i was going to type “in this post-covid world” but then realized wryly that we here in new zealand have managed to achieve this luxury while the rest of the world still sizzles in the coronavirus apocalypse. more than two months of no community transmission had passed when we received tidings that grove restaurant in auckland c.b.d was going to host a special truffle dinner of five courses complete with cocktail pairing for nzd 320. restaurants throughout the country have seen a resurgence in clientele after a bankruptcy-threatening lockdown and grove seemed confident to up its already high ante with this rarefied experience. attending such an event and writing about it, in the current zeitgeist, would seem a very marie antoinette thing to do for a patron and i accept all such criticism. the world moves on. here’s the experience.
four long tables were dedicated for this monday night event, with the ‘shared table’ set-up accommodating at least three dozen diners. seating was pre-allocated by the restaurant randomly and i knew none of my co-diners beforehand but proceeded to have very nice confabs with them, my neighbors including a fashionista and a lawyer. owner michael dearth stood beside a palm plant and gave a little intro to the evening, filling us in on grove’s journey. he remarked how much the tomatoes here have improved since he first came to new zealand from the united states of america, while my co-diner later told me that when he’d visited the u.s , the tomatoes there were no great shakes either.
speaking of spherical comely things, the most beautiful and magnificent looking bread i’ve ever encountered were presented to us that night – fantastic glistening orbs. as large as an ostrich egg but much more glamorous-looking, they arrived straddling a nest of hay. crisply collapsing to reveal a satiny soft interior, these were gloriously dispatched down chuffed gullets with truffle butter.
truffle treats, delivering a little hit of flowing crunchy truffle flavour, arrived in creative formats – encased in a lacy crisp pastry-ball, on a savoury fudge-cake, atop a petite char siu bun, and a black sphere itself amidst black rocks – a truffle impersonator hiding a molten current of the said ingredient. with all due respect to the farmers and grove’s assiduous cooks, this was true dog-to-table cuisine, all the truffles found by one dog ‘cassie’, the hero of tewnion truffiere farm in yaldhurst, canterbury.
the first full-scale offering was a beaut of umami, masterminded by chef ryan moore who heads the restaurant from the last two years. waiters shaved a shower of truffles which fell beside delicious jerusalem artichoke chips and a large disc of the same vegetable’s delectably creamy puree. you sliced through the confetti-‘n’-cake only to trigger a luxurious ooze of egg yolk. ‘twas a sensuous mix that would have vaulted into the empyrean had the truffle aroma been headier.
there was no such truffle shower rained on the seafood course but it did not need any. slices of the star ingredient had been neatly tucked into the dish body, which quietly erupted with the bold smoky umami of bbq cabbage and enoki mushrooms. the child who scoffs down these dark vegetables will be a healthy one although her or his head may done in by the smouldering aura issuing from them. this turf totally outclassed the surf of snapper which was excellently cooked but had little flavour ( will the city’s fine-dining joints please be more innovative with fish selections after decades of playing it safe ? )
they did not skimp on the cocktails, mixologized by frankie walker of black pineapple co. by the time of the last and sixth cocktail – a gentle giant built on cognac and muscatel cordial, with a pineapple finely etched on to a large ice cube – i was ready to pass out. forget your usual negronis, manhattans and screwdrivers – the drinks here were new versions built from calvados brandy, ratafia liquor and angostura 7 year rum as respective bases for the complex swirls. my favourite was a resonantly rounded sweet tart red-bodied seducer that fused sherry and vodka with other contrasts like manuka honey, verjuice, chardonnay and rhubarb.
choreography by waitstaff played a crucial role in the flow of the evening. they distributed the several small-eats patiently, assiduously grated the truffles for all the plates, and were very obliging when i requested holding the moment for photographs. there is a very enlightening article by tejal rao in the new york times recently of how the various usually un-named movers and shakers behind a restaurant’s machinery should not be forgotten inserviceof the chef auteur theory. some readers wrote back they couldn’t care less about this name roll-call but i feel that if you can write ‘ elderberry, truffle, nasturtium ‘ in the dish description, why not write ‘ ana , vasanthan, muhammad ‘ in the credits list ?
the duck main course was a marvel of paradoxes. it requires some cutting through, and the meat made its heft felt inside the mouth, but after only a few rounds of chewing, it evanesced ! this luxuriously smooth duck was predictably paired with an impressively rendered little stack of beetroot and its puree ( grove has a long history of pairing game with sweet accompaniments, going back to 2014 when chef ben bayly was here). not much of a difference was made to this dish by the truffles but with marquee meat this good, you can get away with almost anything.
have you ever had truffle grated on top of your dessert ? we had it on our pre-dessert, which sported a sorbet and honeycomb wafer that were supposed to channel peated islay whiskey along with honey, lemon and ginger. you could detect whispers of all flavours and you could polish it off so easily, but their syntax was a little muddled and the punchline got lost in the subtlety.
truffle ice-cream inveigled as the main dessert, its sharp yet creamy notes taking you into willy wonka territory betwixt piquant and pudding. there were shards, wafers and pears parked all over but the core competency shone through as an ice-cream i had never tasted before.
was the $ 320 charge worth it ? yes. the truffles might not have blown us away from st.patrick’s square to perigord with their aroma and flavour but the variety of preparations they were presented in was indubitably impressive, the theater of dedicated waitstaff delivering this rare luxury ingredient was all the more entertaining, the cozy sophisticated setting a very convivial one where one could meet aucklanders from different walks of life, superb cuisine executed from quality ingredients, and half a dozen delicious cocktails which had me knocked out by the end – all made this a meal to remember. grove consolidates its position as one of auckland’s top fine-dining restaurants, with its dedicated team of professionals guided by chef ryan moore, and owners michael and anette dearth. more such events would only heighten the profile of this excellent willowy grove in the thickets of auckland downtown. - upnworld