Ember sparks new life into restaurant
The fire may be out but the smoke will continue to rise from Pumice Food Group’s new restaurant.
Pumice Bistro & Cafe was destroyed in an electrical fire nearly two years ago and coowners David Kerr and Ryan Ladbrook decided to replace the award-winning restaurant with an entirely new eatery.
The north-facing, New York loft-style restaurant, named Ember, will have a ‘‘food of the Americas’’ theme, drawing inspiration from the likes of the Caribbean, Cuba, and Brazil.
A 1.5 metre Robata grill, just one of two in New Zealand, would take centre stage in the large, open plan kitchen and create a point of difference for the Hamilton eatery.
‘‘We’re taking that technology, or that style of cooking and then we are going to do food of the Americas. So the theme for the look, feel and decor is around the food the the Americas,’’ Kerr said.
It was also the inspiration for the restaurant’s new name.
‘‘We felt that it needed a new name because we didn’t want people coming in here and saying, ‘oh when I was at Pumice it was like this’.’’
From there, they decided to incorporate the restaurant’s new cooking style into the name.
‘‘We’re cooking over coals, we’re cooking over embers, so we thought that was nice and then it had that little slight twist that it was a burnt down building.’’
Pumice Food Group was wellknown ‘‘from a foodie side of things’’, Kerr said, so instead doing exactly what they had done with Pumice, they saw it as an opportunity to create something better.
The space had been better utilised to include three different dining atmospheres and a covered outdoor area.
‘‘Last time we had a big courtyard but it was uncovered so it was really exposed to the wind and rain.
‘‘It didn’t get used very much so going forward, we were, ‘how can we make it better, something people really, really like?’.
‘‘And the thing that people really like is sitting outside but they want to be able to sit outside in all weather, undercover, so we have a fire out there and heating, so that will be a really nice cosy spot.’’
The restaurant would also introduce smaller dishes that diners could mix and match or share between themselves.
‘‘It will be a cheaper way of dining. We are conscious of people, you know, if we want them to eat [at the restaurant] regularly then it has to be cost-effective for people who are budget conscious.’’
Pumice Food Group lease the building from Downey Construction, which had developed the Church Rd business park for the past decade.
The position of the building had changed from the original floor plan, Kerr said, so the lengthy process of applying for new resource consents had slowed down the rebuild.
‘‘In the last month, coming in here each day and seeing the massive changes and seeing the look and the feel is quite exciting.’’
Ember was expected to be open by the end of October but Kerr said they hoped to be on site before that time.
It had been hard to see former Pumice staff move on, Kerr said.
‘‘But you can’t expect anyone to hang around for two years.’’
Restaurant manager Mark Smithells had been lured back to Hamilton from Wellington and they were looking to hire around 30 staff.