What
Roses is a wine bar come dining room.
We are open every Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday from 5pm.
Situated in Auckland’s CBD, our intimate little spot hosts people
who find joy in food and wine.
Across our regular days, we host guest chefs and winemakers. Every week we bring you a new spread of very tasty plates alongside a thoughtful drinks list of local, low-intervention winemakers.
Roses can also be booked for private events and
hired out as a venue.
Whatever you’re celebrating, we’d love to host.
Where
454 Karanga-a-Hape
Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Aotearoa
When
Roses is open every Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday from 5pm.
Why
We believe food should be delicious, joyful and nourishing and that a good dining experience is more than just good food.
Our favourite and most memorable meals are often the ones that take us back to the nostalgia of our childhood or are the ones made by friends and family and often made for no reason in particular.
We love a dinner party and creating an all-encompassing experience with good food, wine and people at the heart. For us there is nothing better than not deciding what to eat for dinner - and knowing that whatever it is that you are going to eat has been made by someone who is really good cook.
The aim of Roses is to bring that energy.
There are a lot of great cooks in this country, with many lurking in the dark kitchen corners of your favourite eateries. They aren’t necessarily in the spotlight but they make a bang-up meal. We want to know what they like to cook and we want to eat their food.
As operators we also want to be able to have fun and experiment in the world of hospitality. We want to do stuff with food but we also want to prioritise spending time with our young daughter.
The current model of Roses reflects that.
Who
Karl is a cook and although he loves to cook, he doesn't want to do it full-time for someone else as its not super conducive to having a family or a life outside of work. Roses offers him the opportunity to cook for events of his choosing and the opportunity to share his knowledge, whilst learning from others.
Ophelia is a host by nature. She loves nothing more than bringing people together, in all parts of life - but especially around a table, over a meal. She's got a restless energy that makes her constantly overfill her plate. Pardon the pun.
Karl and Ophelia collaborate in every facet of their lives, with Cooked Plates being their first food venture, Roses being their second and daughter Penelope being their latest joint effort. Being the ultimate suckers for punishment, and after endless conversations fantasising about starting their own thing they have decided the first year of their child's life is the perfect time to give it a crack.
How
The how - of how things like Roses come about is so rarely talked about. So, if you are curious, read on.
Pre-pandemic we decided we wanted to open some kind of food spot. Our idea was to have a space that exclusively hosted others - chefs, winemakers, bakers etc. We were about to sign a lease when covid hit, luckily we hadn’t signed the paperwork. The next few years were lockdown life and we pretty much gave up on the idea.
We got pregnant in the last lockdown and decided to overhaul our careers in order to better support our impending new arrival. Karl quit cheffing in restaurants and re-trained to be a web developer, Ophelia became a wedding photographer created Poet Pictures with two friends and together we continued to do private events through Cooked Plates.
Our daughter was born in March 2022 and our tidy little plan was in motion. When Penelope was about 5 months old, we were driving home and spotted a janky hand-painted for lease sign in a window at the top of our street. We viewed the space the next day. It was a tiny room with nothing that screamed turn me into a restaurant. We were familiar with space having both exhibited in the street-facing window space at the front of the building so it all felt kinda serendipitous. We decided to fuck the plan and take the lease.
The current model of Roses reflects and responds to the realities of our lives and the endless juggle between balancing family, work and doing the things we love.
It’s unconventional to talk about money and about the reality of how something actually manages to come to life but these days we can’t be bothered being anything other than an open book. In the same way that we felt it was never the right time to have a baby, we felt there is never the right time to start a business…or rather a passion project - so we figured if not now, when?
Roses is made possible by the savings once intended for a house deposit, our relentless drive to give stuff a go, our diminishing fear of failure as we age and our very supportive and generous family and friends. Having people believe in the ideas you dream up is the fastest way to make things come to life.