Andrew Lister is no stranger to SkyCity. A few years back he was responsible for the design of Bellota, which signalled a change of direction for the casino company as it diversified and looked to provide additional entertainment opportunities for its patrons. Other brands in the company’s portfolio include Dine by Peter Gordon, the first branded restaurant it delivered under the stewardship of the eponymous chef. The success of that model has been rolled out again at SkyCity.

Federal Street, Auckland, has three new premises, all headed up by famous (or at least semi-famous) proprietors. The Grill by Sean Connolly has even been the subject of its own television series, which followed the process of getting the venue up and running in a short amount of time (100 days). Short delivery timelines seem quite common at SkyCity. Head of development Sabine Nierhoff says that the company likes to have time to develop an entertainment concept, but then is “ extremely fast-paced in delivering”, and that influences who it works with. “We have found that we can only work with people capable of maintaining that speed, and of course they need to have a certain qualification and understanding to work with us on that, because we are so fast. We also find that what we do is not everyone’s cup of tea because our design is quite different to standard hospitality, it has got an additional glamour factor. It’s not necessarily what you would find in a stand-alone bar or restaurant anywhere else in the city, so we need people that can relate to this; that can create unique spaces that align back to our entertainment brand.”

Lister then, can work fast. He was first brought on-board in January, this year. His concept was picked from three submitted, a standard practice for SkyCity, says Nierhoff. Lister says living overseas on and off during the last decade and being able to access high-end international restaurants influenced Grill’s design. Those offshore experiences reinforced that good establishments are “all about people, occasion and drama”, and Lister says he took the things that “stuck with me over the years and tried to put them in here — I tried to do something as international as Auckland has seen.”

The architect says restaurants can be quite transient, but that the style of this one is designed to last, and that’s evidenced by the material selections, lasting leathers, bespoke carpets, carefully detailed mosaic floors. It’s also a design that puts things on display, including the chefs, highly visible in the bright whiteness of the kitchen and busy preparing dishes at the “raw bar”, a marble-clad island that sits under the custom-finished metal panelling, which lifts the eye to the upper level of the six-metre ceiling. There are other signature flourishes too, such as a towering wine rack that also goes to the ceiling, and a graceful staircase that brings drama and divides the upstairs space in two: the highly specified money-no-object private dining room to the left; more floor seating to the right. The restaurant floor is a genteel affair. The finishes are dark, but the light just right — it’s nice to be able to see what you’re eating.

The handcraftedness apparent ties into the underlying theme of food. For each dish there is a story of how, where and why the food ended up in front of you. Some of the food is complex and aspects of the design mirror this. And what’s important is that the design Lister delivered is not overtly formal; it’s a lesson in style without stuffiness, it’s got interest factor without the intimidation.