This was published 8 years ago
Best restaurants, cafes and wineries in Queenstown, New Zealand
Look beyond Queenstown's mountain backdrop and you'll find an ever-burgeoning food and wine scene.
By Carla Grossetti
Madam Woo: Malaysian street food such as steamed pork spare ribs served with rice and roti is on the menu.
Queenstown is most notable for its mountains, which are treasured year-round by people who want to lose themselves in the landscape, which is a geographical marvel. There's something about the high-profile mountain range known as The Remarkables that demands a quiet reverence, looming as they do, like divine cathedrals carved out of schist.
Whether you're hurtling down into a rounded bowl of snow in winter or tramping to the summit of Ben Lomond in late summer or spring, it's the sort of place that seems to scrub your soul clean. But visitors who look beyond that mountain backdrop have also found much to feast their eyes on in the form of Queenstown's ever-burgeoning food and wine scene.
RESTAURANTS
Rātā restaurant: It features a forest mural that dominates the dining room, making it feel more Middle-earth than middle of Queenstown.
True South Dining Room is quintessential Queenstown, with each table positioned to achieve maximum gawping pleasure at the mountains, which you can contemplate in all their jagged glory between courses. The variety of terrain is also celebrated on your plate as executive chef Ben Batterbury teams up with local suppliers who are passionate about their produce. Treat yourself to a degustation with six fine New Zealand wines paired to courses that include Ora King salmon, pickled beets, horseradish mousse, elderflower and rye bread, merino lamb rump and shoulder shepherd's pie, smoked potato peas and carrots and "rocky road" with coconut and peanut butter ice-cream to finish. The award-winning restaurant deserves bonus points for requesting diners switch off their mobile phones.
377 Frankton Rd, Queenstown 9300, + 64 3 450 1100, therees.co.nz
Botswana Butchery
Fishbone: Queenstown's oldest seafood restaurant.Credit: ohchoongkeun
The food at Botswana Butchery is solid and dependable, which means it has become somewhat of a base camp for weary adventurers who can be observed sinking into the lush velvet chairs each day. Sample head chef Chris Bindon's signature dishes such as Botswana Peking duck or slow-cooked lamb shoulder, which can be paired with a little bit of what you fancy on a choose-your-own-adventure a la carte menu. The restaurant is housed in the 150-year-old Archer's Cottage, which includes a modern extension and fun fit-out, with loved-up leather couches, patterned wallpaper and windows that wink at the mountains. When darkness pools, zigzag to the upstairs bar for a nightcap.
17A Marine Parade, Queenstown, + 64 3 442 6994, Botswanabutchery.co.nz
Fishbone
There's every chance chef Darren Lovell has picked the pea shoots, beets, radish sprouts and tomatoes that grace your plate that very morning. If what you're eating hasn't come from Fishbone Farm, it's come from fairly close by. Lovell sources sustainable seafood from the waters around the South Island and treats it with the utmost respect. Order battered terakihi and hand-cut chips or groper crudo with rhubarb, crème fraiche and edible flowers and find yourself in the dining room of your dreams, humming happy tunes. The restaurant is rather spare, save for the mounted fish on the walls, mirrors lined with clams and aquarium-inspired art that serve to remind you this is Queenstown's oldest seafood restaurant.
7 Beach St, Queenstown + 64 3 442 6768, fishbonequeenstown.co.nz
Rātā
Rātā restaurant is named after the large New Zealand tree of the myrtle family, which features in a forest mural that dominates the dining room, making it feel more Middle-earth than middle of Queenstown. That celebration of all things native to the Otago region extends to the menu created by Michelin-starred chef Josh Emett and executed by head chef Chris Scott. All that natural wood, polished stone and industrial chic results in a relaxed eating house that makes it suitable for grazing at the bar in your jandals or settling into a long lunch with arty locals who have declared this their gathering place. The menu is one of simple pleasures: order the bread tin with sea salt and rosemary, seared Wakanui sirloin and pickled shiitake and lamb rump, courgette, new potatoes and harissa. Rātā's sister restaurant, Madam Woo, will also seduce you with Malaysian street food such as steamed pork spare ribs served with rice and roti.
Rātā 43 Ballarat St, Queenstown + 64 3 442 9393, ratadining.co.nz;
Madam Woo, 5 The Mall, Lower Ballarat St, Queenstown + 64 3 442 9200, madamwoo.co.nz
CAFES
Fergburger
This is a burger that has its own hashtag. Although it looks straightforward enough, it seems to speak to the hordes that have nurtured their appetite in the adventure capital of the world. The cult burger joint began as a hole-in-the-wall in Cow Lane in 2001 before moving onto bigger, greener pastures on Shotover Street. Feast on the Fergburger, a teetering tower of prime New Zealand beef, lettuce, tomato, red onion, aioli and tomato relish or a Cockadoodle Oink with crumbed chicken, bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato, onion, aioli and relish. Bun laden, indeed.
