New Zealand

[Judy Wilson]

I'm taking a vacation to New Zealand next month and was wondering if anyone has any restaurant recommendations. I was thinking of trying The White House when in Wellington, as they do some Modernist things and have Heston's Mock Turtle Soup as well as Sous Vide Duck on their tasting menu.

Anybody else have any suggestions? I'm looking forward to going to a hangi and eating some seafood as well.

[Anonymous Modernist 353]

I had my honeymoon in New Zealand in Dec 2009 and a lot of it was focused on food. The French Cafe in Auckland was the best meal I have ever had anywhere. Even bought the cookbook after dinner hoping it would have the creme caramel with passion fruit tapioca recipe in it (It didn't). I don't recall too much modernist stuff there though.

Another favourite was Pescatore in Christchurch. It was modernist focused from what I remember. One dish was dehydrated pizza served in an envelope which was basically dehydrated spices and pizza toppings and tasted amazingly exactly like a piece of pizza.

In Wellington we were trying to decide between Logan Brown and The White House as we were only there for one night. Ended up at Logan Brown as it had just won an award for best restaurant in New Zealand. It was quite good although we tend to prefer long many course tasting menus and Logan Brown was more a large portion only order 1-2 courses type of place. If you can only pick one I'd try The White House. Logan Brown did have the best olive oil I have ever tasted though. I asked to buy some but it is specially made just for them.

Also check out Herzog's in Marlborough and Amisfield Bistro in Queenstown. Make sure you try some whitebait if you've never had it.

[Anonymous Modernist 18828]

The New Zealand restaurants you shouldn't miss are-

1. Coco's Cantina

2. Grove

3. Depot

4. Black Barn Bistro

5. Logan Brown

6. Amisfield