Guests will arrive in the candlelit dining room with live violin music and there will be a four-course menu shaped by fire-led cooking and seasonal produce from St George’s gardens.
Head chef and owner Francky Godinho said he learned to cook 40 years ago on his family’s farm in Goa, India, where “electricity was a luxury”.
“My mother and my father fed seven kids day in, day out, cooking on a fire, so it is just going to be natural for me.”
Godinho said everything except the refrigerator would be switched off for the event and diners could expect a cosy, candlelit meal – although he was tight-lipped about what was on the menu.
But he said about 90% of the produce cooked was grown metres away from the kitchen in the restaurant’s garden.
A plate from St George’s Restaurant in Havelock North. Photo / Natalie McNally
The restaurant’s wood fireplace would help keep diners warm on a June night.
Godinho said the evening would take attendees back to how communities used to live and help them better connect with their dining partners.
“It will be very romantic as well,” he said.
He said it was important to hold the event on World Environment Day because “small things help”.
“Normally, you don’t see restaurants do this sort of thing. So I think it’s a different idea, it’s a little bit of a unique approach as well, but for us it’s a natural.”
Godinho said spaces for the evening were filling fast and encouraged anyone interested to book their seats via Humanitix or through the St George’s Restaurant website.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.