With his eight-seat restaurant, The Green, chef Karl Martin-Boulton wants to share the bounty of Waikato with his diners – a celebration of the region that he says is well overdue.

The UK-born chef moved to Hamilton with his family at age 19, and it's long been his dream to create his own venue.

Book in at The Green for what will feel like an intimate and interactive dinner party. Martin-Boulton serves every six-course degustation without a physical menu in person or online, so you can taste things without preconceptions and he can describe where everything came from.

The space is part of the Stark Properties food, retail and entertainment development Made, in what’s called the Made Sheds, at the base of the complex by the Waikato River.

Andrew Hayward of hospitality design consultancy Sach designed The Green’s interior, which catches the eye from the get-go with royal blue tiles lining the bar front and kitchen. Diners sit on tall stools facing the cooking action.

From here, you'll learn about everything from who made their wooden knives and napkin holders, to the nearby origin of their meat, dairy products, vegetables, chocolate – and even their water. You can also find a list of The Green’s suppliers on the website.

The menu changes daily depending on supply, but might include a pre-main lamb rib from Wholly Cow in Cambridge, cooked sous-vide for 18 hours, then pan-fried to glaze and served with onion-weed mayonnaise, hoisin sauce, puffed buckwheat and foraged onion-weed flowers.

The bacon-and-egg pie is a signature snack rendered unrecognisable from the classic. It comprises a base of pickled onion, followed by bacon jam and egg mousse, then topped with a burnt-onion powder. Dessert might be a custard made with chamomile from Tomtit Farm in nearby Matangi. It’s served with frozen aerated yoghurt from Raglan’s Dreamview Creamery, plus sweet sorrel mayonnaise, honey twills from Humble Honey in Hamilton and foraged oxalis.

Sommelier Drew Cohen has put together a New Zealand-only wine list – with the exception of the Billecart-Salmon and Dom Perignon champagne selections. There’s also beer from Hamilton’s Bootleg Brewery, and spirits such as gin from Cambridge Distillery and Holland Road (also in Waikato), Pokeno whisky, and Lunatic & Lover botanical rum.