1 week ago
New Zealand Chef’s Table Lets Harvest Dictate Every Meal
This is a small chef’s table in New Zealand for six people.
It does not use a regular menu.
Instead, chef Sturla looks at what ingredients are available that day.
The food comes from what the land has produced.
The meal changes as the seasons change.
Spring might bring asparagus with butter sauce.
Summer might bring black persimmon ice cream or gnocchi made with purple peaches.
Because the ingredients keep changing, every meal is different.
The chef’s table seats six people and has no menu.
Chef Sturla begins with ingredients available that day rather than planning dishes first.
The harvest and changing seasons determine what is served.
Examples include lacto-fermented asparagus with butter sauce and black persimmon ice cream.
Dishes can include purple-peach gnocchi, and no two menus are the same.
- Who
- Chef Sturla prepares meals for diners at a six-seater chef’s table.
- What
- A chef’s table experience serves meals based on the ingredients available each day, rather than from a fixed menu.
- Where
- New Zealand.
- When
- The menu changes daily and with the seasons.
- Why
- The chef lets the harvest and seasonal availability determine the meal.
Key facts
- Setting
- A six-seater chef’s table experience
- Menu
- There is no fixed menu
- Planning approach
- Chef Sturla starts with the day’s available ingredients
- Seasonal example
- Lacto-fermented asparagus finished with butter sauce may appear in spring
- Summer examples
- Black persimmon ice cream and purple-peach gnocchi
- Meal variation
- Dishes appear and disappear according to what the land produces
- Consistency
- No two menus are the same










