Foodie high-flyers eye Ponsonby site

The Grove chef Ben Bayly. Photo / Doug Sherring

Ponsonby Central, the new foodie development on Ponsonby Rd, may have another high-profile signing. The owners of The Grove, a multi-award winning fine dining restaurant in the central city, are eyeing a corner site.

Annette Dearth said a lot of people had heard that she and her husband, Michael, were selling or closing their restaurant in the CBD, but that was not true and they were negotiating a lease on a second premises in the new Ponsonby Central development.

The site, which is bordered by Ponsonby Rd, Brown St and Richmond Rd, will include shops, street food and a produce market and is expected to open in October.

Dearth said the site she and Michael were looking at was on the corner of Brown St and Ponsonby Rd.

"We're still in negotiations on the lease, nothing is final, and anything could still happen - but things are looking good."

But diners hoping for more of the same from The Grove might be disappointed. "It will be totally different. It will be a very casual restaurant ... cheap and cheerful." Dearth said the couple had kept the concept in mind for several years but had not been able to find a suitable site. "We were actively searching and nothing felt right." That changed when she saw the Ponsonby Rd site.

There are no plans to change the way The Grove operates. "The Grove will continue on exactly the same. We'll pop between the two. Because there are two of us, we'll oversee both." Dearth said a name had been decided on but she could not disclose it, nor talk about the type of food that it would serve.

Meanwhile, the owners of Teed St Larder have signed to run a cafe at the site's front entrance.