Forest’s Plabita Florence On Pivoting Her Top Auckland Restaurant To An Ice Cream Parlour
Forest chef Plabita Florence began the year with a surprising pivot. She explains to Viva why one of the top restaurants in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland is now rolling ice creams.
Plabita Florence is serving dessert, with a side of time travel.
It is a lilac kūmara ice cream drizzled with salty caramel, topped with crunchy rosemary and showered in savoury sherbert. The destination is Year 6 school camp, chewing a Mackintosh toffee softened by summer sun.
You can find it, for a limited time, at Forest Scoops. The temporary pop-up is currently running from Forest’s usual Dominion Rd premises, spotlighting unconventional ice cream. Right now, you can find pretzel, halva, plum and cinnamon flavours – though the menu is moving quickly.
The pivot by chef and owner Florence was unexpected for some customers. A restaurant many consider to be at the top of its game transforming into an ice cream parlour. Why? Florence, wearing house colours (a tree-green T-shirt) and socks covered in sweetcorn, sitting beneath tumbling plants in her dining room, tells Viva it gives the kitchen permission to explore again.
“When we first opened, it was all really new and creative. It was a little bit of an underdog.”
She recalls the freedom to do “crazy stuff” without “any repercussions”.
Forest was first seeded through a run of pop-ups (2018) and watered in a 16-seat dining room on Symonds St with a surprise menu (2019). Then, it bloomed in a move to Dominion Rd, with the kitchen serving à la carte (2023).
Now, it’s raining notability. Metro Restaurant Of The Year. Viva Top 50. Celebration from publications and influential social stars. The accolades are full of praise, but they also contribute pressure. Florence has encountered high expectations from customers.
“There’s an idea of what they think a ‘Restaurant Of The Year’ is going to look like. We heard quite a lot of criticisms over that period, from people that would just come one time because they read a list and go ‘oh, it wasn’t what I was expecting’.
“I guess it’s been quite tough, and a bit frustrating. To be put into the space, every night, of we have to deliver whatever intangible level of what people expect.”
Because, as the owner and operator of the independent restaurant, Florence really wants to deliver for diners. Until a few years ago, she was the only person in the kitchen.
“I really care about each and every person that comes in, because it’s my baby.”
Forest Scoops is all about reprioritising play and making cooking exciting again.
There has been some compromise. The menu has expanded throughout February to include more savoury small plates. But the goal has remained the same.
“What can we do to just bring back this feeling of fun for us?”
“Fun” is how Florence likes to describe the food at Forest. She also aims for “experimental” and “thoughtful”. Reviewers have described it as inventive, clever and oddball (though the chef hasn’t enjoyed the characterisations quirky and twee).
The ethos has always been low-waste, plant-based and seasonal. Florence, who has learnt to cook through trial and error without formal training, wants dishes to include elements you couldn’t or wouldn’t cook at home.
In considering Forest’s place in our local scene, the chef wants the restaurant to be disruptive and progress dining culture in some way.
“I definitely think about contribution and what we’re adding ... we want it to feel like there’s a purpose behind it.”
Nostalgia contributes to her dishes, too. She recalls childhood cooking with her brother, lollies from the dairy and “hot rice pudding with cold ice cream melting into it”.
“I find that compelling because I feel other people do too, whether they know it or not. Those things usually have a resounding feeling.”
One of the most important guiding principles is pushed by restaurant host Kate Underwood.
“She always asks me, ‘What’s the Forest twist?’ – which is a really helpful question to always get asked because sometimes I just miss that out. There has to be this dash of magic.”
The chef has been holding firm to these ideas amid external haziness around what Forest should be. It fuels fulfilment for herself and customers.
“I think we’ve seen the most success – as in the most cohesive menu and people walking away happy or surprised that they’re happy – when it’s just a clear vision.”
Beyond reinvigorating the kitchen and letting some steam out of the cooker, Florence also sees Scoops as an opportunity to find better balance (the pop-up has reduced hours and the menu is shorter).
Restaurants can be turbulent places. Florence says there’s a risk of becoming stuck in “high tension all the time”.
“It’s a lot of mental pressure, being forever urgent. Someone’s always waiting for something from you, whether it’s a staff member or a customer.”
To cope, there are grounding techniques and the rebalancing of a work-life schedule (she describes jumping up and down to expel the jitters and prioritising sleep and exercise). In general, time off over the summer highlighted the need to find more space for her personal life.
“My mum actually went into hospital during the break. I was just so tired from work – it made me re-evaluate my priorities in a way, where I thought, ‘that’s not the right way around’."
Scoops won’t last forever (at least until the end of February, she says), but the chef is hoping the balance will.
“I think I will try and hang on to that. How can I make a sustainable lifestyle?”
For now, it means really owning Forest as her space.
“We’re allowed to just do what we want with it ... It’s kind of freeing to remember that it’s supposed to be here for both [the kitchen and customer].”
“You’re still living in between. You might as well get something back from it.”
More on hospitality
Meet local innovators and top chefs.
Award-Winning Bartender Theo Tjandra Opens Truth or Dare, Auckland’s Bold New Cocktail Bar. Inside a daring new bar in Auckland’s Snickel Lane blending sustainability, inventive cocktails and nostalgic flavours.
Does Auckland Need Another Italian Restaurant? Mimi Gilmour Buckley Thinks So. From burger queen to spaghetti and a disco ball: an Auckland hospo legend is heading back to the restaurant floor and she can’t f***ing wait.
Auckland Restaurant Names: Why Are You Called That? The Stories Behind Your Favourites. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find a city rich in restaurant names that are anything but generic, writes Johanna Thornton.
Rotorua’s Raukura Huata Celebrates Culture & Connection Through Kai Māori. TikTok creator Raukura Huata celebrates kai Māori and cultural connection.