Read what Jesse Mulligan thought of five Michelin-starred New Zealand restaurants. <\/p>\n
On Tuesday night, a crowd gathered at the invitation of the Michelin Guide, to find out which \u2013 if any \u2013 of our local restaurants would be awarded with the coveted Michelin stars.<\/p>\n
\n To the surprise of many,
\n 15 restaurants came away from the event having received Michelin\u2019s twinkly recognition (110 were included in the guide itself).\n <\/p>\n
Below, revisit the reviews for a handful of star-winning kitchens from Viva\u2019s restaurant critic Jesse Mulligan. <\/p>\n
One of Tala\u2019s signature dishes, presented in a coconut shell with smoke. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Tala <\/p>\n
Number of stars: One Michelin star<\/p>\n
The food is exceptional, without exception. Even a simple dish of fruit is special \u2013 the slice of apple, for example, humming with the citrusy flavour of the spices sumac and amchur. It\u2019s served with a little coconut butter to add fat to the mouthful and in fact coconut works as a lovely throughline over the next couple of hours via cream, yoghurt, labneh and more \u2013 surprisingly, you never get bored of it.<\/p>\n
Ahi’s Queen paua crumpet with fermented peanut butter, smoked dulse and celery leaf mayonnaise. Photo \/ Tez Mercer<\/p>\n
Ahi<\/p>\n
Number of stars: One Michelin star<\/p>\n
I wrote pages and pages of notes about this meal, as tends to happen when I eat food this fine: every dish is an oil painting, every ingredient has a story, each garnish and utensil has been chosen with care and precision. Later I briefed our Viva team on what might look good in photos but I could have just sent them the itemised receipt and said \u201ctake your pick\u201d.<\/p>\n
Snacks on the menu at Paris Butter restaurant in Herne Bay. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
Number of stars: One Michelin star<\/p>\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 one in Auckland, in New Zealand, on the planet.<\/p>\n
Co-owner Nick Honeyman already has a Michelin star for his Le Petit Leon 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
The p\u0101ua, with lemon, pickled dill, smoked silver warehou and truffle, on the menu at Inati. Photo \/ Jerome Warburton<\/p>\n
Inati <\/p>\n
Number of stars: One Michelin star<\/p>\n
It has a reputation as the fanciest place in Christchurch but the only intimidating aspect is the height of the stools that surround the kitchen bar. It is a long way up, but worth it. When you reach the summit you have a great view of the busy kitchen and the other diners, most of whom looked like they were tourists too (not to say we don\u2019t have elegant and glamorous people in New Zealand, but it\u2019s rare to see all eight of them in one room).<\/p>\n
The menu is arranged by Earth, Land and Sea (vegetables, meat and fish) and though each dish lists a number of ingredients, you can never quite predict what form it will take. <\/p>\n
Pickled Stewart Island mussels, carrot and saffron from Sherwood, Queenstown.<\/p>\n
Sherwood<\/p>\n
Number of stars: One Michelin star<\/p>\n
There are more famous Central Otago restaurants but I\u2019d be surprised if there was anywhere that could give you a better introduction to unique New Zealand proteins. I think I\u2019ve only ever seen whitebait served in an omelette or fritter but here it is given a starring role atop a flame-scorched flatbread, the individual \u012bnanga served in a pile with mayo and for once unobscured by egg, except for a few strings of cured yolk scattered over as a garnish.<\/p>\n
More on Michelin <\/p>\n
See the full list and form your own opinions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Read what Jesse Mulligan thought of five Michelin-starred New Zealand restaurants. On Tuesday night, a crowd gathered at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[156,1342,2537,100630,2538,88474,111,139,69,3272,1118,15403,10270,763,20110,6923,80],"class_list":["post-505595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-five","tag-jesse","tag-michelinstarred","tag-mulligan","tag-mulligans","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-nzs","tag-of","tag-read","tag-restaurants","tag-reviews","tag-thought","tag-what","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505595","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=505595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}