What
Roses is a dining room.
Roses is a curated programme of one off events hosting chefs, bakers and winemakers. Situated on Karanga-a-Hape, our intimate dining room hosts people who find joy in food and wine.
On occasion, Roses will serve its own food - by Karl Bayly of Cooked Plates.
Roses can be booked for private events and hired out as a venue.
Whatever you’re celebrating, we’d love to host.
When
Roses is now available for bookings, including private functions and gatherings.
We are here for a good time but probably not a long time (like maybe just a year).
Stay tuned for our upcoming events.
Why
We believe food should be delicious, joyful and nourishing.
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 without the pressure of a fixed offering and opening hours…and the need to turn tables. We want to do stuff with food but we also want to prioritise spending time with our kid.
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 because it’s 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. Most importantly it offers him the opportunity to eat lots of food.
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 and their 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 a food spot. Our idea was to have a space that exclusively hosted chefs in residence. We were about to sign a lease when covid hit, luckily we hadn’t done the paperwork. The next few years were lockdown life and we pretty much gave up on the idea and cracked on.
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 created Poet Pictures with two friends and we continued to do private events through Cooked Plates.
Our daughter was born in March 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. There was little about the space that screamed turn me into a restaurant, but it felt right for us. We were familiar with the window having both exhibited in the gallery spaces it’s hosted over the years…somehow it felt 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 open books. 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 our savings, our drive to give stuff a go and our very supportive friends and family. Having people believe in the ideas you dream up is the fastest way to make things come to life.
