SCHOOL ZONES:
Bayfield School, Ponsonby Intermediate, Auckland Girls' Grammar and Western Springs College.
CONTACT:
Pene Milne, Premium Real Estate, ph 021 919 940 or 361 0456.
FEATURES:
A modern and airy four-bedroom home designed by Clark Brown Architects in a peaceful spot overlooking a public reserve and organic community garden, with a spacious living area opening out to a private courtyard, pool and lawn.
You would expect the owner of several of Auckland's most popular restaurants to have an impressive kitchen in his home.
Indeed, when Dominique Parat bought his newly completed house in Herne Bay three-and-a-half years ago the kitchen came in for close inspection. And it passed with five stars, with itshigh-quality appliances, miles of marble and stainless-steel benches, several walls of cupboards, shelves and drawers and butler's kitchen "to hide the mess".
"A kitchen has got to be functional," says Dominique, who owns Auckland's three GPK restaurants and Banque in Remuera. "This is really functional - easy to cook, easy to dish up. It works really well."
You'd also expect a restaurateur's home to have good entertaining areas. Dominique's has a spacious and airy living area that opens up through a wall of sliding glass doors to a north-west facing courtyard, pool and lawn. The resident chef can prepare a banquet in the kitchen while his guests have a drink at the marble kitchen island, relax on a sofa in front of the gas fireplace, or cosy up in the courtyard in front of a roaring open fire.
But Dominique has rarely cooked or entertained here. He's so busy running his restaurant mini-empire that the house has become more of a private oasis. "It's just like a retreat. I love coming home and playing my music and having a quiet time."
His previous home was on a sought-after but noisy street in Herne Bay. "I couldn't even sleep in." He searched for a year and then one day wandered up a driveway off Hukanui Crescent to a new four-bedroom, three-bathroom house at number 28. Calm and peace descended. The house is far enough away from the road to block out most of the traffic noise, and a line of lush mature banana plants screens the courtyard, lawn and living area. The nearest neighbours are of the vegetative kind - the house borders the Kelmarna Organic City Farm, on public land Dominique says can't be built on.
"You can't hear anything," says Dominique. "It's just like living in the country. You can see only the garden. You don't have too many properties in the heart of Auckland that have so much peace."
He says he was also sold on the quality and design of the sizeable solid masonry and cedar house, which is so well positioned and insulated he rarely has to turn on the gas central heating. It's configured so the master suite upstairs, the guest suite downstairs and the two other bedrooms are private. Both the master suite and guest suite have private outdoor areas and en suite bathrooms. A TV lounge separates the guest suite from the main living area.
Dominique says he loves his house, but he and his partner have decided to move in together, into a bigger house that will accommodate their combined family of six children aged 9 to 24. His new home in St Marys Bay is still only a few minutes' walk from the bars and restaurants of Ponsonby and Herne Bay. "This has been a good home for me and it's given me a lot of joy to live here."
