Gourmet Goldmine
Lauraine Jacobs
Planes carrying visitors into Queenstown almost brush the mountains with their wings as they dip down to the airfield below the magnificent Remarkables range. Not long ago these same planes ferried in much of the hearty fare that fed locals and tourists alike. But now this town, long known as the adventure capital of New Zealand, is awakening to the culinary possibilities within the region.
Where vines grow and great wines are produced there’s usually fine regional food to be found. The harsh climate of Central Otago once limited the perception of the region’s potential, and there seemed little willingness to grow much more than the highly prized apricots and cherries that flourish in the gullies and gorges of the Cromwell area. Locals are now discovering opportunities hardly dreamed of 10 years ago and restaurateurs, café owners and local gourmets with big appetites are hungry for this new wave of regional specialities.
FARE TRADING
Venture around the back of the Junction Building in the heart of Queenstown and a world of fine food and wine emerges. The Mediterranean Market began as a wholesale fruit and vegetable market but when owners Angela and Nathan Imlach noticed locals were turning up, they realised the potential of opening a fresh food store. Angela now caters for the public with an array of terrific produce, meat and fish, as well as gourmet items and imported specialty foods. A stylish café in the store, Squisito, shares space with Jenny Lamond, who bakes and sells her fabulous cakes under the name Cake Adventures.
Peter Waters of Arrowtown restaurant The Postmaster’s House recently seized retail space near the restaurant for a new fresh-food outlet, The Postmaster’s Store. There, with his head chef James Flint, Peter offers a range of seasonal produce, including fish (available when absolutely fresh), vegetables and herbs from Otago and Southland, interesting local meat and game and, in an innovative move, the restaurant chefs are on hand to give menu and cookery advice.
 Across the way in Arrowtown’s main street, the Palmer family has set up an intriguing store. The Remarkable Sweet Shop stocks lollies and sweet treats from around the world. Aniseed balls, pink smokers and Irish moss jubes seem part of an old forgotten food culture. But they’re all here, displayed in glass jars and packed into small bags to take home as gifts. Rich creamy fudge in a variety of fascinating flavours is made on the premises and all the sweets are available online too (see Fact File).
Capitalising on the growing interest in wines of this region, Rick Nelson and Rodney Johnston opened Wine Tastes, an innovative concept in wine tasting and retailing. The advanced technology at the slick purpose-built store in Beach St, in the centre of Queenstown, allows customers to control their own wine-tasting experience. Armed with a smart card, complete with a microprocessor chip, each person chooses from more than 100 wines by pressing a button and a portion is delivered from a state-of-the-art Enomatic wine system. The price is then automatically deducted from the wine card. Food to match the wine can also be bought. Wines are organised by varietal and, while the emphasis is local, a wide range across the price spectrum from around the world is offered.
LAND OF PLENTY
The hills and valleys around Cromwell and Bannockburn and over to Alexandra are the key source of the new produce. At least 50 olive growers are staking their claim, with plantings of more than 15,000 trees producing small batches of big, fruity, grassy olive oils, reminiscent of the Tuscan style... no surprise when the region lies on the 45th parallel, the same distance from the equator as the olive groves of Tuscany.
 Some growers have turned their hand to saffron and this intensive crop is now harvested successfully on more than 20 sites in the region. The saffron business is almost a labour of love, but it heralds significant opportunities as it expands and provides an opposite season to the northern hemisphere. A small amount of this saffron is available to local chefs and through various web sites. Wild thyme covers the hills in this area throughout the summer, attracting keen foragers and cooks – and bees. The local beehives produce a unique, highly fragrant wild thyme honey with floral, herbal flavours. Adamson’s Apiaries sell this delicious honey at Provisions store in Old Cromwell Town in the summer. Innovative lifestylers on land parcels in the area are taking advantage of the superb hot summer climate and planting experimental crops. Tony Roydhouse has an astonishing stand of maple trees from which he hopes to extract maple syrup. He also grows pecans, pistachios, pine nuts, prunes and walnuts alongside his olives and saffron. Others in the district also rely on several crops, like Tony and Joan Lawrence, who grow grapes for their own wine label, Aurum Wines, and are opening a tasting room this month where visitors can sample their olive oil alongside the wine.
