Karl Martin-Boulton at the helm at his eight-seater eatery, The Green, in Hamilton. Photo: Supplied
By Denise Irvine
Chef Karl Martin-Boulton bursts through the door of his new Hamilton eatery with an armful of fresh asparagus. He's bought it straight from Greenfern Asparagus, near Cambridge, where he stopped for a chat with grower Bill Cummings.
He'll shave spears, serve them sweet, tender and raw with trevally sashimi, miso caramel, kawakawa mayonnaise, shaved fennel and puffed wild rice. The trevally is from Raglan Fish, handy on Waikato's west coast, and it will star with the asparagus on Martin-Boulton's six-course degustation menu at The Green, which he opened in August.
Not that there's a printed menu because things change daily, driven by Martin-Boulton's latest discoveries, and what is available locally, in season.
"It's all local food, and it's the whole 'trust me' deal," he says.
Perhaps The Green's biggest point of difference though is that it's very small. Miniscule in fact. It's an eight-seater chef's table, although the table is actually a grouping of comfy high stools around a generous kitchen bar. From here, diners watch Martin-Boulton as he puts dinner together.
With just eight seats, The Green is the restaurant version of a tiny house. Photo: Supplied
The Green is tucked into the lower reaches of the swish, almost-completed Made retail precinct in Hamilton East. It joins two other tiny eateries in the country, Mapu Test Kitchen, a six-seater in Lyttelton run by chef Giulio Sturla, and the 10-seater Chef's Table at Blue Duck Station, in Ruapehu district. Sturla says at Mapu he creates something beautiful that people simply would not cook at home.
Same with Martin-Boulton at The Green. He has hankered after a small eatery for a long time; he has a mate in the UK with a couple of 16-seaters, he liked their intimacy and the opportunity to be hyperlocal, sustainable and innovative.
He started in hospo in England as a 13-year-old, washing dishes for his dad, Andy Boulton, who was head chef at a golf club at Wolverhampton, near Coventry. His career has taken him to award-winning restaurants in the UK and New Zealand, and now - more than two decades later - his own kitchen.
"I've got one of the best jobs in the world," he says.
Hamilton chef Karl Martin-Boulton Photo: Supplied
"Being here [at The Green] is like having people into my home. I wanted a place where people could feel relaxed. The response has been fantastic."
It's so good, in fact, that he is fully booked through to Christmas.
Martin-Boulton is living the chef's dream of choosing his own food from suppliers, experimenting with ideas, and keeping his food-miles to an absolute minimum. On Mondays, his day off, it's his mission to find new ingredients. Recently he discovered Newstead Orchard, on the outskirts of Hamilton, with a beautiful range of fruit, and smoked eel from a place near Rangiriri, in North Waikato.
Raglan producers have become his go-to for fresh fish, handmade chocolate, dairy products and yoghurt. Tomtit Farm at Matangi is a favourite vegetable supplier, cheese is from Over the Moon at Putaruru, lamb from Wholly Cow Butchery in Cambridge.
The Green's smoked gouda custard with Tomtit Farm salad. Photo: Supplied
Martin-Boulton opens a bag of foraged oxalis (in England, he knew it as wood sorrel but Kiwis regard it as a weed). "Have a bite," he says. It is tart, like the skin of a Granny Smith apple. At The Green, it shows up in a dessert of chamomile custard with frozen aerated chocolate yoghurt, roasted white chocolate from Raglan Chocolate and sweet oxalis mayonnaise.
Martin-Boulton is The Green's chief cook and bottle-washer, and each night he's fully prepped to deliver seamless service. He has one other pair of hands, sommelier Drew Cohen, who does the meticulous wine matches, and sources all alcohol (mostly from New Zealand, apart from French champagne, including Waikato-made beer, gin, whisky and port).
The Green runs five nights a week and does lunch by appointment. The degustation menu is $150 a head, with wine match $250, and extras can include cheese, chocolates and spirits. At only eight covers a time, can it pay the expenses, and the chef and sommelier?
Yes, says Martin-Boulton, firmly, it is doing that. "We're supporting local and local is supporting us."