The French connection

Lessons hard won in the garden are clearly visible to this eatery’s guests.

RUMOURS ABOUT my favourite restaurant have been plaguing me since November.

The rumours of a new room and a vegetable garden at Auckland’s award-winning The French Cafe are all wonderfully, elegantly and understatedly true.

Behind the restaurant, through an immaculately landscaped back courtyard, sits a serene kitchen and dining room aptly named The French Kitchen.

Like walking into a very stylish but incredibly kind friend’s home, the new room works to extend the idea of the restaurant.

It has its own open-plan Electrolux kitchen, and the tables, crockery and lighting are all designed to enhance the mood.

The purpose of this garden is to supplement the restaurant. Tiered, narrow beds make the best possible use of the space, stacking a large number of plants into a small area and generating instant garden envy. However, Wright is apologetic about the vegetables in the way a good gardener should be. He talks about what works for them. Chives, too slow and ratty, are still bought in, but edible flowers nasturtium and borage are all provided from the garden. The broad beans used in a lamb dish catch the eye above a dozen courgette plants that are used purely for their flowers.

The process of trying and winning and lessons hard won in the garden are clearly visible to the restaurant’s guests.

The courtyard, with scented evergreens on one side, is flanked by the Xanthe White-designed vegetable and herb garden on the other. There is nothing themed, rustic or gauche about The French Kitchen experience. It is a welcome, fresh breeze after all the head-hanging of the recession. Wright cooks personally in the space for up to 30 seated guests, as though in his own home. He creates food to suit the season and your event. Expect dishes as exquisite as the one supplied exclusively for Escape today.