Margot, the bite-sized restaurant big on comfort and flavour
Sunday, 21 April 2024
“Intelligent, needs to apply himself.”
Tom Adam isn’t the type to have the last laugh, but if ever a teacher got it wrong then the one who wrote that surely did.
Adam and partner Juno Miers are sitting on a banquette in sun-dappled light in their Newtown restaurant, Margot.
The compact 26-seater, nestled alongside a group of early 20th-century tramway cottages in a short side street just off the suburb’s bustling main thoroughfare, is the culmination of years of the couple applying themselves.
Both have worked the hospitality traps — Adam in the kitchen, Miers front of house — since high-school days.
Miers is a local, born and raised in Wellington; UK-born Adam grew up in Nelson. Pick some of the top-rated restaurants, here and in London, and one or the other will likely have dipped their toes in, in some form or other.
They met in 2015 while working at The Bresolin, once home to the original, infamous Bar Bodega. Miers was manager, sous chef Adam had recently returned from a five-year stint overseas.
It wasn’t rock’n’roll but it was the classic romance story, Adam says. And it is, with bits of fairy-tale, adventure and horror, thrown in.
The couple had always wanted their own place, but they also wanted to travel, to feast and eat their way through Central and South America, or the UK, which would be a stepping-off point for forays into Europe.
But as with all the best-laid plans, nothing quite went to plan. They did get to the UK, got to see some family, including Adam’s elderly grandfather, and settled in Brighton.
“I didn’t want to live in London again, do the rat-race thing again,” says Adam. “So we worked there [Brighton] and were going to do little trips around, but we never got to do that.”
Covid. They watched as flights back to New Zealand began to be cancelled, and decided it might be best to return while they could. They landed back in Auckland nine months after leaving, and just two days before the country went into its first lock down.
They self-isolated in Miers’ parents’ yoga studio, then became part of their “bubble”.
Post the lockdowns both got work with Wellington’s Yu group — Miers at Atlas (now Plonk) and Adam, for a time at Cinderella, on the old Bresolin site.
In June 2022 they opened Margot, in what was formerly Mason, a bar-restaurant owned by a friend, ex-Rita chef Matt Hawke. Next door is Next Door, a teensy self-serviced bar linked to the restaurant by a “snack” hatch in the wall above the coffee machine.
The location, notes Miers, suits them to a tee. “Ever since we started discussing having our own place, I wanted it to be in the suburbs, and in Newtown. Newtown was the dream.”
There’s a supportive community, and it’s handy — they live in an apartment, also teensy, just around the corner from the restaurant, though with their 80-hour working weeks, they largely only sleep there.
Stepping through Margot’s red door is like stepping through Alice’s looking glass if Lewis Carroll had had a French aunt.
It’s elegant but casual, homely yet proper. It is, as Adam describes it, “very gentle and feminine.
“That’s what we are going for here. I think a lot of the industry now is so ‘come here, eat my food, look at my food, and go’. We want to be like ‘come in, we’ll look after you’. Yes, the food is good but more importantly it’s about how you feel when you come in…”
Miers finishes the sentence: “Like being hosted at someone’s house for a really delicious meal.”
The menu reflects that, and the couple’s passion for fresh, quality produce. The dishes are simple and designed for sharing with friends or family, although Miers, a self-confessed solo dining advocate, stresses they have no qualms about serving the similarly inclined.
“We’ve designed it so you can enjoy it if you’re on your own, whether you come alone or just don’t want to share.
“What we call our rustic European shared plates are a constant, and then Tom builds the menu around what the growers have, that’s best in season.
“Sometimes that can change a couple of times over a couple of weeks. Sometimes there’ll be a dish that stays all season, but then you could also come here twice a week and have quite different dishes, so it’s very fluid.”
“It’s very much ingredient-driven,” continues Adam. “We try to buy the best ingredients and then not do a lot to them. Most dishes don’t have any more than three or four components. If something’s not available then it doesn’t go on the menu.”
Right now they’re working with a grower to supply a small range of less-well-known, in New Zealand at least, vegetable varieties, including cardoon, rampicante (an Italian heirloom zucchini also known as Tromboncino squash), and celtus, a Chinese vegetable also known as stem lettuce.
“We keep proteins the same; there’s always clams, there’s always a raw fish on, there’s always a large fish on, and there’s always a meat dish on. The garnish changes a lot, but there’s always reference points to build the menu from,” Adam says.
A recent menu, for instance, has featured a raw trevally dish, with tangelo, cumin, smoked olive oil and herbs; one with courgette, saffron, basil and pecorino, and another of chopped raw beef, caramelised onion and parmesan.
Next Door’s drinks list is a homage to old-school cocktails with some punchy twists. There’s also wine and beer and those aforementioned snacks from Margot’s kitchen. There are plans to develop it as a Spanish-style tapas bar, at some stage, but not to go big.
Says Miers: “Margot was always meant to be small. That’s part of its charm. It’s welcoming and it’s cosy. If we were to grow it would change the vibe completely.”
Eat Beat
Three things always in the fridge? Hot sauce, butter, crème fraiche.
And the pantry? Good olive oil, good vinegar, Aleppo chilli pepper.
Death row meal? Before I met Tom it would have been raw beef or steak tartare but now I’ve got unlimited access to that, so it would be tacos, fish tacos, or ceviche. (Miers)
Something with artichokes? Before I worked at the Green Man and French Horn in London there was this kind of life-changing dish that I had; wild Girolle mushrooms fried, deglazed with a little stock, then artichoke hearts mixed through it, with a warm egg yolk and heaps of herbs.It was so rich yet also delicate. I’d never had anything like it before. (Adam)
First food memory? My mum spent four or five years in Sri Lanka. I remember her making a dish with cabbage, coconut milk, mustard and lots of lime juice. It was bitter, sweet, fresh. (Adam)
One moment that’s stuck with me is when we went pipi-gathering at Māhia, and dad cooked them on the barbecue with Thai flavours, so lemongrass, lime, chilli. That was next level. (Miers)
Favourite cocktail? Either a martini or a jalapeño margarita - those two are on our list all the time because I think they’re pillars of a very delicious time. Or our Naked and Famous cocktail which is equal parts mezcal, lime, green chartreuse and Aperol. (Miers)
Ortega does this great dirty martini with oysters. It’s our date night starter, we call it big meal energy. It gets you in the mood, and then we go to Rita for dinner, and to Hawthorn Lounge. (Adam)