“We express our passion through ingredients, but it is the people from beginning to end that make our experience here special. Ingredients are sourced from growers within a 150-kilometre radius, grown in the restaurant garden, or foraged. The origin of the ingredients is paramount to the kitchen and the creation of dishes and the tūrangawaewae (a place to stand) acknowledges feeling and connecting to our earth mother, Papatūānuku, and to ngā tāngata katoa (people.)“

Carrot with olive oil jus, kawakawa, kelp gastrique, and yuzu oil; smoked ricotta with crisp bread, foraged herbs, honeycomb, and salted olives; and dark chocolate and tofu mousse with sunflower seeds, peanut butter caramel, fresh thyme, rosemary, and pine.

With only twenty-four seats and one sitting each night, places at the intimate Hillside Kitchen are sought-after. Chef Asher Boote pursues a vegetable-based​ menu and experiments and develops a unique and eclectic menu each evening based on the fare he receives from a raft of highly regarded suppliers. You may be surprised and satisfied by the menu which gives nothing away. A recent dinner was listed as Carrot, Mushroom, Cabbage, House-Smoked Cheese, and Sunflower Chocolate, Peanut. Complex in production, yes, but delightfully simple and delicious to eat.

“Every ingredient put onto the plate at Hillside has been given a phenomenal amount of attention. The flavours, textures, shapes and colours are all delicately formed and matched, with the interrelation and sequence of each course thoroughly considered.”

–Luke Owen Smith, Concrete Playground