them there but I've nothing against that.

Petit Bocal is small and simple, like its name. Tucked into a block of shops on Sandringham Road a short walk from Kingsland, it's a quiet local that would far more dangerous were it walking distance from our abode. You can find it at 177 Sandringham Road, Auckland