This is already a great restaurant. But it\u2019s only going in one direction.<\/p>\n
\n I suspect there\u2019s only one restaurant where the staff would be disappointed to be named \u201csecond best\u201d. Paris Butter was runner-up in our recent Viva Top 50 Restaurants, but its kaupapa is all about shooting for number
\n one in Auckland, in New Zealand, on the planet.\n <\/p>\n
Co-owner Nick Honeyman already has a Michelin star for his Le Petit L\u00e9on in southern France, so he doesn\u2019t just know the international benchmark, he helps set it. For my final review of the year, I wanted to remind you that, in Paris Butter, you have a restaurant worth flying around the world for. Fortunately, you only need to drive to Herne Bay.<\/p>\n
I surprised them by showing up without a booking. This is not necessarily recommended on a busy Thursday night at a popular restaurant before Christmas, but it turned out I\u2019d forgotten to click the final button on the website\u2019s confirmation page, so we all got a surprise together. As it happened, they had a spare table, but a walk-up at a fine dining restaurant of this standard is a bit more complicated than when someone spontaneously wanders into Cobb & Co.<\/p>\n
Paris Butter in Herne Bay. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a set number of lobster portions,\u201d reported head chef Zennon Wijlens when I stuck my beak into the kitchen at the end of the evening and found him surrounded by crustacea. \u201cBut we have a guy who pulls crabs out of Cook Strait for us, and he\u2019d just sent us some for tomorrow\u2019s service, so we gave you some of that instead.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a reminder that, at the very best restaurants, spontaneity is as important as preparation. You might call the combination of these things \u201cintentionality\u201d \u2013 a devotion to doing the exact right thing at the right time for the right customer. This is evident not just in the kitchen but among the exquisitely trained service staff, who at all levels of seniority are just the right balance of warm and professional.<\/p>\n
Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
One note on the service: I\u2019m not sure if this can be fixed, but even in my job I find it difficult to keep up with dish descriptions at fine dining restaurants. When a waiter lays down three snacks and starts listing components like \u201cmandarin gel, smoked mussel, dashi meringue \u2026\u201d, it is difficult for my brain to make sense of it. Though I appreciate their ability to remember all this stuff, I wonder if it might be useful to introduce dishes more thematically, with further detail available on request.<\/p>\n
The \u014cra King salmon, persimmon and mandarin on the menu at Paris Butter. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
There is an incredible energy to the food here, informed by frequent international collaborations and plenty of overseas research. A little green curry, with sweet crab meat and a crab foam crown on sunflower seed risotto was, said chef Wijlens, \u201cinspired by a dish I had in Milan\u201d. The previous week, the people behind New York\u2019s 63 Clinton had visited, bringing pounds and pounds of caviar with them. So we had some of the \u201cleftover\u201d savoury cheesecake (paired with ultra-dry fino sherry), served with tamarillo syrup and then a heap of caviar, the beads so slick they clung together in delicious, expensive clumps.<\/p>\n
The tiny explosions of these sturgeon eggs had been foreshadowed a couple of courses earlier, in a beef tri-tip served with mouth-popping mustard seeds. In any other place, I\u2019d say this was an accident but, as I said, Paris Butter only does intentional. That beef came with black garlic and white asparagus (\u201cYou\u2019re lucky! It\u2019s a short season\u201d), and a little taste of raw tartare seasoned with a drop of mustard.<\/p>\n
Paris Butter’s beef, white asparagus and hemp. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
Food details can be tiring to read, but I just wanted to mention the bread course: a spiral of soft milk bun, glazed and crunchy on top. You unravel the plait, rip off a little piece, dip it in a little house-blended olive oil, or perhaps the miso butter and tomato garlic with chicken skin crumbs. That course alone could make this restaurant famous.<\/p>\n
There are 50 other things that might make Paris Butter the most exceptionally designed restaurant experience you\u2019ll ever enjoy. Before your steak arrives, you\u2019re invited to choose your favourite knife from a collection accumulated around the world. Each dish is placed on a tiny wooden plinth to take it from two dimensions to three. <\/p>\n
In the toilets, there is a note offering complimentary sanitary products to anyone who might need them. At the end of the evening, you get some branded bottle stoppers and a thoughtful guide to the staff\u2019s favourite Auckland destinations.<\/p>\n
Paris Butter’s almond, watermelon and white chocolate. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
Any criticisms? I\u2019ve had to think pretty hard to come up with some. The interior design is dark, bordering on masculine, and might not be for everyone, and the wine list is pretty steep. That\u2019s really all I can offer.<\/p>\n
This is already a great restaurant. But it\u2019s only going in one direction. Because nobody who works here ever stops thinking about how to make Paris Butter better.<\/p>\n
Contact: 166 Jervois Rd, Herne Bay, 09 376 5597, parisbutter.co.nz<\/p>\n
From the menu: Evolution menu (six courses) $185pp. Wine pairings available for $160pp (local wines) or $180pp (international wines)<\/p>\n
Score: 0-7 Steer clear. 8-12 Disappointing, give it a miss. 13-15 Good, give it a go. 16-18 Great, plan a visit. 19-20 Outstanding, don\u2019t delay.<\/p>\n
According to dining out editor Jesse Mulligan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is already a great restaurant. But it\u2019s only going in one direction. I suspect there\u2019s only one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[27341,6127,3952,10779,1561,298,31406,156,22220,16773,52992,78,302,2537,2538,111,139,69,2847,6943,2539,762,1961],"class_list":["post-187122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-27341","tag-already","tag-aucklands","tag-awards","tag-bay","tag-butter","tag-direction","tag-entertainment","tag-going","tag-great","tag-herne","tag-in","tag-its","tag-jesse","tag-mulligan","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-only","tag-paris","tag-restaurant","tag-review","tag-this"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}