Scott Ashton discovers The Grove – an eating oasis in the city.
I like what they've done to this space on St Patrick's Square, last visited as Alta. The bar area has been battened in pine, the ceiling painted a rich chocolate brown, part of one wall is an aqua colour and there is banquette seating in a mushroom tone and plushly padded chairs in the same fabric. And of course there are olive trees outside, the palms inside and also a painting of more flora – a grove indeed. At night, warm candlelight adds to the atmosphere.
Behind the stoves, Michael Meredith (recently of Vinnie's) has put together an interesting menu and there is a comprehensive wine list to match. Crispy warm dinner rolls are served whilst choices are made. Service is attentive and informed and our friendly waitperson spoke intelligently about the wines. Cool music plays softly.
We started with smoked Northland snapper, roasted yam, avocado and cucumber salad with Japanese dressing and pickled ginger for me, and grilled calamari with chorizo and onion tartlet, goat cheese froth and olives for my companion ($17 each), accompanied by glasses of kerner Estate Pinot gris and Michelton Viognier ($10 and $10.50 respectively). The salad was delicious with clean flavours that layered the moist smoked fish with slightly sweet roast yam, adding the bite of pink ginger and alternating the crunch of cucumber and velvety smoothness of avocado. The calamari was tender, with the spicy chorizo tartlet on a flaky pastry base sitting in a froth of tangy goat cheese. We were both impressed.
For the main course we chose the steamed snapper with soft shell crab in a ginger and lemongrass broth with miso and kumara purée, and the grilled pork fillet with confit belly, apple purée, and roasted fennel with a quince jus. These were $29 and $29 respectively. The broth for the fish came in a little coffee plunger. We chose sides of roasted globe artichokes with roasted garlic and parmesan, $10 and fries $5. Once again, the dishes were carefully put together, with flavours and textures complementing one another to build a cohesive whole, and their execution was excellent. My pork was juicy and tender and the fish cooked perfectly. The side dishes were added treats – we raved about the artichokes and even our waiter joked that the test of a good restaurant is the fries, which passed with flying colours.
We had desserts in the comfortable leather couches of the bar area – Manukau brulée with lemon sorbet, and lavender lassi and Greek yoghurt parfait with rhubarb and orange salad ($14 each). My only tiny quibble is that the parfait was straight out of the freezer. Since parfait doesn't have the benefit of ice cream's churning, this made it as hard as a rock. Perhaps guests should be advised that it is better with a softening time, if they can wait? All up the bill came to $162.50 with three glasses of wine. For food of this quality and quality service, The Grove should definitely be added to your inner-city dining choices.