42 Shotover St, Queenstown + 64 3 441 1232, fergburger.com
Joe's Garage
This über cool cafe began life in an old Post Office sorting room in Queenstown in 2000 before cloning itself around New Zealand. Achingly cool dungaree-clad wait staff, killer tunes, bare tables, vintage toy trucks and eclectic artworks are a magnet for lumber-sexuals sporting beards and beanies and dreadlocked women with neck tats all dusting themselves off after the night before. Serving sweet-salty bacon, gooey eggs and big slabs of bread to comfort the hungover is a recipe for success, with the vibe at Old Joe's speaking volumes about the buzzy Queenstown scene. Coffee here is also a rescue remedy for the overhung.
Searle Lane, Queenstown, + 64 3 442 5282, joes.co.nz
BARS
Eichardt's
If there's one thing to guarantee an appetite it's walking into the wind around the track that skirts Lake Wakatipu until you arrive at the tapas bar housed in Eichardt's Private Hotel. Established in 1867, the hotel remains a prime spot to watch those mountains, which are painted in ever-shifting hues of brilliance throughout the day. Let out a deep sigh as chef Will Eaglesfield presents food that is made even more enjoyable when contemplating the silver ripples on the water. From seafood chowder to rillettes of wild Fiordland hare and duck and golden kumara gnocchi, this is comfort food at its finest. Also worth checking out are the monthly Whisky Clubs and No. 5 Church Lane, the bar at sister hotel, The Spire. Trust the chef who will send out marvellous mezze to share and ask cocktail guru Jake "Utah" Page to sling you a Captain Jack Sparrow.
Eichardt's Private Hotel, 2 Marine Parade, Queenstown + 64 3 441 0450; eichardts.com; No. 5 Church Lane, Queenstown + 64 3 450 2166, thespirehotel.com
The Bunker
Expect a warm reception when you push open the beaten-up wooden door that leads to this dinky restaurant and bar, which boasts a cosy fireplace and rooftop deck. Before bunkering down in the late-night lounge, enjoy a spiced duck consommé with Peking duck wontons and a seared back strap and braised shoulder of Otago alpine merino with noisette potatoes, caramelised carrot puree and thyme jus. When dinner is done, head upstairs for house-made hot mulled wine and cheese fondue before enjoying some Hanky Panky (Beefeater 24, Dolin Rouge) and cosying up with a Millionaire (Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum, Sloe Gin, Apricot Liqueur, Lime Juice and Egg White).
14 Cow Lane, Queenstown, + 64 3 441 8030, thebunker.co.nz
WINERIES
Amisfield Winery
The architecturally designed stone barn that houses the Amisfield Winery & Bistro hints at the slickness of this 27-year-old operation. Although the structure itself is only a decade old, it took two years to complete and sits comfortably in the Otago landscape. Picture windows overlooking snow-capped peaks in winter, a sunny courtyard overlooking Lake Hayes in summer and a bistro serving food that is anything but an afterthought to the winery's award-winning pinot noirs. The Trust the Chef menu talks terroir, drawing its inspiration from various vintages and partnering them with shared plates such as the West Coast whitebait with sourdough, lemon, garlic, chilli and rocket with Amisfield's Dry Riesling 2013 and fork-tender lamb rump served with bok choy and a glass of the Pinot Noir 2011.
10 Lake Hayes Rd, Queenstown, + 64 3 442 0556, amisfield.co.nz
Gibbston Valley
Swirl, sniff, swish and spit under the tutelage of the capable cellar door staff at Gibbston Valley Winery. Located 45 degrees south of the equator, the boutique winery is home to the area's first commercial vineyard, Home Block, which was planted in 1983. Nearly three decades on, the site features a wine cave stocked with more than 400 barrels of pinot noir, a restaurant and cheesery. While the cellar door menu keeps it simple with a selection of meat and cheese platters, the seasonal menu at the winery restaurant matches wine with dishes that fit a Mediterranean brief – labneh, marinated olive oil and flatbread, blisteringly fresh West Coast octopus – and the ever-popular Harvest Platter, highlights of which include house-made hummus, goat's cheese, charcuterie, pork rillette and hot-smoked salmon served with pickles, chutney and crackers.
Gibbston Valley Winery, 1820 State Highway 6, Queenstown, + 64 3 442 6910, gibbstonvalley.com
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
GETTING THERE
All of the major airlines operate frequent flights between Sydney and Melbourne to Queenstown. See Qantas.com.au; virginaustralia.com; jetstar.com; .airnz.com.au
STAYING THERE
The Rees Hotel, 377 Frankton Rd, Queenstown, New Zealand is centrally located on the shores of Lake Wakatipu just 1.5km away from the town centre. Rooms start from $NZ425 a night. Phone + 64 3450 1100, see therees.co.nz
SEE & DO
Join a Cycle de Vine tour around the Gibbston Valley and connect the dots between cellar doors. A Cycle de Vine tour costs $NZ155 and includes a picnic lunch, bike and helmet, cellar door visits and return transport to your accommodation. See queenstown-trails.co.nz
Carla Grossetti travelled as a guest of The Rees Hotel.
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