The French Café

 Chef Sid Sahrawat has been at the top of the fine dining game in Auckland for two decades.

The restaurant he runs with his wife Chandni Sahrawat, The French Café, has been a bastion of refined dining for several more decades, and has seen crashes and crises come and go. Sid remains as passionate as ever about his craft, and the importance of top-quality, creative dining experiences. "I still see what we do as fine dining," Sid says. "But for me [the fine part] isn't about the price point; it's about the attention that goes into the experience."

That experience has long been tied to the restaurant's reputation. Over the years, diners have returned to celebrate anniversaries, birthdays and milestones, creating a sense of continuity that Sid values deeply. "There's so much history to the name and to the identity of the restaurant," he says. "People come in and say, 'We had our wedding anniversary here 20 years ago', so we feel a responsibility to keep building on that strength."

In a market where some restaurants chase novelty and constant turnover of new diners, Sid takes a different view. "For me it's about stability - getting regular diners coming back again and again,". Part of that stability comes from offering variety across the week. Instead of a single rigid format, the restaurant experiments with different styles of dining.

One of the most popular is the Tuesday Test Kitchen. "It gives us a lot of freedom to do something different," Sid says. Diners clearly love it, with many returning week after week to bask in new flavour combinations and textures making the most of what's in season. Plus it's a chance for the team to keep evolving on the culinary front. "After each service we'll talk about it: maybe something needs a bit more acid, maybe the balance could be better, maybe the plating needs work." Sid encourages chefs across the kitchen to contribute ideas, building dishes collectively and refining them through feedback from both staff and diners. And at $80 for eight courses, it's your ticket to some of the most innovative cooking in town for what you'd pay for a few burgers.

Creativity is key to Sid's style, but so is comfort. At The French Café, that means keeping enough classic elements of French cooking in the picture, and never being stingy. Sid is wary of the minimalist plating that once became synonymous with fine dining. "I'm not a big fan of small portions," he says. "When people come to a formal restaurant, the portions have to resonate with the price. I don't want anyone feeling they want to stop off for fast food afterwards."

Relaxing some of the traditional signals of formality can both ease outgoings and make the atmosphere feel more relaxed. "It's not about the tablecloth any longer," says Sid. "You can still have that attention in the service, in the food, in the details." To meet the reality of rising ingredient costs, Sid points to sourcing what's in abundance seasonally, avoiding wastage, and to "not being focused on using prime cuts all the time."

Ultimately, Sid's goal is to make fine dining more accessible, without losing its sense of occasion. Diners might opt for a short prix-fixe menu on a Sunday, a shared duck dish on another night, or a more elaborate experience elsewhere in the week.

"The days of everyone wanting a 10-course menu for $300 are probably gone," he says. "People want choice. They might come twice in a week and have completely different experiences." For Sid, that flexibility is what will keep fine dining relevant. "We try not to sit still," he says. "If you keep evolving, it stays exciting - for the diners and for the team."

The French Café

210 Symonds Street

Phone: 09 377 1911

Website: thefrenchcafe.co.nz

Instagram: @thefrenchcafe_auckland

Lilius

Running an independent restaurant has never been simple, but for the duo behind Lillius, the past few years have required a particular kind of resilience. "We've kind of just been surviving for the last few years," says Shannon McCarthy, who, having stepped out of the kitchen for a few years to be at home with young children, is now back in her chef's garb alongside husband Fraser McCarthy. "But after taking a break over Christmas and New Year, we both came back feeling re-energised. It was like, 'okay, now we can step it up and refine what we actually want to do.""

For the couple, that means leaning further into an experience- driven approach to dining rather than following rigid fine-dining conventions. At Lillius, the goal has never been to chase trends - the focus has always been on building something that feels thoughtful and personal.

Fraser says trying to create an experience that feels different begins with practical thinking, particularly when it comes to reducing waste. Fermentation, for example, isn't something they pursue simply because it has become fashionable. "We do it because it's a way to create a new flavour through food that would otherwise be wasted," explains Fraser. Bread offcuts might be transformed into miso or fermented drinks, while other ingredients are repurposed through-out the menu.

The same waste-free thinking applies to proteins. Lillius brings in whole carcasses, butchering them inhouse, which allows the chefs to make sure no parts are wasted, as well as to consider carefully how each animal will feature across different dishes. "If we buy a whole lamb, we use everything," Fraser says. "You've got the pink rack, the braised shoulder, maybe a croquette made from the trim. It lets people experience different parts of the animal." Shannon adds that it's often the dishes made with 'trim' - the pieces trimmed away during butchery - that end up being the most memorable for diners. "Sometimes the thing you think will just be a small snack becomes the highlight," she says.

The thought and continuous menu planning required in this approach takes time, but it enables Lillius to navigate rising ingredient costs without simply raising their own prices." The pressure is not wanting to raise the menu prices," Shannon says. "So we're always looking at what's in season and what we can change."

Lillius 

19 Khyber Pass Road

Phone: 09 217 4069

Website: lillius.co.nz

Instagram: lillius_nz