If there’s one thing missing from the plethora of good eating options across our city, it is a swept-up French bistro.
The amount of confidence that would take aside, Honeyman has been working towards his own place here for several years. He first sprang into diners’ spheres cooking out the back of Sale St pub where he dished up the sophisticated fare he’d learned at three star Michelin restaurants in Paris. Then he headed up various kitchens around the city before taking an executive chef role at a busy downtown hotel. All good experiences to add to the rich fabric of a chef’s life.
At Paris Butter he had carte blanche, due to serious investor partnership, to revamp the Herne Bay premises and has created a space that keeps the bones but seems a more comfortable contemporary dining area than before. The entrance, with its plush turquoise banquettes and smoky mirrors reeks of French influence, while the main dining areas with solid tables and chairs, and comfort-loaded linen is attractive.
And to the food. Honeyman’s menu is succinct with around eight entrees and eight main courses to choose from. In any restaurant that combination must be ideal, as it would seem the bigger a menu gets, there’s more opportunity for mistakes and thoughtless dishes. Keep it tight and keep it interesting.
I have tried several dishes over a couple of dinners and the very first thing I ate there was the most ethereal tender dish of creamy egg with fresh black Canterbury truffle grated over the top. The menu at present is filled with tastes of truffle for these gourmand delicacies are being produced in various truffières around the country in unprecedented numbers. Such a joy to see and taste truffled butter accompanying the warmed sourdough bread, and hints of truffle in the creams and sauces accompanying the dishes.
Other standout entrees were soft buckwheat blinis with gravlax salmon and truffle cream, gin cured salmon with dill, crisp shallots and coconut cream, and a play on salad Niçoise where the sashimi kingfish was surrounded by a floral-like arrangement of ingredients including the surprise of melon. Even better were the Cloudy Bay clams, done á l’escargot style - the clams were cloaked in a herby butter, sitting atop a dramatic plate of warmed stones.
Honeyman puts French influence into many dishes; a rich chicken liver parfait, and a confit pork belly with boudin noir and scallop on the entrée choices. He continues that theme, with little twists, over to the main menu. You’d expect to see confit duck, steak and fried with butter sauce, a rich braise and a classic fish dish. They’re there but reinvented here with playful style. The duck is in a pie, steak is roasted at 50°C as a piece of sirloin for several hours and then cut to order and seared (very tender), the braised beef cheek arrives with kale and truffle jus, fish sits on an artichoke puree and risotto is reinvented as a vegetarian dish of broccoli and basil with marinated feta. The masterpiece of the mains was my prawn ravioli stuffed with fish mousse and presented with a tangle of saffron vegetables and a classic sauce bisque. A dish bursting with freshness and flavour.
The desserts are also playful adaptations of French classics and the wine list features some lovely New Zealand equivalents. My only reservations about Paris Butter are the wine prices which seem quite steep across the board, and the service, which was very good but a tad overpowering at times. I don’t need to be questioned about “how my meals are going,” but that seems to be a current and recurring trend everywhere. Closed Monday and Tuesday, dinner Wednesday to Sunday and lunch Thursday to Sunday. (LAURAINE JACOBS)
www.laurainejacobs.co.nz
PARIS BUTTER, 166 Jervois Road, T: 09 376 5597, www.parisbutter.co.nz