Rob Hope-Ede got a lot of it from Simon Gault, and he had it from hospitality doyen, bon vivant and legendary restaurateur Tony Astle. It? That elusive blend of rock-solid technique, inspiration and hard work, mixed with a sprinkle of something that lights up a restaurant and gives diners what they want even if they don’t know what that is. And so the accumulated wisdom of decades of hospitality runs on through the city’s dining world to Onemata at Park Hyatt Auckland where Rob is chef de cuisine. Rob explains, “Simon had a motto, ‘What’s your 5% magic?’ At Onemata I ask, ‘Have I done everything possible to make this dish worthy of the diners?’”

He is very aware that it’s a crowded market with many restaurants jostling for the dining dollar. Some people are put off, he says, by the restaurant being in a hotel, not knowing if they need to be hotel guests to dine there, but patrons are about 50% locals and 50% in-house guests and everyone is welcome. While Onemata is very much the heart of the hotel – in fact the restaurant can be seen from the first five floors of the hotel – Rob describes it as a stand-alone restaurant that happens to be in a hotel.

Those 13 years of cooking with Simon – a life sentence, jokes Rob – certainly were times of change in the restaurant business. One of the most welcome is the flourishing interest in New Zealand ingredients and the pride that many local chefs take in presenting the country’s culinary treasures, indeed the very name Onemata refers to New Zealand’s rich and fertile soil. Rob has just taken delivery of a box of pineapples grown in Northland by Owen Schafli and he’s buzzing with plans for them. Maybe he’ll marinate pork shoulder with chipotle and roast it with the pineapple, maybe his specialist wok and steamer chef will make a tempura oyster with a pineapple sauce or it may sing in a dish made specially for a customer of the Trust the Chef menu.

Chef’s menus are nothing new, but at Onemata it’s not a one-size-fits-all option – Rob or one of his chefs will come to your table to chat, then customise your meal. Of the five courses, Rob reckons at least two will be unique, made just for you – but please don’t just ask for the snapper. It’s not that he doesn’t serve snapper (he does) or that it’s not delicious (it is) but that he’s desperate to encourage diners to explore lesser-known species such as sustainable sole which he serves hearth-roasted with almond and caper butter, or skate wing which Rob loves simply panfried in butter, with roasted grapes, almonds, sautéed onions and a splash of vinegar. His job is done when a customer says, “I really loved that, but I never would have ordered it.”

The central kitchen also means that Rob and his team can feel the restaurant vibes throughout service. “I can see into the restaurant and I love to see what I call the ‘happy chair dance’, when people wriggle in their chair with delight when they put something in their mouth.” And you can’t dance without music: Rob likens creating a menu to writing a song with verse, chorus, verse. The opening verse of the entrée has all the colourful textural components to excite the eye as diners settle into the experience. Then you soar into the chorus with flavourful, delicious mains while people enjoy the company. Then to finish it’s back to the ‘wow’ verse with dessert, the lasting impression that’s the theme song for the happy chair dance. onematarestaurant.co.nz TRACY WHITMEY