clearly one of the best restaurants in napier serving intelligent, creative food in a five course degustation. themenuis in two forms, where the central courses either have a meat or fish focus. the five courses are $50 which i think is extraordinarily good value. an additional wine match is $50 extra.
we went for an evening meal at the weekend.
ambience is extremely pleasant, warm amber lighting with a pacific theme, carpeting that helped tone down the noise intensity, blue banquette seating along the walls, basic modern furnishings, good ceramics, excellent friendly service. the restaurants seats about three dozen. tables for two seemed to have good dimensions (in some restaurants you seem further away from your partner than the next door diners).
between two we had the meat and fish menus and shared a single wine match.
firstly came a small bread roll, soft interior with a bagel-like exterior. it came with salty butter and a little smoked paprika - an interesting, pleasant combination. the waiter said the bread had been "flash fried" before going into the oven which i thought interesting.
carrot puree, warehou, mung and adzuki beans, spirulina mousse, mutton bird powder and granny smith apple. primarily a spirulina foam blanketing smoked fish. a gentle start, not in your face. the foam dampened some of the flavours and textures. pleasant but not more than the sum of its parts.
four different cooked mushrooms with a raw oyster mushroom with a parmesan foam, asparagus ravioli, mushroom puree. again gentle, restrained pleasant flavours. warm in parts but some of the mushrooms (not simply the oyster) cold - this i found slightly unpleasant. the parmesan foam was slightly too thin and watery. mushroom puree was rich and delicious.
beef brisket terrine with oxtail with a soy/honey contribution, aubergine puree, carrot, soy bean, beetroot puree and a powder of spirulina, spice and lemon grass. dissapointing, rather flabby, lacking sparkle, bland and coming at a time when the degustation should be taking off after a gentle start. the powder's potential for livening up the dish was not realised.
ling, kale, sago, tom yum, squid congee, sesame seeds and mussel. lovely, this time the combination seemed to work, in part because of the impact of a mussel that smelled and tasted of the sea, as if just taken from the water - gorgeous.
confit egg yolk, carrot, chicken liver pate, black pudding and chicken roulade, cauliflower, beef cheek and pork belly. beef cheek was crisp which i thought interesting. the yolk brought the ingredients together nicely.
lemonfish and fried squid with a hoki ceviche. pleasant.
dessert.
light caramel base, salted caramel praline, spelt puffs, egg white meringue, salted caramel cream. chocolate and caramel bread pudding. bread pudding rather dry but generally pleasant. the components didn't squabble but didn't interact to elevate the dish either.
finally cheese - a danbo which came with honeycomb. this we thought excellent.
so what to think? essentially the meal was interesting. there were no moments of boredom. as far as the meatmenuwent, it began gently and pleasantly with the smoked fish, aroused some interest with a complex course involving the sous vide egg yolk sauce, but then, at the moment where it should have become airborne began to wallow in a flabby meat terrine, which then limped into an uninspiring dessert course.
one can be too critical, but a meal like this is too thought out not to deserve analysis. pacifica isn't an "eat it and beat it", it's a restaurant devoted to serious gastronomy, presented by an intelligent and very talented chef. i think one needs to be on guard however to avoid the trap of falling into an "emperors new clothes" assessment. just because a meal is complex, with ten interesting ingredients doesn't mean it is good. in some ways these complex constructed dishes are a little old fashioned, perhaps because they are so difficult to get right - its hard enough to get three ingredients talking to each other pleasantly let alone ten.
personally i feel each dish should tell a story on the palate - one that is planned. similarly the sequence of dishes, the degustation, should also tell a story - also planned. i remember a degustation at ezard's (thai in melbourne) where each dish developed upon the previous - a very gentle start, increasing in complexity and flavour until the dishes became chaotically, mind alteringly intense before descending into a gentle and sublime finish. thats what i mean when i said that pacifica's didn't become airborne.
pacifica is highly recommended and although, for me, the story didn't get told at the weekend, it may have been different for you. the cost of the degustation falls far below the quality of thought that went into it.