Concrete Playground Meets The Sugar Club

The word 'heavenly' springs to mind as one quickly ascends up – all 320 metres up – the glass elevator of the Sky Tower and into the clouds. Here on level 53 is the newest home to Peter Gordon's fourth incarnation of his iconic restaurant, The Sugar Club.

The first Sugar Club opened back in 1986 on Vivian Street in Wellington, with Peter as Head Chef at just 23. In the 27 years that have past, Peter has shot to culinary fame and is now widely known as the 'god-father' of Fusion Cuisine due to his pioneering ways of blending different ethnic flavours together. The Sugar Club has had two further homes in London, Notting Hill and Soho, and has attracted both discerning foodies as well as the likes of Madonna, Calvin Klein and Nick Cave.

Fortunately local gourmands and personalities alike can rejoice in the fact that The Sugar Club is no longer in a different hemisphere, rather back home in New Zealand and right in the heart of Auckland's CBD.

Concrete Playground caught up with the boys of The Sugar Club; Peter Gordon, Head Chef Neil Brazier and Sous Chef Kei Suzaki to talk about the return of this iconic restaurant and it's new home in the sky.

The Sugar Club in Auckland, how did it come to be?

PG: A couple of years ago Nigel, the CEO of Sky City said, "would you be interested in doing a restaurant up in the Tower" and I said, "yeah I'd love to!" and it has been an almost two year progression from that point.

We hear the Sky Tower is a favourite place of yours…

PG: I love it, I love driving into work and seeing it and seeing it from different angles in different parts of Auckland… I love the tower! The weird thing is I can't remember it being built at all. I have no recollection. All I remember is one day there was a tower. Because I've been in London for 24 years, so I can't actually remember the construction and I'm quite geeky like that, I like watching that stuff happen, but now it's just here. It's definitely a special place for me.

How did you select your executive team?

PG: There was no one else really. Kei had been working at the O'Connell Street Bistro and had then come to work at Dine. He had proven to be a fabulous Sous Chef at Dine and done some amazing stuff there. Neil, I'd worked with briefly years ago up in Kauri Cliffs. Neil came very highly recommended from some of the team here at Sky City too. And then our pastry chef Nico (Nicolas Bonnard) I knew of from Sketch in London, and he approached me about The Sugar Club in Auckland and expressed a real interest in being involved. He was saying things like "I have a team of 11 pastry chefs here in London, how many of them do you need?" [laughs] and I had to say "well, you and maybe another?" and that didn't deter him, which was good!

What can fans of The Sugar Club look forward to seeing back on the menu? And what new delights can we look forward to sampling?

PG: Well, we are still writing the menu…

NB: In true chef's style we wrote a menu, made it look all lovely then we threw it away, then we did another one, and threw that away, then we did a few more [laughs]. We're getting there!

PG: There will definitely be some old favourites such as the Beef Pesto (soy marinated eye fillet of steak on a raw salad of beetroot, courgette and silver beet finished with basil pesto) as well as the vattalapam (Peter's take on the Sri Lankan custard dessert which features cashew nuts, cardamon and coconut).

In terms of new things, I can tell you there will be a dish with pork and kina, we'll also feature beautiful New Zealand merino lamb and local sustainable fish amongst many other things. We've just ordered some black truffle from Gisborne so we're figuring how we're going to incorporate that. We even jokingly hoping we could have our own herb garden out there (Peter points to the edge of the Tower) [laughs] but we're not allowed anything out there so that won't be happening.

Talk us through the space.

PG: I always play a part in selecting the décor for my restaurants and I thought this space felt a bit 'space age-y' and futuristic which led me to thinking of the [Art] Deco age – when all the mass production and industrialisation was happening – and I thought that fit the brief. This also allowed me to take inspiration from my favourite film 'I am Love' set in Milan. The house in 'I am Love" is so beautiful I have always thought that is the house I want to live in one day. So that was the brief that we put to the architects who did the job – Jasmax who did a brilliant job of bringing this all to life while letting the spectacular view remain centre stage.

What is unique about The Sugar Club in Auckland?

PG: The location!

NB: Having a restaurant 320 metres in the air is certainly something different. Even logistically, it's not just one kitchen to run, we have three kitchens – two up here and one at the base of the Tower so we can work around this very unique location.

KS: We also have a beautiful kitchen. It's probably the kitchen with the best view in the world.

PG: It's been 27 years since the first Sugar Club was opened, and this venue is certainly worlds apart from the Vivian Street location. The food has changed and evolved and the team is new so it is all really exciting.

Can you share a couple of your Auckland foodie favourites with us?

PG: In terms of places to shop, definitely Farro Fresh. There's also a great night market over in Glenfield worth checking out. A hidden gem I would recommend is Cazador. I was there last night and we ate deer heart and liver amongst other things. The food there was fantastic.

KS: The O'Connell Street Bistro? [laughs] A friend of mine has set up the Food Truck Garage (Shed 1, Wellesley St), which is taking the concept of fast food and making it healthier by using fresh, organic produce and less salt. I also like the Brown's Bay Market.

Thanks guys - we look forward to dinning here soon.

The Sugar Club opens Friday 2nd of August and will offer an express à la carte lunch menu, small plates for dinner guests and a weekend brunch menu. For booking enquiries call 09 363 6000.