Two herb and salad growers supply the many restaurants in the area with commercial quantities of greens. Basil, Parsley and Partners, near Bannockburn, and Crystal Gardens, near Queenstown, grow superb greens and herbs under shade to meet the great demand.
But it’s not all about horticulture. Lake Sylvan Sparkling’s light, fruity mineral waters – with appealing flavours such as rhubarb and apple, or pear and ginger – made their debut early this winter in a handful of cafés and quickly found a market that is clamouring for more. The range is produced and distributed in Queenstown by Katrina Priest and Sara Bruce, a marketing executive and a lawyer, respectively, who both recently returned from overseas. Their drinks are available online (see Fact File).
Steve Brown, manager and head game-keeper at Bendigo Station (home of the world-famous Shrek) raises pheasants for two purposes. He supplies cooks and restaurants with the birds – which go from hatchery to the farm in six months, before being processed and packed – and offers traditional game shooting on the station at $3300 for up to six people who can (if their aim is good) take home up to 60 pheasants, processing included, and enjoy a day that includes a barbecue with drinks to wind down.
The Gibbston Valley Cheese Company, associated with Gibbston Valley Wines, ages cheeses made with milk from local sheep, cows and goats. Try its Balfour cheese made with Friesian sheep’s milk, and a new pecorino-style cheese.
CLASS ACTION
Small classes are regularly scheduled at the Ki Tao cooking school’s whareumu, a superb purpose-built kitchen in the courtyard of Punatapu, a luxury lodge on the Glenorchy road about 15 minutes out of Queenstown. Both participation and demonstration classes are on offer – for groups or individuals – as well as residential classes with accommodation in the luxury suites.
The Queenstown Resort College, due to open in October this year, is sited in a classy purpose-built building near the lake front. Diploma courses in hotel and restaurant operations for people entering the industry will be offered under the guidance of the Swiss Hotel curriculum. Classes in business and management are scheduled and the short courses and classes in culinary arts and wine will be of interest to locals and visitors alike.
FINE DINING
Among the finer dining restaurants in the area, two stand out in Arrowtown, Saffron and The Postmaster’s House. In Queenstown, fine fare can be found at The Bathhouse, The Bunker and The Spire Dining Room.
Still in Queenstown, for more casual eating tiny Japanese restaurant Kappa, Joe’s Garage (also in Arrowtown) and Tatler are recommended.
Winery restaurants for lunch include Amisfield Winery Bistro, Mt Difficulty, Carrick and Gibbston Valley Wines.
GRAND HOTELS
 New boutique hotel The Spire caters to the top end of the market. In a quiet central spot only a minute from the lake, the hotel has 10 rooms that dazzle with state-of-the-art, high-tech entertainment systems, plush modern furnishings and vast bathrooms. Sit in a classic leather Eames chair and command the wide flat-screen TV to deliver your email or superb movies. The furnishings take a new turn from conventional hotel décor, giving an edgy and colourful experience. The hotel restaurant (16 seats only) and bar, which is open to the public, is over-seen by Wellington chef Rex Morgan. (See our restaurant reviews.)
Guests at the Sofitel Queenstown, due to open in August in the town’s centre, are ferried around by Armani-clad staff in BMW X5 vehicles. The 82-room hotel raises the bar on the hotel experience in New Zealand, with luxury touches such as a range of bars and restaurants, a day spa, two levels of retail space and two stunning penthouse suites. The food at the flagship Vie Restaurant is overseen by Australian TV chef Shane Watson.
Azur is another luxury lodge to open recently. The nine guest lodges, featuring natural stone and timber décor, all have panoramic views of the lake from their windows and balconies, and make the perfect, relaxing hideaway.
Like a home away from home, The Dairy Private Luxury Hotel has breakfast and afternoon tea included in the tariff. Refurbished and upgraded late last year, with comfortable rooms and offering an honesty bar at the fireside, it’s also handy to the town centre.
