The best places to eat in New Zealand - The Telegraph
Go winery hopping in Waiheke Island
Waiheke Island is Auckland's weekend playground – all pretty bays, giant silver fern forests and laid-back villages just a 35-minute ferry ride away.
Above all, though, people come for the wine. With a subtropical climate its verdant hills are covered with vines tended by talented winemakers who most famously produce rich Bordeaux blends and syrahs.
Hop off the ferry in Onera to join group or bespoke wine tours that'll take you to sip and slurp your way around its 20-plus tasting rooms and cellar doors.
Or go it alone.
Mudbrick Vineyard is a fine place to start. Its tastings cover several varieties while its renowned restaurant has a ravishing outlook over vines and across the Hauraki Gulf. Family-run Tantalus Estate in Onetangi Valley is another bucolic place for a stroll through the vines followed by tastings of chardonnay, syrah and sparkling (beer lovers can go for a flight of its Alibi craft beers instead). Better still, settle in for a long, languorous lunch in its spectacular vineyard-side restaurant.
Man O' War in the far east is Waiheke's largest producer and offers New Zealand's only beachfront wine-tasting experience. Sip syrah and chardonnay as you nibble homemade sourdough with estate-made olive oil and honey during a private tasting in the surfside tasting room.
Tap into New Zealand's beer culture
If you're more partial to grain than grape, New Zealand has you covered too. The Nelson Tasman region is its hop-growing area and its distinctive and aromatic varieties are highly coveted by brewers around the world.
Crack open the Kiwi-craft beer experience on the Nelson Craft Beer Trail, starting from the waterside city of Nelson, the country's sunniest, making it a beautiful spot for a pub crawl. Hop around Sprig + Fern Brewing Co's community-run taverns, sampling fruity IPAs, pilsners and lagers in sunny beer gardens. For live music, views and LA-inspired food with a glass of zesty Nelson Easy lager, head to Golden Bear Brewing Company on the Mapua Wharf. Or why not visit the country's oldest pub and now a craft beer freehouse, the Moutere Inn to sample what's on its 13 rotating taps? Another top stop is The Mussel Inn on Golden Bay is a dreamy setting for steamed mussels washed down with brews made in the bijou brewery next door.
Unearth native ingredients and traditions in Wellington
Waterfront Wellington is one cool little capital, bursting with hip coffee shops, craft breweries and cosmopolitan foodie hotspots. It's also at the forefront of New Zealand's indigenous food movement with local chef Monique Fiso leading the charge. Her restaurant Hiakai, housed in a former brick-kiln factory in the Mount Cook suburb, is widely lauded as the country's most exciting place to eat. The game-changing restaurant, which means "hungry" in Maori, is "inspired by the whenua (land), moana (sea), and tāngata (people) of Aotearoa".
Fiso draws on her Samoan-Māori heritage in multi-course menus that tell a story and showcase both native ingredients and Māori-Pacific culinary traditions. The kitchen's thought-provoking dishes feature foraged ingredients and some, like microgreens, herbs and edible flowers, that are sourced from Hiakai's own māra kai (food garden). Changing with the seasons, naturally, you might find tītī (muttonbird), pāpaka (paddle crab), kina (endemic sea urchin) and kamokamo (winter squash) on the menu,while native shrubs such as horopito, red matipo and mamaku flavour its innovative sauces, relishes and drinks. As you'd expect, this is one hot table so plan well ahead to secure a booking.
Have a food-fuelled weekend in Auckland
Another North Island city crammed with food, wine and beer credentials is Auckland. It's peppered with upscale restaurants that put New Zealand flavours and ingredients to the fore.
Renowned chef Ben Bayly's Ahi in Commercial Bay dazzles diners with its inventive dishes and eye-popping harbour views. Seasonally evolving dishes might include pickled pikopiko (a native fern), kawakawa sourdough (a native shrub), Te Matuku Bay oysters, wallaby tartare and its signature scampi corndog. The kitchen harnesses Māori techniques too such as hāngi while organic vegetables are home grown in its kitchen garden. The drinks list is equally local with wines, craft beers and small-batch spirits sourced from across the country.
Kingi, located in the five-star and eco-friendly Hotel Britomart, is another celebrated hotspot. Sustainable and wild-caught seafood is showcased with aplomb: look out for dry aged kahawai (a fatty salmon-like fish), kina on toast, roasted snapper char siu and blue cod buttered curry with baby radish and mussels.
Small-scale Kiwi producers are the stars of Onemata's menu at the Park Hyatt with its exquisite creations featuring locally caught seafood, prime lamb and venison. Had your fill of fine dining? For Kiwi café classics, make for Onehunga Neighbourhood Eatery and order the smoked kahawai rosti with kumara (sweet potato) fries and coffee by local roasters Kōkako.
Satisfy crayfish cravings on the Kaikōura coast
It isn't just giant sperm whales that are drawn to feast in Kaikōura's bountiful waters. The tiny coastal town on the South Island's east coast lures two-legged seafood lovers too. What's on the menu? The clue is in its name: Kaikōura means 'eat crayfish' in Maori. To sink your teeth into its prized rock lobster you don't need to go anywhere fancy. The coast is peppered with humble shacks and roadside cabins, which you can spend a few happy days dawdling between, interspersed with swims and whale spotting.
Start at Kaikōura Seafood BBQ on Fyffe Quay: order crayfish, seafood platters, paua (abalone) fritters or scallops. Walk it off by following the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway to the fur seal colony.
Cods and Crayfish sells fresh or cooked crayfish along with battered blue cod, tarakihi and gurnard, oysters, paua patties and whitebait sarnies.
Just north of the seaside town on State Highway 1, family-run Nin Bins has done a roaring trade in crayfish and chips since 1977. The roadside caravan is now run by third generation cray fisherman Johnny Clark. You can often also get green-lipped mussels.
Drive a little further north and you'll spy a giant crayfish crawling across a roof. This is Karaka Lobster, a smart café run by a local fishing family with crayfish plucked from Waipapa Bay cooked to order. Eat in or takeaway to devour on the beach. For the ultimate experience, catch your own on an expedition with Kaikoura Fishing Tours.
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