Lillies<\/a>. <\/p>\nLocals know it for its people; owners Will Lyons-Bowman and Liam Kelleher are what make this place, and their loyal clientele keep it pumping. When we visited, Liam hosted and exuded warmth with his knowledge of food and his ability to perfectly pair it with organic ciders and wines.<\/p>\n
The menu changes weekly, but standards never slip; the perfect woodfired pizza will always be on hand, be flavourful and best paired with one of their fresh citrus or parmesan-laden leafy sides. Add in a handmade pasta, or delicate tartare, and you\u2019re in for a night of culinary excellence without any showboating. \u2013 Jenni Mortimer<\/p>\n
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Gathernings, Christchurch. Photo \/ Nancy Zhou<\/p>\n
Gatherings, Christchurch<\/p>\n
In April, Christchurch was already cold and dark. At Gatherings, I sat under the glow of a daffodil-yellow light box, read a menu that encouraged me to \u201cgraze as you would at home\u201d and immediately felt six degrees warmer. It\u2019s a tiny restaurant with mostly picnic table-style seating \u2013 an ageing posterior will not be here for the long haul, but the food lingers. We ordered \u201ca bit of everything\u201d and received a dinner that was bookended by standouts. We finished with a tricolour kiwifruit carpaccio with lime leaf pannacotta that was both rich and refreshing. And we started with a plate of freshly steamed spinach and cockles, shiny with sherry butter, the briny juices soaked into a slab of toasted brioche. It was Sunday night, circa 1976, and my grandma was just back from the beach with a bucket of shellfish and a loaf of white bread. I grazed like I was home. \u2013 Kim Knight<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Cellar Door, Christchurch<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just the wine list (which is actually a book). It\u2019s not just the punny collection of tasting flights with exceptionally reasonable price tags (four bubblies for $24? Let\u2019s Get Fizzical!). It\u2019s not even the unparalleled ambience of the restaurant with a built history that goes back to 1877. Cellar Door is, simply, a terrific place to dine. It totally delivered on a date night for two \u2013 the fish-venison-duck-etc mains are so substantial you barely need sides, but try hard to find room for the potato pave. More impressively, a table of six highly opinionated Word Festival visitors thought both the chicken liver parfait and the contents of the 24-plus wine glasses they amassed between them were seriously worthy of consideration should you be looking for a delicious night out in \u014ctautahi. \u2013 KK<\/p>\n
Address: 1 Hereford St, Christchurch Central City. Contact: Cellardoor.nz<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Super, Lyttleton <\/p>\n
Lyttelton\u2019s Super serves an intriguing fusion of Japanese and M\u0101ori cuisines. Its fresh, flavourful menu, built on seasonal organic ingredients, focuses on lighter fare with seafood and vegetable dishes aplenty. Current highlights include a fabulous fusion boil-up and ultra\u2013umami-rich cabbage rolls stuffed with shiitake and edamame, braised in a ginger-dashi broth. Drop in for a glass from its natural-leaning wine list, or an eclectic fusion cocktail, and it\u2019s hard to resist snacks such as edamame in kawakawa miso butter or its now-legendary kimchi fries. Erratic service in the past may have prevented its food from getting the recognition it deserves. However, over many recent visits, more assured manaakitanga has been in evidence. \u2013 Jo Burzynka <\/p>\n
![\"Inside]()
Inside wine bar Toast and Oak, in T\u0101huna Queenstown. Photo \/ Isabella Rubie<\/p>\n
Toast & Oak, Queenstown <\/p>\n
Toast & Oak may not be the first restaurant you think of ahead of a Queenstown trip but it should be. It is a truly wonderful dining room and (bonus) it doesn\u2019t require a $100 taxi ride to get there; it\u2019s in the centre of town, though the entrance is subtle enough that you could easily walk right past it. Wine is a central part of the experience \u2013 you\u2019re encouraged to chat with the sommelier and discover something new. And then there\u2019s the food, which is beautiful to look at and exciting to eat: the tasting menu would give any Auckland restaurant a run for its money. This is my new Queenstown favourite, a perfect place to eat the region and the season. \u2013 Jesse Mulligan<\/p>\n
More dining in Aotearoa <\/p>\n
From mountainous peaks to eating in the capital. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Where do we go when we\u2019re away to enjoy the best of New Zealand produce? Mission Estate, Hawke\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3225,51,4995,3390,49239,156,111,139,69,1118,3111,51460,10270,7187,223,61,159,3608,1316,540,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-150899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-according","9":"tag-auckland","10":"tag-away","11":"tag-best","12":"tag-enjoy","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-of","18":"tag-out","19":"tag-produce","20":"tag-restaurants","21":"tag-team","22":"tag-the","23":"tag-to","24":"tag-viva","25":"tag-were","26":"tag-when","27":"tag-where","28":"tag-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}