Elegance. Family. Exceptional experiences. The ingredients that went into the realisation of Inati. For husband-and-wife team Simon and Lisa Levy, Inati is an extension of their home. I was invited to share a meal with Simon at the chef’s table, and was lucky enough to chat with Lisa while Simon prepared.
“Inati translates from Te Reo Māori to ‘share a portion of food’. It resonated with us when we were looking at what we wanted to do; we wanted to have a name associated with everything about us. For us, the exceptional and exciting is being around an open kitchen and actually watching the performance and the theatre of the kitchen. We like to entertain at home (when we’re not working, that is). Simon’s cooking, I’m drinking wine, and everyone just congregates around our kitchen; it’s our family hub, and that’s what we have here.
With our menu, we have three categories: earth, land and sea, which are small plates. Then we have our large plates, which are a protein-based main course, and our nectar, which is dessert. The menu is tapas style, so you can pick and choose, or we have a culinary experience which is our ‘trust us’ journey where you are trusting Simon and the team. Our food is designed to be shared; we like that kind of dining style.”
After Simon wrapped up the last intricate lunch plate, he joined me at the extravagant chef’s table overlooking the action in the kitchen to tell me more about Inati.
Tell me a bit about how Inati came to be
“We had a vision of what we wanted to do and all the things we love in hospitality and dining out and tried to create them all together as much as we could. In the way of breaking down those barriers, those formalities, be it the kitchen versus the front of house and then have to serve the guests, and we’re stuck behind a brick wall. We’ve been here for ten years [in New Zealand] so thirteen, fourteen years ago we started planning, just picking all the things we love. Places we’ve been to over the years, places we really enjoyed and we just started drawing on the back of bits of paper.”
Tell me a bit about the different aspects that create the overall dining experience at Inati
“Everything here Lisa and I designed. In the way of the spacing, the way we wanted the chairs, the distancing. The attention to detail, what we wanted and how we wanted it either came from a hair-brained idea from myself or something that Lisa had seen and wanted to incorporate. This here is the largest chefs table in New Zealand, this is nineteen seats. We have these wonderful chairs we had handmade that we designed. I can tell you about the plate you’re eating off, which hasn’t been spoken about for two or three years because COVID’s been around, but most people know about it. All the crockery here is handmade by a lovely woman called Renate. I tell her my bad ideas, and she makes them a reality. And everything in here has a reason for being here, to bring you back to Christchurch. So, this is a pearl-white glaze finish made with New Zealand clay. You’ve got these speckles in here, and these speckles are actually liquefaction from the earthquake. We’re really proud of what we’ve done here and think it’s a cool little spot.
We try to think about the guests’ experience from before the moment they come in. From the first booking, we’re still a bit old school, and we phone people to confirm their reservation; we like to touch base. Do you have any food allergies or dietary restrictions? Is there a particular spot in the restaurant you prefer, things like that. We try to read the room as well, some people want more interaction, some don’t.”
Smoked celeriac, tamarillo & buckwheat
“We’ve got our whipped celeriac with smoked celeriac ribbons, tamarillo jam and a little bit of buckwheat on there.
A lot of it is my childhood memory. When I came home after school, we always got a piece of toast or something like that, so I go through stages where I use crumpets or toast. For this, we’ve made our own celeriac brioche, with a celeriac stock and celeriac fat to incorporate that as well.”
What are we tasting initially?
“For this dish you want to have that nice bit of toast underneath with that rich creaminess from the whipped celeriac, a bit of smoke, and the tamarillo jam should almost be green tomato-like. Then, you get the hint of the smoked ribbons at the end, finishing with the pops of buckwheat.
Jerusalem artichoke, parmesan & pickled quince
“This is our dehydrated and then rehydrated Jerusalem artichoke and it is with parmesan, polenta and pickled quince. If you dig through to the bottom, you’ll find caramelised artichoke and marmite; it just adds that bit of richness and umami flavour.”
What are we tasting initially?
“With this one, it depends which bit you get first; you chose to dig to the bottom first so you’d get that rich marmite flavour coming on, whereas some people might go straight for the top and get one of those lovely crispy and chewy artichokes.
We try and keep things simple but elevated. We use one item and try to showcase it, but there’s about ten elements on that plate to build it; we’ve kept it within the realms of that criteria, and then we hero that star ingredient.”
Inati offers guests a bespoke and dynamic dining experience. You can find Simon and his talented team at 48 Hereford Street. To make a reservation, visit their website at www.inati.nz or call 03 390 1580.