People Making A Difference
 Jenny Stewart has been at the forefront of championing good food in Central Otago since she moved there from Auckland in the early 90s and was possibly the first in the area to realise the commercial possibilities and importance of regional bounty. She set the standard for winery restaurants when she organised the menu at Gibbston Valley Wines. Her tasting platter of regional favourites, including dips and preserves she made herself, remains today, while Jenny can still be found there occasionally working front of house.
Her passion for the region led her to teaching cookery, developing her business over the past few years to become the Ki Tao cooking school at the idyllic Punatapu property (for more see opposite page). There she teaches and inspires classes that range from intensive hands-on cooking to demonstrations for overseas visitors and for the conference and incentive market of Queenstown.
Jenny respects the history of the area and has become an expert forager, seeking out foods such as wild mushrooms, wild thyme and wild oregano every season.
“I find many culinary treasures in the long-abandoned gardens of the early settlers,” she says.“Trees of almonds, pears, mulberries, quince, apricots, plums, walnuts and figs provide bounty for my cooking and preserving, along with annual crops of wild blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.”
Each year she offers a day-long experience on the Ki Tao programme gathering and cooking the wild fruit and produce of the region.
 Jane Shaw and Pauline Murphy were having a family picnic in Glenorchy when they decided to open their business, Provisions, in an almost-abandoned store in Old Cromwell Town.
“We realised there was no one concentrating on regionally focused products, and our initial idea was to open a retail store amidst what is really the fruit bowl of Otago,” Pauline says. “Pretty quickly it dawned on us that if we wanted to stock the store we would have to make the products ourselves from the fruit and bounty of the region. It took a full year to build the kitchen, stock the shelves and open.”
Their innovative range of jams, chutneys, sauces and other goodies fashioned from locally sourced ingredients continues to expand, and Provisions now also contracts to companies and suppliers in the region.
Their enthusiasm for regional food has spilt over to organising the Central Otago Farmers’ Market. Held on the first Sunday of every month, this has quickly become a community hub, despite their initial nervousness. Food lovers from Queenstown right through to Alexandra have embraced the concept, travelling great distances to secure fresh local produce.
Support for this multi-tasking pair (between them they have five children under 12) has been widespread, with professionals like Wanaka chef Andrew Spiegel from Edgewater setting up cooking demonstrations of local food in the market, and chef Peter Gawron constantly championing their produce in his Arrowtown restaurant, Saffron.
 Megan Huffadine and Maurice Watson were originally from Southland, so when family drew them back from Nelson they delighted in their new home on Miner’s Terrace in Bannockburn, where they have established plantings of saffron.
“We’re both in love with the stunning landscape and ever-changing moods of the region, and fascinated by the heritage of the early goldminers,” says Maurice. “In our garden where the saffron grows we find fragments that connect us to the past lives of settlers of the area, and we love the fact we now grow the ‘new gold’.”
Artist Megan is inspired to work with paint and sculptural elements to remake and create memories, surfaces and textures of the past in her home studio. She abandons her work during the intensive period of the saffron harvest when she can be found carefully picking the flowers and plucking and dehydrating the precious stamens for their saffron brand, Heart of the Desert.
Maurice drives through the Cromwell Gorge each weekday to Queenstown where he manages the private Milford Gallery, which specialises in high-quality New Zealand artworks.
The couple chose to cultivate their small lifestyle block with saffron, a crop that would supplement their incomes to pay for their sons’ education, and have become completely drawn into the mystique of the spice. Maurice claims, “It is the king of spices, and to me is as addictive as chocolate and coffee. There’s not a week that we don’t include saffron in our cooking.”
He is presently working with more than 20 saffron growers in the Central Otago region to create an association to enable growers to set standards and enter joint marketing initiatives.
 Michelle Richardson released the first two wines under her own label, Richardson, early this year. The award-winning former chief winemaker at Villa Maria headed south to Central Otago and made wine under contract for Peregrine Wines for two years. She has now chosen to make her base in Arrowtown, flying from there to the parts of the country where she believes she can source the best fruit to make excellent regional varietals.
