An insider’s guide to getting out and about

Inati and Hali owner Lisa Levy’s favourite spots in Christchurch outside the central city. As told to Juliet Speedy.

LE PANIER, HOLMWOOD RD

We love to pop into this great little boulangerie for a coffee and a pastry. It’s a bakery, essentially, which specialises in croissants, pain au chocolat, French pastries, and fabulous bread. The croissants are layered well, like in France.

KINJI JAPANESE RESTAURANT, GREERS RD

We love to go to Kinji for dinner. It’s one of the most authentic Japanese experiences we’ve had outside Japan. We’ve been going there for about six years now and the kids love it. Kinji and his wife are great. We could phone up at 9.30pm and he always squeezes us in. Last time we had his mushroom teapot. It’s a seafood combination with mushrooms and you pour the broth into a teacup and drink that, then eat the seafood. The kids love the KFC (Kinji Fried Chicken).

GREYSTONE WINES, WAIPARA

We love the wineries in North Canterbury, and Greystone has become a favourite for us for lunch. It has a set menu, which changes daily, and a lot of ingredients are forged locally.

It’s a nice place to relax, unwind, and enjoy the scenery, the setting, and the fabulous wine. It’s about 45 minutes from the city, and has quite rustic, delicious food.

BREW MOON, AMBERLEY

The pizza is amazing. It’s a brewery, so Brew Moon brews all its beer on site, and there’s a little caravan that does great pizzas. The pepperoni one is really good, and the vegetarian pizza is delicious. One of the owners of this family-run business was a winemaker by trade who then decided to brew beer. Take your kids and dog and sit in the garden.

THE GELATO LAB, ŌPAWA

A great place for icecream, this is a tiny place on Ōpawa Rd. We often walk Rāpaki Track in the Port Hills nearby, and we stop here to get an icecream with the kids as a reward for climbing the hills. The Lab churns out delicious traditional gelato and creates all kinds of chocolate and berry flavours. It’s really good and the flavours are changed regularly.