Bon Pinard is a small neighbourhood wine bar on Birkenhead’s Hinemoa Street, over the harbour bridge on the North Shore. The people behind Duo Eatery and Osteria Uno run it, and while those sister restaurants just along the street look after breakfast, lunch, dinner and plates of pasta, this one is all about the glass in your hand. The name borrows French slang for everyday drinking wine, and the bar boils its philosophy down to two words printed at the end of its list: good wine. That list is made up of the bottles the team love to drink themselves, so the selection reflects personal taste, not a set formula.
The selection rotates constantly as new bottles arrive, and some vintages are limited, so a rare find may not stay on the list for long. Whites run from leanest to richest within each variety and reds from juiciest to boldest, which makes the list easy to navigate, and staff are keen to suggest something unfamiliar to adventurous drinkers. By the glass, recent pours have included a Mt Edward pinot blanc pet nat from Central Otago, a Vouvray chenin blanc, a Portuguese alvarinho, a fiano from Adelaide, a chilled Spanish garnacha and a cabernet franc from Chinon. Bottles go deep into champagne, Loire chenin, chilled gamay from Beaujolais and Hawke’s Bay, orange wines and mature vine pinot noir from Rippon, with older Vouvray from 1979 and 1982 for a celebration.
The food leans French with plenty of Mediterranean detours, and most plates suit a table splitting a bottle between friends. Hot baguette with Lewis Road butter, marinated olives and Ortiz anchovies with lemon ricotta on crisp polenta make easy openers, while a crispy courgette flower comes stuffed with caramelised onion and ricotta and finished with a vin jaune crème fraîche. Truffled chicken liver parfait with cherry relish, a charcuterie plate of mortadella, rosette and bresaola, and steak tartare with green peppercorn mustard and Comté sit beside a market fish tartare with buffalo curd and fermented red pepper. Heartier plates include crispy tiger prawns with nduja caramel, grilled lamb rack with babaghanoush and anchovy mayo, and a smoked duck and pork sausage made in house, served with watercress and Dijon.
Wine is the star, but the bar mixes a short list of cocktails too, from a house take on the Aperol spritz made with L’Opera aperitif to a pickle sour shaken with Big Dill pickle gin and brine, a cold brew martini, a white Negroni with Lillet Blanc and a coconut margarita. Anyone drinking lightly has proper options, including a Seedlip and tonic, an apple and ginger fizz and a gin sour with no alcohol, and beers run from Urbanaut’s Ramona lager to Sawmill’s The Doctor dark lager, with a Val de Rance brut cider for good measure. Vermouth and a peach aperitif suit the start of an evening, while dessert might mean Délice de Bourgogne with hot baguette and New Zealand honeycomb, or a sweeter close, setting crème brûlée beside oloroso, tawny port or Pedro Ximénez poured by the glass.
Address: 134a Hinemoa Street, Birkenhead, Auckland 0626
Been to Bon Pinard? Be one of the first to rate it.
+ Log your visit
