Puffed rice paper with nori

Duck and beetroot meringue

Golden Bay crab, Akaroa Salmon, asparagus and daikon

Venison, smoked eel and horseradish

Bacon, scallop, apple and yeast

Monkfish, pumpkin, paua and shitake

Hawkes Bay lamb, eggplant, sweetbreads and carrot 

Rhubarb, raspberry, strawberry, mint oil and yoghurt

‘Bread and butter pudding’

I woke up the morning after my dinner at Meredith’s, and felt like it was all but a dream: so real, and all too perfect. I think there are few restaurants in Auckland that gets food so right as Michael Meredith does. I thought I had had a taste of what good was until I dined at Meredith’s.

I was somewhat reluctant to write this review, fearful that my writing would not do the cooking justice. After all, me and my small piggy bank only have modest means with which to entertain my tummy with, so up until recently I was shall we say, a degustation-virgin. I had gifted Nathan with restaurant vouchers to Meredith’s last Christmas as he’d always wanted to dine a la degustation (and between you and me, he’d have to invite the gifter to dinner right?) The dining room at Meredith’s, of a rather subdued palette with plush carpets and crystal chandeliers, is not large and was full to capacity the evening we visited. Booking, if it isn’t apparent already, is essential. Unlike other restaurants the turnover of diners is low at Meredith’s due to the contemplative nature of the degustation dining experience. To think, Nathan and I spent an epic four hours of sheer eating; no coffee, no lingering. But the timing here is impeccable, something I don’t think is fully appreciated nowadays when one cannot book in some places and people frequently turn up an hour late in others. The courses were never rushed, and we never had to wait too long for the next to arrive. When we felt the motor on our appetites begin to shudder a little towards the end of the fifth course, could we be given a little longer before dessert? Of course.

A natural question that comes to mind is ‘What was the best dish? Second? Third?’ Nathan and I argued over which was the best (the venison tartare apparently wins, hands down) but to try and answer the question is rather pointless. There’s no a la carte menu here, so one can’t pick and choose on a subsequent visit my number one or number two. Suffice to say it was all good from beginning to end. 

But since you asked… the aroma of the venison tartare alone had us hooked, and this was only course number three. Up until now the two previous courses had been awakening our palettes rather gently. The venison, tender and succulent, came topped with wee jubes of tomato consommé, fried shallots, horseradish cream and crowned with puffed pork crackling. Ever had American pork rinds? The latter is kind of similar, but oh so much more classy. It was any (including this) savoury-whore’s dream, rounded off with just the right amount of kick from the horseradish.

My hat must be tipped to the cloud-like smoked potato puree that followed in the fourth course, which blanketed scallops, apple and pork belly. The charred crumbs of black pudding sprinkled on top rounded out the dish with a commanding saltiness. Apples and pork, it makes sense, and not just because pigs like to eat them (well, maybe…).

I abhor anything that tastes like orange but is not an orange itself. Blame it on maybe one too many Jaffas as a child. Which is why the orange-glazed carrots in the sixth course took me by surprise. I loved them, and they tasted nothing like oranges. It was like Meredith had picked one note of many that comprises the orange and enveloped the carrots in them; masterful. I can’t say sous vide lamb is to my liking (I’m a big fan of the Maillard reaction), suffice to say it’d make it very hard for one to over-cook the lamb, which was at its pinkest and juiciest.

Before leaving the topic of sous vide, I don’t know how the market fish of monk was cooked that night, but it was the singly best piece of cooked fish I have ever had. Its deceptively burnished exterior spoke of a hot fry-pan or the searing jaws of an oven, but it’s unreal delicate texture was reminiscent of something a little more Heston Blumenthal.

Meredith knows his way around flavours, picking each from the foods he has selected and boiling it, frying it, puffing it, gelling it and crumbing it until it has reached a higher and more intense form, such is the case with heavenly thyme-flavoured elixir cradled in the cups of onion in the sixth course. One would never question the combination of thyme and lamb ever again. My one and only gripe of the evening was the smoked aubergine puree in the sixth course; its texture was marvellously creamy, but eating it reminded me of choking on an unfiltered cigarette. Occasionally too much can be a bad thing.

I know I’ve never been one for dessert, but baby, you’re now preaching to the converted. If there could possibly be a contender for the second and third spots, the seventh course, a medley of berries would be it. I have to confess, I was hoping to be graced with that monstrously complicated work of art they call a dessert which featured on Masterchef earlier this year, but after tasting the quietly-spoken strawberry sorbet and let the almost effervescent raspberry gravel tickle my tongue, I couldn’t give a toss about the other one.

The final course, slyly described as a ‘bread and butter pudding’ was the best rendition of a dessert I’d never care to have again. Meredith’s was a delicate sponge with thick custard and dustings of apricots and blood oranges, and corresponding jellies hidden amongst the fanfare. Its yellow peak was powdered with a blizzard of salty, buttery crumb. Oh, and there were raisins too, lest we forget we’re eating ‘bread and butter pudding’.

Referring to dishes as courses makes me think I’m talking about a symphony and its four movements, and eating at Merediths is very much like listening to a well orchestrated piece. As such I’ll finish with a quote (I’m pretty certain my journalistic integrity took a dive when I decided to quote a romantic-comedy, but bear with me) which couldn’t summarise what there is to love about Meredith’s better than if it weren’t for the fact it was said by Hugh Jackman.

“Where I come from, the meal is the result of reflection and study, menus are prepared in advance, timed to perfection. It is said, without the culinary arts the crudeness of reality would be unbearable.” - Leopold from Kate and Leopold

8 courses $120 per person

Wine match $70

Fox  Island riesling $15 per glass

Meredith’s

365 Dominion Rd

Mt Eden, Auckland

Ph. (09) 623 3140