Fine-dining family fun
France has its fries and Belgium has its biscuits, but New Zealand also has food worth travelling for. This week, Stephen Heard finds bold flavours, the country’s best mac and cheese and tractor fun at Central Otago’s Amisfield.
It was after the second or third glass of pinot noir that I was pretending to ride a tractor through the countryside. This was our second visit with a toddler to highly acclaimed Amisfield restaurant by the edge of Lake Hayes in Central Otago.
On the first occasion, we had spent more time climbing over the retired farmyard machinery and looking down rabbit holes in a gully by the main road than sitting at our table, which over time had become a sticky mix of lemonade and sand from a beautifully constructed appetiser.
We had decided to revisit the fine-dining restaurant with our 3-year-old in tow, because why shouldn’t our family holiday include a nice lunch?
With the promise of icecream, we walked happily through the dining room to our allocated al fresco table between the private glasshouses, beside the long water feature.
We were there to sample the restaurant’s new a la carte lunch menu, predominantly cooked over fire using Japanese coal. The menu is an interactive experience with many of the dishes finished at the table.
Amisfield food and beverage director
Tony Stewart told us the transition to the more informal dining style was designed to match the beautiful setting and the relaxed eating habits of Kiwis in summer.
Now diners are given the choice of lunch items rather than the usual predetermined four courses. It was an appealing option as our last degustationstyle experience ticked over five hours.
While dining with children can be like leaning precariously on a knife edge, there was plenty to keep the family entertained and satisfied. And, most importantly, without disturbing those celebrating a special occasion or looking for a child-free experience.
Pull-apart brioche rolls were served with truffle and cultured butters cleverly camouflaged on a platter of river stones. Finding the spread was all part of the fun; choose incorrectly and risk an unpleasant mouthful of gravel on toast.
One of the wait staff approached our table gripping a mysterious smoke-filled cloche – at that point unveiling an amuse-bouche of mānukasmoked eel. The small bite was positioned on another rock before being doused in sticky red sauce. Spillage ran onto the table. Thankfully the establishment doesn’t bother with white tablecloths.
The outdoor cooking setup was in perfect view of our table to watch the action unfold. As the glistening firepit chef left his station momentarily, we witnessed a sparrow sneak lunch from what one would assume is the odds and ends container.
It thankfully wasn’t the wild tahr sausage we had ordered, which had been dangling in blistering smoke over the fire before arriving table-side dressed in a ring of striking yellow petals.
The heavenly meat wreath came filled with the interesting combo of dehydrated cherries and blue cheese. The green-lipped mussel taco was another massive flavour bomb.
Standing behind the fire safety gate, growing increasingly hotter by the minute, we watched our bouquet of asparagus turn from green to black on top of the mesmerising flames.
The chef then sliced it right at the table before pouring over a sauce of pine and french sorrel. Fire-cooked lamb with its own backstory starting at Nadia Lim’s Central Otago farm also joined the party. The chef detailed each primal cut.
Of course, we didn’t expect our 3-year-old to swallow such rich and gamey flavours.
I have harped on about Amisfield’s children’s mac and cheese before, but those with young ones really shouldn’t leave without trying a forkful.
With several tiny person mouthfuls out of the way, the rest was ours to devour. The smoky, rich and creamy dish is one of the best children’s dishes in the country. I bet the fish and chips are as good.
To match, the sommelier had arranged a vertical tasting of three Amisfield pinots, a mocktail for my pregnant sober driver, and a special fizzy soda and raspberry for the young one.
And then we were off to the tractor. Against the backdrop of the Pisa Range we pressed, turned and yanked all of the buttons, levers and wheels on the machine while chugging along through Central Otago. I wondered if childless diners found it boring just sitting down for lunch.
On return, the talked-up icecream scoop, plus two wooden boxes with perspex lids, were waiting on our table. Inside were edible kawakawa pounamu with kūmara lace.
We left full to the brim with some of Central Otago’s finest, a half moon of tahr sausage in a box for supper, and with whiffs of Japanese charcoal on our clothing.
The writer was a guest of Amisfield Restaurant. Visit amisfield.co.nz