New Look for Queenstown Dining Institution

Queenstown's Wai Restaurant on Steamer Wharf has had a major revamp.

After ten years in business, this waterfront favourite is poised to become one of the resort town's finest dining spots.

On top of that, it was a finalist in the 2011 Cuisine Restaurant of the Year.

Established by Alex Boyes and Jan Rae in 2001, Wai quickly established itself as a quality dining spot and when head chef Martin James and his wife, Megan bought into the business in 2004, it went from strength to strength. They've recently won the Pernod Ricard competition for selling the most Mumm Champagne of any restaurant in New Zealand, which meant the owners were treated to a gastronomic trip to Chicago.

Now, with a sophisticated new bar and dining room to match the sophisticated cuisine, Wai is set to be a real winner.

http://www.wai.net.nz/

Seafood in the South

Nothing beats sitting on Queenstown's Steamer Wharf watching the TSS Earnslaw steam into town, while you enjoy succulent seafood at Finz Seafood Grill.

This terrific little wharf-side restaurant is all about great value and great views and when it comes to seafood they;ve got just about all the bases covered. With a menu that swings from creamy seafood chowder, prawns and oysters to green-lipped mussels, salmon, talbot, sole, monkfish and crispy-battered fish and chips in a newsprint package, there's something for all tastes. And if fish isn't your thing, there's Southland pork, ribeye beef, lamb and roast duck.

http://www.finzdownunder.co.nz/

Bella Cucina - A Southern Gem

You're never short of a good restaurant in Queenstown and one of my personal favourites is Bella Cucina - a warm-hearted little spot in Brecon Street that's all about sharing a love of Italy and a passion for good food and wine.

Co-owner Martin James and a team of international chefs spin out simple, tasty food that you remember long after the event - Southland lamb, spicy sausage, wild rabbit and hare, all slow-cooked in the big wood-fired oven that gives the restaurant so much atmosphere.

There's laughter and noise, flickering candles, rustic candelabras, iron wall lights and vintage Italian posters - and of course, the always-tantalizing aroma of herbs and fine cooking. Best of all, in a resort town filled with spending opportunities, it doesn't break the bank.

http://www.bellacucina.co.nz/

Matterhorn Moments

It was relatively quiet the day I called into Wellington's trendy Matterhorn for lunch - at least in this part of the restaurant. One of the thing I like about the place is their variety of seating - from the open restaurant to window seats and tiny, dark alcoves. the food of course is also a given. And by night, it transforms again into one of the liveliest bars in the capital.

It's a Sign

I love a good sign and when it's on a classic old building now housing one of the capital's best restaurants, so much the better. Once the National Bank of New Zealand, this wonderful ediface sits on the corner of Cuba and Vivian Streets - a scruffy (though trendy) area that belies the elegance and sophistication of the dining experience within.

I love the way cities morph and change in this way - a bank giving way to a restaurant, a former shady, redlight district giving way to hip boutique stores and posh restaurants and trendy cafes. It's what makes a city interesting.

http://www.loganbrown.co.nz/

From the Food Files

Lunch at Bacchus

Dunedin

A great spot to sit upstairs, overlooking the Octagon.

Excellent menu

Great Tastes

Lively Environment. May 2010. Ajr

Restaurant Moments

Fiddling with a camera when I should have been eating lunch

At Bacchus, Dunedin

Through the Cafe Window

One of my favourite activities in Melbourne - or anywhere for that matter - is cruising the city streets with my camera, always alert for a potential photograph, stopping here and there at a cafe to watch the 'world' go by. Cafe windows in fact are a favourite sport.

For me, there's something about the layering of reflections, graphics and human activity that serves as a metaphor for city life - that busy over-layering that somehow sums up how we fill our days with multiple activities.

Cafes and restaurants say a lot more about a city than we think. Certainly, in Melbourne, there's no shortage of either and they are in fact, central to the social fabric of the city. They're a statement about the people and the multi-cultural maze that makes up the population; they're a statement about preferred lifestyle; and they're a statement about architecture and design. And it's no coincidence that this small photographic representation features all Italian names - Italian cafes and restaurants reflect the large Italian population that calls Melbourne home.

Dining on Duck

When I was in Melbourne recently, I wandered the city for hours on end. I find that the best way to come upon unexpected photographic opportunities. So it was that I found myself in Chinatown (Little Bourke Street), just before midday and just as the skies opened and rain pelted down. I sheltered across the road from this little Chinese restaurant - City BBQ Chinese Restaurant - photographing people darting about under the shelter of a rainbow of umbrellas, neon lights reflecting perfectly in the rapidly-forming puddles. But there comes a time when a girl has to eat, so, attracted by the ducks hanging in the window, I stepped into the City BBQ restaurant.

