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The Providores & Tapa Room
Over the past year the star of executive chef and co-owner Peter Gordon has risen, so the TV appearances multiply and his latest book Vegetables: the New Food Heroes is bang on trend (signed copies sold here). ‘Face’ status aside, Gordon, the man behind the Sugar Club, has what it takes in the kitchen. His fusion cooking (South-east Asia meets New Zealand) remains inspirational. At ground level the up-tempo Tapa Room is a buzzy drop-in for the pretty and privileged, by day and night. Here, you’ll find everything from breakfasts to sparky cocktails, as well as refined tapas containing more ingredients than appear in many haute cuisine main courses. Upstairs at the grown-up Providores, the food is even more fiendishly complicated, with (sharp intake of breath) smoked aubergine, pine nut, coriander and spiced currant raviolo on roast butternut and barba di frate with fried manouri ewe’s milk cheese, pickled beetroot and soy-truffled mushrooms – comprising a single main. Yet each dish uses first-rate produce so delicately balanced you taste only harmony, not over-complexity. Service is friendly and well judged, the New Zealand wine list an education. It’s virtually impossible to eat badly here, but elbow room is a scant commodity.
Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008
Services:
Booking: Booking advisable (Providores); bookings not accepted (Tapa Room)
Child facilities: Babies and children welcome: high chairs
Disabled: toilet
Outdoor tables: 2, pavement
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