23 August 2012
LONDON COMES TO THE GROVE
What a privilege! Last night I ate at The Grove. Monica Galetti of Le Gavroche restaurant was here to cook in ‘Auckland Restaurant Month in the Big Little City.
It was a flawless performance; superb food that show off the food and style of the London three-Michelin-starred restaurant owned by the Roux family, a lovely bevy of wines to match, and service that didn’t miss a beat by Michael Dearth and his skilled front-of-house team.
Many of Auckland’s restaurant supremos turned out which indicates the respect this Samoan lass, a former young star apprentice in Wellington, has earned within the industry. And the food didn’t disappoint.
The first course, a duck consommé with a tiny horseradish custard, was sublime. (I wish I could make my duck that tender.) The next course was a show stopper. A ragout of poached oysters with fresh truffles sat in a sauce so good I actually licked my plate clean – as did a few others around me. This wondrous sauce was a variant on beurre blanc, albeit made with pigs trotters and perfumed with New Zealand’s finest seasonal black truffles. I could have happily waltzed home at that point and been very satisfied.
But there was more in store. Amazing octopus with a broth of barley and dominated by saffron appeared, perfect with Trinity Hill Chardonnay ’10. The Grove’s staff really worked overtime on those first three courses. Each required attention at the table. The consommé was poured hot at the table, and then there was a lot of grating to be done. Fresh truffle over the oysters and fresh lime over the octopus - very efficient and rather grand, this makes for great food theatre.
The lamb course was oh-so-pretty - a tiny lamb double cutlet with black garlic, tiny nuggets of fennel and an olive sauce. I loved the master touch of a garnish of pea shoots and the tiniest nasturtium leaves I’ve ever seen. Then a blue Leagram cheese pannacotta with pear balsamic. I must confess I’m not a fan of composed cheese courses; they always seem like they’re laboured, rich and should belong in old-fashioned restaurants, but this was the exception. Soft and creamy, it was the perfect play on the wonderful combination of pear and blue cheese, and piquantly matched to Mt Difficulty Pinot Noir.
To finish, a classic from Le Gavroche, palet au chocolate amer. Melt-in-the-mouth bitter chocolate mousse. Divine stuff to end a divine and seamless evening. It cannot be easy to step outside the usual comfort zone of your own kitchen and give it over to another chef, but Ben Bayly and his team did a splendid job and Monica was a charming, confident cook. Now I want to know, when’s she coming home to NZ?