31 August 2012

EATING FEDERAL STREET

Three chefs; three courses; three wines. A perfectly balanced meal, just as you’d expect when the heroes of the city’s premier restaurant strip get together to give Auckland a ‘Taste of Federal Street.’

Sky City makes some audacious moves and populating their three lead restaurants with internationally recognised stars, at Depot, Al Brown (Wellywood), The Grill’s Sean Connolly (Sydney) and dine by Peter Gordon (London but mostly sleeping on AirNZ) has been an unqualified success.

Al kicked off our dinner and introducing his dish, showed us you can take the boy out of Wellington but you can’t take Wellington out of the boy. He was 'Apprehensive About Auckland', but is pretty relaxed here now. So much so that he called the current restaurant promotion ‘Auckland on a Plate’ rather than ‘Auckland Restaurant Month’. Well, yes, maybe. That’s what we should be doing here anyway; emulating the capital city’s capital food event, but right now it’s limited to the CBD.

Anyway on with the food. Taking inspiration from the oyster pan roasts he loves in New York’s Grand Central Station Oyster Bar, Al Brown dished us up an oyster and fennel stew topped with a tangle of fennel and apple. I have been to GCSOB and know that Al’s was so, so much better and more modern than anything served there in New York. The Tio Points were lightly poached, the scampi was ever so sweet and fresh and the sauce divine. I hope this dish makes it onto the menu at Depot soon.

Sean Connolly amazed me. Twelve hours earlier he’d been cooking Alpine Merino lamb at Lake Hawea Station out of Wanaka while I’d watched and now here he was, neat and trim in his whites dishing up a melt in the mouth wagyu fillet steak with a tender potato fondant and cress. The posh version of steak and chip he called it, and it was top notch fare.

Peter Gordon is always so lovely. Nothing about him or his food, he just stood there singing the praises of all the staff who had helped with the evening. We should thank him for no-one has done as much for NZ food internationally. His dessert tasting plate was a study in contrasts. A bowl of his signature coconut tapioca with mango and passion fruit and avocado yuzu sorbet – I could eat that every night. Beside that a peanut butter parfait with salted caramel, chocolate delice and hazelnut parfait and a mystery sauce. Three ingredients only – sugar, cream and soy sauce. Now that’s fusion!

A very smart evening in Dine and what a nice touch, the menu signed thoughtfully for every guest. Mine’s hanging on my wall already.

Depot, The Grill, & dine by peter gordon. All on Federal Street, Auckland City.