Category: Events,Reviews | Post by: Andrea Wong
I've got a question for you today. So you're a foodie and enjoy cooking, but would you want to be a chef?
I know that I could never be a chef - a cafe owner maybe, but not a chef in a big restaurant. I don't think that I have the right stuff. So when I hear about people like our own Peter Gordon, who have a portfolio of successful restaurants around the world, I'm duly impressed.
Peter's Auckland fine-dining restaurant, dine by Peter Gordon, turned five this month. Located in SKYCITY in Auckland, it is one of those places that I think is ideal for that special meal out. As you can see from the photo, its beautiful dining room is the perfect setting to enjoy some of Peter's food.
Since this is such a beautiful restaurant, with a great reputation, you can imagine my excitement when I got an invite to dine's birthday dinner last week. 60 other people and I sampled the birthday degustation menu that dine is currently offering. The restaurant polled its staff and regular customers to see which dishes they considered to be a dine classic.
This degustation menu comprises of five of their most popular dishes. Mercifully, degustation menus are small versions of a full-sized meal, so you won't have to be rolled out of the restaurant! Each course is large enough to enjoy but small enough so you can try all of the dishes on the degustation journey.
This is what they came up with:
Followed by:
Peter Gordon is so down to earth and humble, the way that he talks makes you feel like you're having a little chat with a good friend. His little talks throughout the evening made me feel like all he wants, is for us to have a good meal... and I rather liked that.
But back to the food. Here's a little breakdown on what I thought about each course:
- Alaskan scallops - perfectly cooked and tender. I liked the creme fraiche with it and the plantain chip was a nice crunchy change from the soft scallops.
- Zany Zeus haloumi - I love haloumi so this was bound to be a hit with me! Zany Zeus do great cheese and their haloumi was d'lish. The pecans and water chestnuts provided the textural change of this dish.
- Crab-crusted hapuka - delicate flavours of the seafood elements were nicely balanced with the pandan sauce. This sauce, I'm told, uses around 20 ingredients to make! Wow, I don't think that I have the patience to make something so complex just for a little bit of sauce under your fish.
- Rose and creme fraiche sorbet - lovely lovely! A distinct rose flavour and I liked it a lot.
- Braised Wagyu short rib - this was my first taste of Wagyu and wow. I described it on my Facebook page as "little pillows of beef": moist, tender and light. This was my favourite dish of the night.
- Coconut tapioca - I liked the combination of coconut and passionfruit in this dish. And the sorbet was nice when eaten with the tapioca but I didn't like it by itself. To me, avocado is not for sweet things!
I don't know much about wine at all but I liked the wines that they matched with the food: light when they needed to be light, rosy when we needed it to be rosy and robust when it was called-for.
This degustation menu is available now at dine, $115 per person for food only, or $185 including wine. That's definitely up there in the 'very special occasion' price range for me but this menu does give you a great taste of what dine has become famous for.
Eating in a restaurant like this does get me thinking: if I was to open some kind of restaurant or cafe, what would it be? Peter Gordon has become famous for his fusion cuisine. His ability to meld two cultures' food into one delicious dish. So what would my cafe be famous for?
For me, I just have to think about when I sit down at a restaurant and look at the menu. Which section makes me the most excited? It's the desserts. Definitely. I'd open a dessert restaurant or a cake cafe.
What about you, have you every day-dreamed about owning a cafe, bar or restaurant?
What kind of eatery would you want to own?