I was greeted by the sing-song babble of Mandarin, the rhythmic chopping of cleaver through duck meat and happy laughter. It reminded me instantly of being in the backstreet Beijing restraurants that I had frequented with my (compulsory) interpreter/minder in 2001 and 2003; and I settled in for a long, slow lunch that would see me through the wettest part of the day. They were selling Peking Duck for A$25.80 for a half bird and A$45.80 for a whole bird and, sitting close to the couter and the 'duck chef' in the window, I could see that sliced duck meat on a bed of steamed rice with Chinese greens was definitely the favourite meal of the day for most of the Chinese diners. Many were obviously regulars - they came in, said a word or two, sat down and a meal was presented to them within minutes. I find something intensely gratifying about sitting in a simple Chinese restaurant, surrounded by Chinese and immersed in the sound of Manadrin. It's the stuff of many happy travel memories for me - and I can never have enough of those.

Sepia Restaurant

Rydges Hotel

Christchurch

It's a Sign

A Huddle of Words

Signposting

Christchurch's Newest Cafe September 2009. Ajr

Thinking of Japan

Last weekend when I was cycling around the inner city, I took a side track down Poplar Lane and was delighted to find this Japanese chef at work outside a new 'hole-in-the-wall' Japanese restaurant and sushi bar. A number of people, including me, stopped to ask him what he was making - cheese balls as it turns out, which seems decidedly un-Japanese to me but who am I to quibble? I was just delighted to find something new and interesting in the area. For all the good that Poplar and SOL Lanes have done to invigorate the city by night, they are, more often than not, empty, cold and uninviting by day. I've never seen a crowd in there yet....well.....maybe in summer but that's only at the bars; retail foot traffic is virtually negligable. In the end, I forgot to note the name of this little Japanese place, which is a perfectly good excuse for me to go back there today to sample the food. It reminded me of the cute little eateries that filled the back lanes in Japanese cities. No matter where I went, I was never far from a tiny restaurant or sushi bar where I could almost guarantee tasty food and attentive service.

From the Food Files

Truffle Salad

Food & Photo by Queenstown Chef Ben Batterbury

True South at The Rees Hotel & Luxury Apartments

www.therees.co.nz

Meet Ben by clicking on his name in the index line below this post.

From the Food Files

Rotorua. May 2009. Ajr

Pre-dinner nibbles at Wai Ora Lakeside Spa Resort's

Mokoia Restaurant, Rotorua

www.waioraresort.co.nz

A Wellington Favourite

Wellington. April 2009 Ajr This is Scopa on the corner of Ghuznee and Cuba Streets, in Wellington - one of my favourite spots to sit and drink coffee and watch the world go by. It's a great people-watching spot, although this time I turned the tables and watched the people watching the people. Opened in 2006, it is the brainchild of Italian brothers Leonardo and Lorenzo Bresolin, sons of the late Remiro Bresolin of Il Casino fame. It was a sad day when Il Casino closed down after Remiro's death in 2007 but at least his sons are continuing the family tradition with a terrific menu that pays homage to their Italian roots. They've also branched out and opened Duke Carvell's just up the street a bit; but I still prefer the openness of Scopa. www.scopa.co.nz

For Meatlovers

If you’ve been to Queenstown lately, you’ve probably heard all the hype about Botswana Butchery, the new restaurant in Archers Cottage on Marine Parade overlooking Lake Wakatipu. Like anything (reasonably) new, it’s being held up as the best thing since sliced bread and those who’ve been there generally talk about it with an air of superiority that I find tedious – like wine snobs, the ‘literati’ and people who talk about buying art as if they’ve been blessed with an intellectual alchemy and a power of discernment that the rest of us apparently lack. Maybe that’s why – in a perverse and probably ridiculous act of defiance – I photographed the sign on the workers’ entrance to the restaurant rather than the sumptuous interior.

All that aside, owner and executive chef Leungo Lippe seems to be doing well. He opened the first Botswana Butchery in Wanaka in June 2007, tucked into cute little Post Office Lane with a couple of other popular night spots. Now he divides his time between the two, mustering his staff to turn out a menu heavily slanted in favour of the meat-eater. This is a place of prime cuts, wild game and things organic. You pay accordingly. Main courses range from NZ$28 to $80 and you pay another $6 to $9 for any single serve of vegetables on top of that. I may be showing myself up as a philistine but if I’m paying (on average) $35-$45 for a main course, I want vegetables included. Maybe I’ve lost touch? Whatever! At least the restaurant décor is easy on the eye and I do like their sign. I'll leave you to make up your own minds about value.

From the Food Files

Dinner at Pescatore anyone?

The George, Christchurch

www.thegeorge.com

Lunch With the Postmaster

Arrowtown. May 2009. Ajr Crispy Duck and Fennel Salad at The Postmaster's Restaurant ARROWTOWN Another Glorious Moment of Self-Indulgence

Waiting For the Lunch Crowd

@ Portofino Viaduct Harbour Auckland www.portofino.co.nz

Southern Comfort

Wanaka. May 2009. Ajr

The Cow is a Queenstown institution. It's been going for years. Now the sister restaurant in Wanaka, although much newer, is just as popular. It's tucked away at the bottom of Post Office Lane and when the doors open, people filter in for pizzas and fireside warmth - and who can blame them in that cold climate. Guaranteed late nights are also part of the attraction because Woody's, Botswana Butchery and bartuga are all located right next door in Post Office Lane. Big outdoor fires throw out the heat in the outdoor courtyard and people huddle in tight social circles.