NIWA Haku Kingfish Champions for Change 2024Max Gordy & Stina Persen, Graze – Wellington

It’s hard to imagine a restaurant that does more for the sustainability cause than Graze.

ADDRESS: 95 Upland Road, Kelburn, Wellington
CONTACT: 022-302-8242
WEBSITE: Graze Wine Bar
Check website for opening hours
MAINS: $24-$48

SCORE: 18/20

It’s hard to imagine a restaurant that does more for the sustainability cause than Graze. Max Gordy and Stina Person see sustainability as a direction rather than a destination. Each week they source most of their produce from local farmers and write the menu around it. They work with local spear fishers who catch what they need for the week and nothing more, and they use every part of the fish. To cut down plastic waste, milk arrives in reusable glass bottles, they buy cheese cut to order, dry goods from local refilleries and flour direct from the mill. Naturally, they recycle anything they can, from cardboard to glass bottles, bottle caps and soft plastics, right down to the metal wires on sparkling-wine caps. Food waste is anathema, so they get creative turning lettuces into kimchi, reusing fruit-poaching syrups in cocktails, breadcrumbs into miso and yoghurt whey into sorbet. The dining space is furnished with and dressed in upcycled or reused op-shop finds: vintage tablecloths sewn into napkins; old bottles used for water; and a plate and glassware collection that has been years in the making. Finally, the pair put an emphasis on sustainable careers, paying a living wage to staff and themselves.

CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE 2024BROUGHT TO YOU BY NIWA HAKU KINGFISH

Being a champion for change is about backing yourself to swim the other way. NIWA knows all about that with Haku, our premium farmed kingfish. Our fish have extrordinary texture and flavour and are grown and available year-round in Aotearoa’s first commercial-scale land-based aquaculture system at Ruakākā in Northland. With outstanding environmental credentials, it’s an excellent example of what innovation can achieve. haku.nz