IN BRIEF

Hyper-seasonal Aotearoa in a way you will find nowhere else.

WHY CHOOSE THIS RESTAURANT?

Perched on the edge of the flat, long coastal road of Haumoana, Elephant Hill rises from the earth, a monolith of straight lines and clean edges whose aged copper patina seeks to reflect the Pacific Ocean it looks out across and the vineyards that encircle it. This building is a perfect metaphor for a dining experience that resides wholly within its landscape but is unafraid to stand out, pushing at the softer edges of what a vineyard restaurant can be.

ABOUT THE MENU

Cookery here is informed by Japan and the New Nordic style, both foregrounding technique whilst focussing on fresh produce and fermentation. Like the wine of Elephant Hill, the menu is inspired by the three ecosystems that surround it: sea, stone and earth. It is a folly to spend too much time describing any actual dishes, because when you arrive they will most likely be gone. Here they deal not only in seasonality, but hyper-seasonality. Plates are composed that could only exist in the exact moment you are there: a meal will start light with some snacks – think beetroot roasted on the hibachi until blackened with a nori sauce and dill – before growing in scale as the meal progresses to raw kingfish, wet-aged for seven days and cut thick with blowtorched heirloom tomatoes, both served in a tomato water made with homemade miso and parmesan garum. The simplicity and elegance of presentation belie the depth and complexity hidden in every single dish.

ABOUT THE CHEF

There are chefs who seem to want to fight ingredients and wrangle their form into something quite different. Not Conor Mertens. He works with the natural motion of produce and follows its lead, coaxing out and working in sympathy. He’s an experienced chef who has spent time cooking in every type of establishment imaginable, including two years spent in Japan immersing himself in cookery. While there he says learned a valuable lesson: even with all of his experience, he wasn’t actually that good. From then on he would always have space to learn and grow. A master of fermentation and ancient technique, he presents a menu that is the ongoing culmination of a life spent learning and experimenting.

ABOUT THE TEAM

General Manager Simon Swa is the other half of Elephant Hill’s visionary restaurant offering. With a history in fine wine and Champagne, he is a self-confessed obsessive who set Conor the sea, stone and earth brief, pushing for the space to be at once wholly accessible yet challenging. Front-of-house manager Alessia Pascale makes the room work in that invisible way that only the best are capable of doing.

OF NOTE

Sit outside on a perfect blue Hawke’s Bay day and see vineyard, sea and mountain in one perfect view.

86 Clifton Road, Te Awanga,
Haumoana
Check website for opening hours
Sharing dishes $23-46,
Trust the Chef $85pp
06 872 6060, elephanthill.co.nz