For the fourth year in a row, Grey Lynn’s Kelmarna Gardens is inviting Aucklanders to join them for an outdoor restaurant experience, enjoying food from the farm, on the farm.
The collaborative Farm Dinners concept was launched in 2019 and has since returned every summer, with local restaurant partners challenged to create a menu inspired by what the garden and the season can provide. This year’s edition sees the return of Symonds Street restaurant, Forest, as well as Grey Lynn favourite Ozone, and the addition of Salo Salo, a new Filipino pop-up tactile dining experience.
This February sees the format expand to a total of six nights, with Forest taking up residence from 16th to 19th February, and Ozone and Salo Salo taking over the following week on 23 and 24 February respectively.
In each case, the fresh, organic vegetables grown all around the diners will form the focus of the set menu, with flavours also drawn from foraged ingredients found in Kelmarna’s food forest, and additional ingredients sourced locally and sustainably.
Forest and Ozone, who both heavily feature Kelmarna’s produce on their menus every week, will each be serving a 4-course set menu, applying their creative lens to use as much as possible from Kelmarna’s 1.7 hectares. Salo Salo, meaning “gathering”, will transport diners to the Filipino archipelago, bringing their take on the traditional communal dining practice of ‘kamayan’, a celebration feast laid out on banana leaves and designed to be enjoyed with the hands.
“We couldn't do what we do without the opportunities provided by our incredible supplier network. Kelmarna are proving the viability of producing nutrient-dense, delicious food in an urban environment at volume,” explains Joe O’Connell, Ozone’s Chef de Cuisine.
“We believe it is our responsibility to support what the passionate people at Kelmarna do every day and are thrilled to be able to take part in this series of events.”
Dining out in the garden will help raise valuable funds to support Kelmarna’s educational and therapeutic work in the community, with 50% of proceeds from Farm Dinners going straight to the charitable trust.
Farm Dinners dates:
Forest: 16, 17, 18, & 19 February
Ozone: 23 February
Salo Salo: 24 February
Kelmarna Gardens, 12 Hukanui Crescent, Ponsonby,
T: 09 376 0472, www.kelmarnagardens.nz
Tickets for Forest at $95, Ozone and Salo Salo at $90.
For more info and ticket booking visit:
www.kelmarnagardens.nz/farmdinners
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Published 4 February 2022