Of Plato Café

Saturday night in Dunedin. I chose to take my friend to Plato’s for dinner, after hearing good things about it as a restaurant.I booked online. This is often a perilous method of making a booking, but in this instance, it worked. There was efficient response and confirmation.Additionally, on the Thursday prior to the booking, I received a phone call saying that I was expected and they were looking forward to my custom. Nice. 10/10 for customer service.We arrived early to have drinks. It’s a strange looking place. It’s located in an old Seafarers Hostel building so looks a bit rustic. Rustic? Not sure if that’s the right word...In the foyer there is an immediate assault on the senses by the initial sighting of what is a huge collection of 70’s kitsch and collectibles.The most disconcerting is an old dentist drill and basin - and I really did go to a place of not-so-fond memory. *shudders*We were taken upstairs to the bar and lounge area.They had a great winelist, but were out of my first and second choice of Central Otago Pinot Noir. Thankfully they had the third option - the Archangel Wines Long Trek 2009.The Dining Room was full and had a great vibe. It was a Graduation Night so there were many large family groups there celebrating academic achievement. Appropriate given the reason we were there.We had Set Menus to choose our meals from, due to Graduation. We both chose blue cod fishcakes with aioli and a baby spinach salad for our Entrees. For the Mains, I had the lemon and rosemary marinated chicken served sautéed potatoes, chorizoand caramelised onion with creamed greens and harissa and my friend had the char-grilled sirloin, served on buttery mashed potato, topped with garlic, tarragon sautéed mushrooms and beef glaze. For Dessert I opted for the affigato (vanilla bean ice-cream with a shot of espresso coffee) and she had the fresh strawberries with sweetened cream.I have to say that the food was excellent. Great flavour combinations and presentation, the  chicken was cooked to perfection and the accompanying sauce was really interesting. The steak was a little chewy (in the interests of honesty) and my friend's first mouthful was a bit gristly, but aside from that we were both very happy with our meal.The service was also excellent. From front-desk through to wait-staff. Very well-trained, and coping well with the volume of diners.In summary, I do recommend Plato Café for Dunedin dining if you get the chance. It's a great destination.- S