Gatherings restaurant in Christchurch - place on a plate

Gatherings: award-winning intimate restaurant in Christchurch

Just three months after chef Alex Davies launched his intimate, handcrafted restaurant Gatherings to showcase Canterbury’s produce, it won the Best New Restaurant award in the Cuisine Good Food Guide. Nine years later, it is still a favourite for both diners and growers and boasts a hat from Cuisine along with numerous Canterbury Hospitality Awards.

Alex says the restaurant’s philosophy “centres on respect for the growers, producers, hunters, and fishers who shape the ingredients, and for the shared act of dining itself.”

And Cuisine describes the menu as “following the seasons, serving food that can easily be shared and showcasing carefully sourced seafood, venison and mostly-organic vegetables ... all of them treated with incredible respect and dressed in sensational sauces or ferments that are cleverly designed to elevate each dish. Desserts such as ricotta doughnuts with vanilla custard, almonds and poached quince highlight the joy of seasonal fruit at its best. A small wine list favours low-intervention varieties from all over the world, many of them organic.”

How Gatherings began

Alex got his start cooking pizzas in a borrowed stone oven in the middle of rubble following the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. “My concept was I wanted to show people beauty beyond what they were seeing immediately, and that Canterbury is full of all this wonderful produce and growers and farmers. I did that for about a year, and then I just ran with that same concept through restaurants.”

Before he opened Gatherings, he spent a year working on an organic farm in North Canterbury because “I’d been celebrating this beauty and holding it up. And I wanted to go and see it firsthand.”

Gatherings launched in February 2017 and had immediate success, which Alex attributes in part to a new open-mindedness as people arrived in the city to help with the rebuild.

Why local food tastes better

Celebrating local is more than telling a story, says Alex. “When farmers grow things well, it tastes better. If someone is really caring and passionate about what they’re doing, and you’re eating that within the seasons, and you’re serving it with stuff that’s grown at the same time, then it is just going to taste better.”

Over time, Alex has developed deep partnerships with producers equally committed to sustainable produce that speak to place on the plate, meaning his food also represents relationships on a plate.

He started by meeting growers at local markets, and weekly conversations grew into productive partnerships. “That circle grows through word of mouth, and now growers approach me because they might have something great they’re growing, and they want to showcase it here because they think we’ll do it well.”

Gatherings' intimate scale also means “we’re never applying too much pressure on anybody to produce too much. So, it gives smaller growers an opportunity to test what their soil is good at growing.”

The sustainable producers behind Gatherings’ success

That test-kitchen ethos means Alex has worked with many small growers, showcasing little-known vegetables such as Canterbury-grown wasabi from Coppersfolly (the farmer of the fussy vegetable is an ex-policeman). He also points to Poaka Pork, which raises and butcher's heirloom pigs at their own abattoir on site just west of Christchurch. “The way they farm is truly incredible, and the end product is also incredible.”

Other favourites include Streamside Organics near Leeston, who have been a supplier since the pizza pop-up days, and Forage Farms on the Banks Peninsula, whose eggs show up in several of the city’s best restaurants.

Alex says relationships and collaboration are vital beyond growers. Christchurch’s post-earthquake spirit of collaboration was behind his early pop-ups, and now he loves being able to collaborate with visiting chefs, such as a recent four-night residency from chef Hector Henderson of London’s legendary Rochelle Canteen.

The Waipara wine region on Christchurch’s doorstep is Gatherings’ not-so-secret advantage

From the beginning, Gatherings has focused on pairing its food with local wines, many of which are from organic and low-intervention winemakers from the Waipara wine region, just 45 minutes north of Christchurch.

Alex says the growth in this sector has been exciting to watch and enjoys being an unofficial ambassador for it. He says the geography of North Canterbury and its variety of soil types within a small area make for passionate winemakers whose smaller scale means they can experiment.

It also makes it an unlikely area for corporate monoculture winemaking, as the limestone seams running through the hills tend to make for small vineyards. The result is that you’ll always find something rare and interesting on Gatherings’ wine list that speaks of place and terroir in the same way Alex’s plates do.

That partnership of local produce and local wine makes a meal at Gatherings a unique expression of the beautiful Canterbury landscape.

Your questions from this article answered:

What is a Cuisine Good Food Awards' "hat" & how many does Gatherings hold?

Cuisine "hats" are New Zealand's premier culinary accolades.

Awarded by the Cuisine Good Food Guide, they recognise excellence in food, service, and atmosphere.

Gatherings holds one hat in the Cuisine Good Food Guide. The awards consistently recognise the restaurant for its intimate atmosphere, low-waste philosophy, and highly creative, sustainable approach to showcasing local Canterbury produce and seafood.

Does Alex Davies own any other venues in Christchurch apart from Gatherings?

While Gatherings is his only full restaurant, Alex also runs its intimate sister venue, Kisi Bar, out of the exact same Merivale location.

Tucked into the courtyard behind the restaurant, it is a casual, walk-in-only wine bar open Wednesday through Sunday.

It focuses on natural wines paired with snack-sized bites from the Gatherings kitchen.

Can you buy Coppersfolly products?

Yes, you can! Coppersfolly is famous for producing authentic, premium purewasabi right here in Canterbury.

Unlike most commercial green pastes — which are actually just horseradish, mustard, and green food colouring — Coppersfolly grows genuine Wasabia japonica rhizomes (the stem) and uses them to create a true, high-quality wasabi paste.

Can you buy Poaka pork?

Yes, absolutely! You can purchase Poaka’s premium, pasture-raised heritage breed pork and award-winning cured meats directly from their website, for home delivery across Christchurch and Canterbury, or opt for free collection at their farm.

If you prefer to shop in person, you can visit their weekly Friday afternoon pop-up shop (1:00 pm – 5:30 pm) on Blenheim Road in Riccarton or find select cuts and cured meats at boutique local butcheries and specialty grocers.

Can you buy products from Streamside Organics, & where do I find them?

Yes, you can buy their certified organic vegetables directly from their website via a subscription or one-off veggie box delivered straight to your door across Christchurch and Canterbury.

If you prefer to shop in person, you can find their full seasonal harvest every Saturday morning at the Christchurch Farmers' Market at Riccarton House or pick up select mid-week produce from independent local retailers.

Can you buy eggs from Forage Farm? Where are they located?

Yes, you can buy fresh eggs from Forage Farm.

They specialise in pasture-raised, free-range eggs laid by hens that roam freely on fresh pasture. You can pick up their eggs directly from their farm gate stall located in Motukarara.