Berkeley North

Restraint before the plate gathers weight

The first courses arrive quietly before the menu gains force. Mateo Davidović, Chef at Berkeley North in Hamilton, works that way inside a West Coast inspired small-plates room on James St. North, where the sequence matters as much as the individual plate. His current station is built around contemporary course-by-course cooking that keeps its structure intact while staying approachable. The early work asks for precision and restraint; later plates can carry more layering because the opening has not spent itself.

Davidović’s hand is easiest to read through the tartare line that follows him from Zagreb into this chapter of cooking. Tatarski biftek holds the form as a recognisable staple. Tatarski biftek od Jakobovih kapica moves the idea onto scallops with ajo blanco, pickled grapes, and apples, shifting the register without losing the frame. That same discipline suits Berkeley North, where the format favours sharing and where a plate has to stand cleanly on its own while still belonging to the table.

Hand-pinched dumplings and house cheese

The program at Berkeley North leans into small plates that can travel around a table without becoming casual in their making. Mushroom dumplings carry finely chopped mushrooms inside hand-pinched wrappers, with soy, miso, ginger, garlic, and chilli oil offered as part of the flavour architecture. Gnocchi is made in house, soft and tender rather than showy. Fresh cheese on sourdough has been part of the restaurant’s identity since opening, a ricotta-like house cheese made daily and served with bread that points back to the kitchen’s bread discipline.

The West Coast influence shows through seafood and vegetable weight rather than a fixed coastal costume. Shrimp tempura brings wild shrimp in a light batter with Old Bay and kewpie mayo. Teriyaki eggplant sits among the signatures because it lets sweetness, salt, and char do the work without crowding the plate. Fresh cheese pasta uses broad in-house noodles, high-quality egg yolks, and homemade red sauce. These are not isolated flourishes. They make a method: in-house production where it changes the bite, Asian touches where they sharpen the line, and enough familiarity for the table to enter the plate without instruction.

The room keeps the tempo low

The room on James St. North is warm, modern, and kept at a conversational register. Small plates suit that sound. The counter, the pass, and the room all point toward the same idea: a meal built in increments, not in declarations.

Berkeley North also carries a curated wine program and a craft cocktail focus, but the drinks do not pull the restaurant away from the kitchen. They sit beside the plates, close enough to keep pace with a menu that moves from clean beginnings toward deeper flavour. The restaurant holds a Bib Gourmand, and that recognition belongs to Berkeley North at this address, not to a past room or a borrowed story. Scallop tartare with ajo blanco is in Davidović’s hands.