Moiety — Restaurant in South Island

I know what you're thinking: Which is better fine dining in Dunedin, Titi or Moiety?

I've eaten the Feed Me menus at both of these restaurants and I think the answer is: it depends what you're looking for.

FOOD

Moiety: I think has higher highs and lower lows. The good courses are absolutely banging, but there was one course I thought was pretty meh, and another which I didn't really like.

Titi: No one particular course hits as hard as Moiety, but the consistency of quality across the courses is higher. Everything was good, a couple courses were great and nothing was average or bad.

SERVICE

Moiety: It's professional and a bit more formal. I don't mean that in a negative way.

Titi: Seemed a little more relaxed, the staff smiled and joked a little more while still being professional.

Food came out timely at both places.

AMBIENCE

Moiety: It has an urban industrial architecture vibe, balancing on a line between austere and chic. Clean lines, simple base colours. It has a distinct personality.

Titi: By comparison, the interior feels very generic. You've seen this template in dozens of other restaurants before. On the other hand, you can see the waves crashing on St. Clair beach while eating incredible food.

Moiety had better music.

PRICE

Moiety is $99, Titi is $95. If you're looking at dining at one of these places, I'm sure you don't care about $4.

I really don't think you can go wrong eating at either establishment, and will enjoy your experience whichever place you decide to go. If you held a gun to...

Beautiful. Great spot in a 'rising' area with a warm ambience if a fairly 'pop'y soundscape. The staff were working at a pace that exuded calm assurance. While some in our party wolfed each tasty treat that arrived at the table there was never a sense of waiting long between the many courses, beyond a natural anticipation for the next culinary delectation. As with any chef's choice menu, not every offering will satisfy everyone's tastes and often one or two elements of each dish will either mostly make or sometimes break the experience for any diner but for the most part we all agreed on our favourites and that the very focussed team in the kitchen were producing works of quality bordering on art. For the record - the favourites for the group were the cured gropher and the dessert - a Whittakers Chocolate Mousse over cider infused pear slices with an almond Gelato, pear crisps and a caramel dust to finish. The dust, for me, counteracted with the smoothness of the mousse but of all the dishes it had the most lingering taste sensation and was a fitting finish to a great experience. This is not a cheap night but one that is lingering, varied and memorable and worth the outlay whether alone or in the...

Good food and great service. Some of the food was quite amazing with only one exception. My wife and I dined and we both had the prix fixe menu. In my case the venison course was swapped with some similarly prepared jackfruit which was apparently doused in miso paste and was so salty I could not eat it. To be fair, they offered to bring me something else, but there was enough food that didn't seem necessary. I was disappointed the chef had not tasted the dish before sending it out. Everything else was good with several being excellent - a fish crudo with smoked buttermilk was a particular standout.

Just about everything was served in a bowl, and my only other wish for the menu would have been to mixup the plating a bit. Some of the dishes, particularly the dessert with it's mound of custard foam, would have looked much better spread out on a plate rather than everything piled on top of each other in a bowl. The courses started to all look the same.

I'd go again, but skip the...