The Providores
I have a particular affection for this restaurant, not because I can look over the road and see from my living room if they have a table available (which as with any good restaurant, they usually do not), but the food is innovative, delightfully fresh and sticks true to owner Peter Gordon’s native Kiwi roots bringing new flavours to fine dining. The downstairs Tapa Room is decked with breakfast bars and high stools for casual dining offers both a breakfast and all day menu. The all day menu offers dishes such as crispy fried soft-shell crab on avocado sesame puree, pickled tomato and hijiki salad with wasabi ginger dressing to wok-fried soba noodles and New Zealand venison lion with salted yellow bean, brown shrimp, coriander, bean sprouts and Thai basil. If you are in the area, then the breakfast menu is just as exciting with the grilled sardines being a personal recommendation.
Upstairs is the dining room. A beautiful understated dimly lit dining room, with dark wooden tables, crisp white table cloths and bare walls. Again the menu sees a real innovative approach to food with pan-fried foie gras on a mango and chilli filled taro pancake with spiced saag and tamarind caramel and seared kangaroo with fig and rosewater compote. The Providores is by no means cheap, but for the right occasion, a visit is the perfect opportunity to experience new foods.
