New Zealand restaurants are famous for serving delicious lamb and seafood dishes, but Amisfield Winery stands out by providing world-class dining in a beautiful environment to create an unforgettable dining experience. The famous restaurant at this winery combines world-class cuisine with breathtaking surroundings for an unforgettable dining experience.
Jervois Steak House in New Zealand is an excellent destination for steak enthusiasts. Offering a relaxed cafe ambiance for breakfast and lunch service, then transitioning into fine dining mode for dinner service, this restaurant provides something special.
Arbour
Foodies who visit Marlborough wine country will not want to miss this restaurant, renowned for its modern cuisine featuring locally sourced ingredients paired with award-winning wines.
Bradley Hornby and Liz Buttimore, co-owners of Marlborough restaurant The Grape, spent two decades working in five-star hotels and resorts before relocating to Marlborough in 2017. Since then they’ve gone on to earn two hats from Cuisine Good Food Awards as well as 2022 NZ Regional Restaurant of the Year status.
New Zealand boasts an enchanting variety of landscapes, from breathtaking glaciers and fiords, to idyllic sandy beaches and its fifteen tectonic plates meeting here, providing geological drama on every side.
The Store
New Zealand is famous for its succulent lamb and fresh seafood, offering visitors a taste of New Zealand through both contemporary Pacific and Maori cuisines served up at its restaurants.
The country’s pristine waters boast delicious shellfish such as crayfish, oysters and paua (abalone). Roast lamb is also a national delicacy and its culinary culture features the unique Maori hangi cooking method – usually reserved for special events.
Supermarket chains can be found throughout New Zealand, with Pak’n Save and Countdown serving a nationwide customer base. Meanwhile, 4 Square can be found both urban and rural areas, making it convenient to pick up bread, milk or one-off essentials quickly and conveniently. In smaller towns farmers markets provide access to locally grown produce including vegetables, fruit and dairy products – offering shoppers another source for essentials.
Fairlie Bakehouse
Franz Lieber was met with some initial doubt when he began Fairlie Bakehouse in 2010, hoping that travellers would stop off from the main highway between Lake Tekapo and Timaru to visit Mackenzie Country’s bustling main township just for pie. Now this family-run operation produces up to 2000 pies daily from its cafe onsite and ranks as one of South Island’s fastest-growing businesses.
Lieber’s team source quality ingredients from nearby Silver Fern Farms and Hellers in Christchurch for meat production; for salmon delivery they source it from Akaroa or Timaru. In addition, they make delicious baked goods all’made with love’!
Ayrburn
Ayrburn offers world-class culinary experiences in its six unique venues open from dawn to dusk – making it the ideal location between Queenstown and Arrowtown.
This restaurant, previously the Menure Room, provides an intimate indoor and outdoor dining experience featuring exclusive Ayrburn wines paired with tasty share plates such as gildas or chicken liver parfait on brioche.
At The Woolshed, its exquisite tasting menu is masterminded by Chef Ben Bayly – using skills honed at Michelin-starred European spots to combine foraged wild Aotearoa ingredients with Michelin-star European techniques. At Hiakai, however, a Maori chef brings together classic French training with seven years working at exclusive New York restaurants to craft exquisite Maori cuisine dishes.
The Craypot
At Jackson Bay in Haast, New Zealand lies an iconic caravan style cafe/restaurant – The Jackson Bay Fish Shack! World renowned for their world famous crayfish, fish and chips, whitebait, seafood chowder and burgers!
New Zealand’s bounty of diverse ingredients serves as the basis for world-class cuisine. From smoked eel and creamed paua to the succulent lamb shoulder at Ahi in Auckland or wood roasted tuatua shellfish at Homeland, chefs craft flavorful dishes that reflect local traditions.
Market garden produce is also an attraction, featuring asparagus and globe artichokes as well as pumpkins and kumara (New Zealand’s version of sweet potatoes), while popular items include Kiwi fruit, strawberries and passion fruits as well as lesser-known treasures like feigoa and babacos.
Riverside Market
Christchurch riverside market is an integral part of local culture and community life, boasting restaurants, cafes and food stalls in an exciting indoor market setting.
Help local growers and small businesses by buying fresh organic produce, meat, seafood, freshly baked goods and coffee from stalls around town. Many also sell microgreens, kombucha tea or vegan cheese.
This venue boasts an incredible setting overlooking Christchurch’s Avon River in its central city location, providing a new take on urban living – featuring an indoor market open seven days a week linking with boutique retail, restaurants and cooking schools.
Mussel Inn
There aren’t many places like this left in New Zealand – an all-in-one cafe, bar and music venue all-rolled-into one rustic spot! A cafe, bar, music venue all-rolled-into-one; this rustic spot serves as a community hub, welcoming old and new faces alike to connect.
Food at The Mussel Inn is hearty and satisfying, featuring local green-lipped mussels as its star attraction. In addition, they serve a selection of wines, ciders and beers brewed right there on site.
Jane and Andrew Dixon built their building with dedication and vision, recreating an experience similar to Kiwi woolsheds or tramping huts. A single room, cozy fireplace and plenty of garden chairs all contribute to creating an inviting ambience – it should not be missed when visiting this part of New Zealand! It makes an essential stop when traveling through this area.
Hiakai
Monique Fiso founded Hiakai after working in top restaurants in New York. Following this experience, she returned home and set up experimental pop-ups before opening up a permanent restaurant bearing the Maori word for hungry. Now, these accolades surpass anything Fiso could have anticipated when opening it in Aotearoa.
These groundbreaking menus showcase native ingredients and culture. Be it creamed paua from Chatham Islands or wood-roasted kumara (sweet potato) with kawakawa pesto, each dish showcases both haute cuisine techniques as well as Maori mythology.
The restaurant features an incongruously suburban Wellington setting and features repurposed brick kilns as booth seating. A basement store holds stacks of manuka wood to fuel its custom-built parrilla grill. Furthermore, sustainable practices are part of its DNA; kitchen waste is recycled into fertile compost at their kitchen garden and their wine list features bottles from pioneering Maori winemakers.
