This year marks the 20th anniversary of Michael Dearth’s ambitious fine-dining restaurant The Grove. What began as an intrepid promise to meld modern New Zealand food with fine-dining dégustation has not only lived up to its promise, but continued to evolve. With chef Cory Campbell now leading the kitchen, the food has taken on a distinct identity — all at once disciplined, playful, creative and utterly delicious.

A recent meal at The Grove was not only one of the best we’ve ever had here, but also among one of the most memorable we’ve had in this city. And boy, is the wine list good. It’s hard not to hear the echoes of international fine-dining establishments like Vue de Monde and Noma, where Campbell was previously posted — there’s something infinitely cool about the way in which exacting technicality can be wielded over local ingredients like wapiti, creamed pāua and smoked eel. Though it all sounds very serious, the food here is never without a sense of fun: one dish, for example, involved grinding frozen pogonia flowers with a pestle at the table to create a powder for a sorbet palate cleanser. 

At a certain point, realising we’d been lulled into a daydream induced by incredible food, incredible service and incredible wine, we glanced around the room to assess whether everyone else, including a solo diner with headphones on, looked like they were having as wonderful a time as we were. Yup.