{"id":503699,"date":"2026-07-01T01:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T01:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/503699\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T01:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T01:52:09","slug":"south-island-shines-in-michelin-awards-with-seven-stars-for-christchurch-queenstown-and-wanaka-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/503699\/","title":{"rendered":"South Island shines in Michelin Awards with seven stars for Christchurch, Queenstown, and W\u0101naka restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chef Simon Levy, from Inati, went on stage to receive the South Island\u2019s first ever Michelin star. <\/p>\n

Levy said he couldn\u2019t have imagined standing there when they first opened the restaurant, with nothing finished in the business at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sort of opened the doors and it was the middle of winter. We had no front door. No pavement, people had to walk around the back and go across a bridge. Nothing was finished in the building, bits and pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only one restaurant in the country was awarded two Michelin stars and that honour went to Essence, in Queenstown. It\u2019s the only restaurant in Oceania with that standing.<\/p>\n

Chef Paul Froggatt accepted the award to a standing ovation in Auckland last night.<\/p>\n

\"EssenceEssence head chef Paul Froggatt was awarded two Michelin stars. Photo \/ Alyse Wright<\/p>\n

Froggatt said he was \u201cspeechless\u201d, thanking the whole team for their work in making this \u201cdream\u201d happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be the only restaurant in New Zealand to have this blows my mind. It was a dream of a young boy, many, many years ago who stepped foot into a Michelin star kitchen to cook at this level and be at this level. And to think I moved to New Zealand to achieve this goal, it\u2019s just amazing that we can do this here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The accolades for the Mainland did not stop there. On the biggest night for the New Zealand hospitality industry in recent years, numerous eateries in the South Island also received other Michelin distinctions, including the prestigious Bib Gourmand status.<\/p>\n

Christchurch is home to New Zealand\u2019s first ever Michelin Guide Young Chef Award recipient, given to Robert Fairs, from Londo in Christchurch.<\/p>\n

Aosta in Arrowtown, Bombay Palace in W\u0101naka, Francesca, also in W\u0101naka, Londo in Christchurch, Muttonbird in W\u0101naka, Odeon in Christchurch, Paloma Taqueria in W\u0101naka, Fire and Slice in Christchurch, Treehouse in W\u0101naka, ROCA in Christchurch, The Cow in Queenstown, The Athens Yacht Club in Christchurch, Gatherings in Christchurch, Soul Quarter in Christchurch, The Monday Room in Christchurch, Earl in Christchurch, A\u2019mano in Christchurch, and Sundays in Queenstown are all among the list of restaurants in Aotearoa to receive the prestigious Bib Gourmand distinction.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the list of Michelin selected restaurants included Jervois Steakhouse, Rodd & Gunn The Lodge, Botswana Butchery, Toast & Oak, True South Dining Room, Nest, Soda, The Dining Room, all in Queenstown.<\/p>\n

Tiny Arrowtown gets four restaurants on the Michelin selected restaurants list: Millhouse, Bianca by Giovi, The Woolshed, and Billy\u2019s (in Ayrburn). <\/p>\n

Arc in W\u0101naka also received the distinction, as did a number of Christchurch eateries, including: Miro, Hugo, Bessie, and Cellar Door.<\/p>\n

Across all distinctions, there are now 42 South Island restaurants on the Michelin guide.<\/p>\n

Overall, across Aotearoa, 110 establishments were recognised<\/a> with one receiving two stars, 14 receiving one star, 35 achieving Bib Gourmand status, and 60 being put on the selected restaurant list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chef Simon Levy, from Inati, went on stage to receive the South Island\u2019s first ever Michelin star. Levy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1443,95,51,10779,682,162505,4487,1887,127,156,6440,1888,2082,228,1345,78,2514,685,54677,111,139,2551,69,2847,6744,8467,13420,20930,10270,202,38889,119012,1240,5436,6382,5977,102,20065,2963],"class_list":["post-503699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-about","tag-and","tag-auckland","tag-awards","tag-being","tag-brightly","tag-christchurch","tag-countrys","tag-despite","tag-entertainment","tag-ever","tag-first","tag-for","tag-guide","tag-home","tag-in","tag-island","tag-last","tag-michelin","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-night","tag-nz","tag-only","tag-place","tag-population","tag-quarter","tag-queenstown","tag-restaurants","tag-seven","tag-shines","tag-shone","tag-south","tag-stars","tag-took","tag-which","tag-with","tag-wnaka","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503699","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=503699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}