The primary purpose of our visit to Auckland was to attend the wedding of my wife's uncle, which was receptioned at The Sugar Club, so as a preface, I can't make comment on value for money as we didn't pay for the meal, nor did we have a choice in the dishes that had been offered except that they were menu items selected to offer a choice in our dining.
Atmosphere - Well, this one is pretty easy to say it was very well done. As a fine dining establishment, they had the sky high city views, almost 360 degrees around the platform. The furnishings were stylish, almost like a retro/vintage club feel, which was in theme with the whole 'Sugar Club' and that post-prohibition age of excess in the US. We were greeted with a glass of sparkling rose however I am aware that it was part of the reception package, rather than standard service.
Our seating was westward facing to see the sunset, which was lovely, and they raised the shade blinds once the sun had set sufficiently over the mountain range to not blind you, before dusk truly set in. The table settings were simple, however they chose to add and replace cutlery through the meal, rather than set the full array of cutlery, most likely due to it being more cost economical for washing as different dishes required different cutlery. The lamps were pretty cool but my only complaint was that they had hung them pretty low. I am 176cm tall and the top of my head was contacting the bottom of the lights! Definitely have to be careful about that.
The reception dinner was a four course meal, as three mains and a desert. The choices I made were the kingfish with nori and wasabi cream dressed with a ponzu sauce, lamb rump with gnocchi, line caught fish on a dashi and mussel broth with tempura oyster, and a chocolate assortment desert including a semifredo, dark chocolate cake and tamarind sauce. My wife made her choices include a creamed paua kiwi dip, and a peanut butter desert.
The quality of the food was excellent. We were also served amuse-bouche (palate cleansers) at the start before, and then after the mains. The flavours for the dishes were quite well though out, and presentation were mostly nice, but as all fine dining goes, you generally don't get very much at all in your serves. The sashimi kingfish was very delicate in flavour, which went much better with the wasabi cream, as the nori was a bit too salty. The gnocchi has to be the most soft and fluffy I have ever had, with an incredible texture and bounce to it. I did find the lamb a little on the rare side for me, and it took a little more effort to cut than I was expecting, so either it was a touch tougher than it could have been or their knives need some sharpening. Taste wise however it was excellent. I found the dashi very flavoursome but a bit on the saltier side, even when paired with the rest of the dish elements and I was sad that there was only two bites of the tempura oyster as it was amazingly well cooked. Chocolate tamarind was a sharp contrast which did help stop the bitterness of the dark chocolate cake overpower the rest of the desert, and the semifredo, wow, just incredible in its texture and smoothness. Well done indeed.
Now, after that glowing review on the food, you have to wonder why I only gave it a 3.5. Unfortunately, as far as a fine dining experience goes, the wait staff were a bit frazzled. They didn't explain initially that they would be explaining what was in the dishes served, so after laying it out infront of the guests, some had started to eat by the time they came around to each table to re-hash what was on their partially eaten plates! This then of course made some of the guests feel a little embarassed that they had started eating before they were 'supposed' to. Further to this, the wait staff did also forget what was on some of the dishes! I know that its a lot to memorise, but if you're going to be fine dining and offer a table-side spiel about what is being served, you need to do it right, or you just make yourself look silly. Such as calling the line-caught fish salmon, when.... it was clearly not any form of salmon. I still actually don't know what it was (it was a white-fish of some kind).
The other point which has made me decide to put a lower score, is the facilities. I know it is fine dining, but we're now in the age where we have modern families. Which include having children attending fine dining places, which also includes infants. No high-chairs, no children's chairs. I do give them kudos for providing some form of children's alternatives for the three children there. No suitable facilities to conduct a baby change. Our baby was extremely well behaved through the evening, slept for a good half of it, and then was passed around like pass-the-parcel between grandparents, great grandparents, and relatives. But of course the inevitable has to happen, and we ended up having to change her, On.The.Floor. I don't think it would have been that big an ask to perhaps have a folding change table kept in the ladies bathroom, and perhaps just one high chair kept somewhere in a store-room on the off-chance.
Yes, its fine dining, but you might not think you'd have a baby as a guest. Well, this place now certainly has. I hope that their experience now of having us change the baby on the floor, infront of other guests who were not part of our reception party, may help them consider to look into such additional facility or services.
tl;dr - Well thought out menu, excellent food as far as fine dining goes, serving staff need to brush up on their menus, great atmosphere, lack of suitable facilities for infants.
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