Fine by me

by Owen Jones | 10:22 pm 23/05/2010

Fine dining isn’t really something students get to experience all that often. However, due to generous dinner offers from other parties – parents, in-laws and the Japanese Government (really) – I’ve recently found myself eating some pretty flashy meals. It turns out that the south of the South Island has its fair share of top-shelf eateries. So, if your folks are visiting and feeling generous, here’s a rundown of places you might like to suggest.

Starting locally, Plato (2 Birch St, Dunedin) is the seafood hotspot in town, serving everything from Goan fish curry to whitebait fritters. Have your fish fillets pan-fried in kelp or citrus crust, or maybe with capsicum chilli jam. Fish not your thing? Then how about chargrilled eye fillet in a red wine jus, or pork medallions on bean purée with mustard cream sauce? Vegetarians, so often overlooked, can enjoy Portobello mushrooms, spinach, and ricotta stacked on polenta. All this plus the best collection of teapots you’ll ever see!

Further up the coast, Fleurs Place (The Old Jetty, Moeraki) has been causing a stir ever since celebrity fish-meister Rick Stein graced its doors. It’s pretty busy so book way ahead, and be prepared to vacate your table after two hours to make way for the next booking. This place is all about rustic charm and good seafood, including what two members of our party rated as the best chowder they’d ever tasted. Caution – the huge mains mean you may not need that entrée you were eyeballing. Warning should also go out to vegetarians, as the meat/fish-free option they suggested was a bit of a mess (there’s roasting vegetables and then there’s cremating them).

If you’re up for a road trip to Central, then Arrowtown’s Saffron (18 Buckingham St, Arrowtown) is probably the swankiest place you can stop for dinner. The prices are indicative of a place that is a four-time finalist for Cuisine’s Restaurant of the Year award, but then so is the menu – soft-shell crab on kumara and fennel remoulade, anyone? Again, book ahead. I think the most impressive thing about this place was being served an amuse-bouche (basically a single, bite-sized hors d’oeuvre – in our case a Bloody Mary shot encased in jelly). I’d never had an amuse-bouche before, and for a minute there I felt like a judge on Masterchef. Definitely the least impressive thing was finding a hair in my pasta. Kudos for the variety of veggie options, though.

Also in Central, special mention has to go out to Wanaka’s White House (33 Dunmore St, Wanaka). This art deco hideaway is purposefully kept low-key, and doesn’t have (or crave, probably) any of the exposure associated with other restaurants mentioned above. For all this, the food here impressed me more than anywhere else on this list. Highlights included a halloumi and beetroot salad, and some incredibly tender venison on a bed of puréed vegetables. Pretty much all diets are catered for, and the intimate setting makes for a near-perfect evening out.

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