Saturday 18 July 2009

The Grove Restaurant

We dined at The Grove Restaurant (Auckland CBD) this evening for the first time.  The menu here really gives nothing away, and the molecular gastronomy experience is great. 

To start we had the "Big eye tuna, seared scallop, calamari, crayfish gelée" and the "Slow cooked poussin w farmed rabbit, foie gras ice cream, carrot ".  They are definitely not large portions, and I felt they were overpriced, but they did have some magnificent flavours and lots of discussion of what particular tastes were. 

We followed this with the "Beef fillet w cauliflower purée, escargot & oxtail ragout" and the "Market fish, gentle braise of prawn & abalone, almond, lemon" which were both very good, although not standpoint meals.  The accompanying "Globe artichokes w capers, caramelised garlic, parmesan" we ordered (for something different) was in fact a highlight of my meal.

For dessert, I had the magnificent "Crème brulée, orange blossom, rhubarb, orange" and Jane had the "Coconut parfait w smoked cashew, mango, pineapple & sesame" which was equally good.  Our accompanying coffees were also good.

A very nice meal, although not cheap, and other than the dessert and the molecular gastronomy experience did not really have that wow factor.

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