Fine Dining Experience at Sidart

Dear Fellow Members,

We are indeed fortunate in Auckland in that we have a plethora of restaurants to choose from for our functions, from fine dining to ethnic street foods.

For our September event, we have decided that we will once again visit the realm of fine dining. I think that you can probably count on one hand the number of fine dining restaurants that have stood the test of time in Auckland. As a society we have dined at three of them; one however has flown under our radar, although it has consistently won awards every year since it opened in 2009. It has also been named in a number of international lists of “The Best...”. I am of course referring to Sidart at Three Lamps in Ponsonby.

Sidart offers, once a week, a test kitchen where they present experimental dishes to diners with a view to including them on their menu. These evenings are extremely popular and difficult to get into for a large group such as ours. They are usually held on Tuesday evenings.

Sidart was persuaded by the IWFS to repeat it on a Wednesday night -- exclusively to our members. As this is a test menu, we do not know what the eight dishes to be presented will be, other than to say that they will obviously reflect Sidart’s extremely high standards. Because we do not know what the menu will be, it is obviously difficult for us to select wines to go with the dishes; however Sidart’s sommelier will be presenting a selection of wines to go with the dishes presented.

This promises to be an exceptional evening and one that I would recommend that you book for immediately seeing that we are limited to 22 people, as we will be seated in their private dining room for the evening, which is normally only available upon payment of a large hire charge. Sidart has graciously agreed to the IWFS using it free of charge. Throughout the evening Sid will speak to us regarding the dishes and answer any questions – Stefano, his sommelier, will also talk us through the wines and explain why he selected each one.

I hope that you can make it and look forward to welcoming you on the night.

Kind Regards

Rowan Moss

President - Auckland Branch