Vaughan Mabee

Amisfield, Queenstown

Nature makes its way onto the plate every chance it gets at Queenstown’s Amisfield: snacks are concealed under autumn leaves and corn husks; ice-cream is laid on a bed of tiny elderflowers; and kōura (freshwater crayfish) is wrapped in bull kelp and stitched with flax from down by the lake. Like the native landscape, executive chef Vaughan Mabee’s food is beautiful and raw. It’s gathered by hunters, fishermen, foragers and the kitchen team themselves, who trawl the forest and beaches for porcini, giant puff balls and seaweed; tap trees for birch sap; and collect herbs from the bush for the daily menu.

Mabee says he’ll use wild deer and boar from the local mountains before you’ll see a cut of beef on the menu. “I try to showcase products you can only get in New Zealand,” he says. “The thing that drives me is how we get our product, a lot of our seafood we get live, to give the best flavour.” Crayfish, pāua, storm clams, kina, butter fish and blue cod all arrive still blinking and are prepared just before service.

He draws on fond food memories from a kiwi childhood, with dishes such as the pāua pie and a reimagined corn toastie that is topped with curls of summer truffle, “I’m always cooking with Kiwis in mind. The international crowd love it, but New Zealanders understand it more in the history sense.”