Rice, Auckland CBD

Rice has become a seriously stunning place in its new form. Picture / Babiche Martens

Herald rating: * * * * 1/2

Once upon a time some clever cooks decided to open a restaurant. It would be unlike any other restaurant in the city. The cooks called in some groovy designers and got them to make over an inner-city warehouse into a funky space with lots of glass, deep red walls, funky white plastic seats and gorgeous light sculptures.

What made it different was the premise. All the meals, the puddings and many drinks were modern versions of recipes from different countries: all had one common ingredient. Because that ingredient was rice, that's what they called their restaurant.

Because it was cool and funky and different and the food and the drinks were very, very good, the people who lived and worked in the buildings nearby liked the place and it was a smash hit. But the founders decided to move on. They sold the restaurant to the chef and the maitre d' from another groovy eatery in an old industrial building in another part of town. And a year later Rice - a very good restaurant in its earlier life - has become a seriously stunning place in its new form.

Owners Jeremy Turner and Kate Fay have made subtle changes. Turner's protege is Ryland Wood; Fay's understudy is Leigh Hartnett. Wood learned at the sideboard and Hartnett at the stoves of their employers at Cibo.

Service is styled and paced to match the inner-city clientele: young, fresh. Cocktails lean on in-house infused sakes. On a chilly night I was investigating the possibility that a lemon honey gin might ward off a virus when Bridget and Blue arrived.

With Fay looking over a shoulder, Hartnett's new menu continues Rice's original theme of borrowing from Asian cuisines and combining them with Euro styles or ingredients to create original dishes. Example: Blue's entree married rare duck breast, shiitake and water chestnut sausage, Tasmanian scallop and Vietnamese slaw.

Bridget and I chowed down on an artful, contemporary rendering of Hong Kong street food: Chinese barbecued pork belly, chilli pickled plums and a steamed bun which, stark white and plastic-looking, matched the furniture. Not a grain in sight: the "must have rice" rule has gone.

Exotic ingredients and flavour are all. Noushuku dashi, agedashi tofu and dancing bonito flakes are names and tastes you'll get your tongue around here.

Blue craved steak. At, say, Lone Star you'd get meat, spuds, mushrooms, beans, right? Well, you do here, except that Rice's version updates it to eye fillet and sweetbreads, wasabi pot-sticker gnocchi, mushroom and soy beans.

That left me to deal to the cervena, delicately, pinkly roasted in cumin, a potato dosa, and the full-force tang of beetroot relish. Bridget's main might have been the closest to a heritage dish all night: Japanese-style crusted and seared tuna steak, somen noodle salad, and pesto made from shiso, that country's basil.

Purists might scoff that this sounds like the excesses of 90s fusion. In less sure hands that might be. But every flavour, each nuance is considered; cooking is expert and assured; and, at the last, presentation is inspired. And none of the mains tops $30.

Blue and I talked about a lengthy wine list dominated by superior local vintages, and brought the food back home with the softness and subtlety of Peregrine pinot noir 03 from Central Otago.

Rice has always given good dessert, and we ended by nibbling on biscotti, sorbets and cheddar. Making a meal of it. With food this good, and a restaurant this classy, you should, too.

Address: 10-12 Federal St, CBD
Phone: (09) 359 9113
Web: www.rice.co.nz
Open: Mon-Fri breakfast, lunch and dinner Sat 10am till late
From the menu:
Scampi and ginger tortellini, tomato and lychee tea $17.50
Spiced Madras lamb rump, smoked eggplant, masala jus $29.50
Kaffir lime and ginger brulee with sago gula melaka $13.50
Vegetarian: Very
Wine list: Superior, strong NZ content, covers the bases $45-$190