“I love the slower pace and village atmosphere I have discovered in Arrowtown, and as a keen cook I have been really looking forward to the opening of The Postmaster’s Store. Fresh supplies are the one thing I miss in the rather tourist-oriented shops here, but this new venture will enable me to get cooking again every night.”
Among Michelle’s small portfolio of wines is, naturally, a fine Central Otago Pinot Noir. Esteemed British wine writer Jancis Robinson had confessed her admiration for Central Otago Pinots to Michelle a few years back but commented most were rather muscular. She added that she’d be keen to see Michelle’s treatment of the grape. The Richardson 2003 Pinot Noir is now bottled, and described by Cuisine wine editor Michael Cooper as “feminine in style – perfumed, graceful and silky smooth”.
FACT FILE
TO STAY
Azur, 23 MacKinnon Tce, Queenstown, ph: 03-409 0588, www.azur.co.nz
Sofitel Queenstown, 8 Duke St, Queenstown, ph:03-450 0045, www.sofitel.com
The Dairy Private Luxury Hotel, cnr Brecon & Isle Sts, Queenstown, ph: 03-442 5164, www.thedairy.co.nz
The Spire Queenstown, 3 Church Lane, ph: 03-441 0004, www.thespire.co.nz
TO EAT
Amisfield Winery Bistro,10 Lake Hayes Rd, RD 1,Queenstown, ph: 03-442 0556
Carrick Winery Restaurant, Cairnmuir Rd, Bannockburn, ph: 03-445 3480
Gibbston Valley Wines, SH 6, Gibbston, ph: 03-442 6910
Joe’s Garage, 15 Camp St, Queenstown, ph: 03-442 5282 (also 7 Arrow Lane, Arrowtown, ph: 03-442 1116)
Kappa Japanese Restaurant, 36 The Mall, Queenstown, ph: 03-441 1423
Saffron, 18 Buckingham St, Arrowtown, ph: 03-442 0131
Tatler, 5 The Mall, Queenstown, ph: 03-442 8372
The Bathhouse, 15 Marine Parade, Queenstown, ph:03-442 5625
The Bunker, Cow Lane, Queenstown, ph: 03-441 8030
The Postmaster’s House, 54 Buckingham St, Arrowtown, ph: 03-442 0991
The Spire Dining Room and Bar, 3 Church Lane, Queenstown, ph: 03-441 0004
FOOD STORES AND REGIONAL FOOD
Basil, Parsley and Partners, 191 Ripponvale Rd, Cromwell, ph: 03-445 0732
Bendigo Station Game Birds, Bendigo Station, Lowburn, ph: 03-445 0859
Crystal Gardens, Littles Rd, Dalefield, Queenstown, ph: 03-442 6544
Gibbston Valley Cheese Company, Gibbston Valley Wines, SH 6, Gibbston, ph: 03-441 1388
Lake Sylvan Sparkling,ph:021-312 057, www.lakesylvan.co.nz
Mediterranean Market,(including Cake Adventures and Squisito Café), 53 Robins Rd, Queenstown, ph: 03-442 4161
Provisions,Melmore Tce, Old Cromwell Town, ph: 03-445 4048
Remarkable Sweet Shop, 27 Buckingham St, Arrowtown, ph: 03-442 1374, www.remarkablesweetshop.co.nz
The Postmaster’s Store,40 Buckingham St, Arrowtown, ph: 03-442 0992
Wine Tastes, 14 Beach St, Queenstown, ph: 03-409 2226, www.winetastes.com
TO LEARN AND COOK
Ki Tao, Punatapu Lodge, Glenorchy Rd, ph: 03-442 6624, www.cuisinequeenstown.com
Queenstown Resort College, www.queenstownresortcollege.com
TO CONTACT
Jane Shaw and Pauline Murphy, ph: 03-445 4048
Jenny Stewart, ph: 03-442 6203
Megan Huffadine and Maurice Watson, ph: 03-445 1909
Michelle Richardson, ph: 021-584 284
Photography by Aaron McLean
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