A New Zealand Gourmet Safari
Visiting the restaurants, producers, chefs, artists and foodies of Queenstown, Wanaka and Arrowtown with Maeve O’Meara – an extract from our New Zealand (Aotearoa) magazine.
Words & Photographs by Liz Schaffer
Flying into Queenstown is not an experience you’re likely to forget. Glued to the window, you’ll be struck by the spectacle – the folded hills, serpentine waterways and turquoise lakes cocooned by summits. And then the snow-speckled peaks will get closer… and closer. Some mountains in The Remarkables (the skier-adored range that backdrops Queenstown) are over 2,000 metres high, and as you approach the airport at the edge of Lake Wakatipu, you’ll fly between them. This landing experience is awe-inspiring, but what awaits you on the ground is even more delicious.
I’d come to Central Otago (with Queenstown as my base) to spend a week feasting, drinking and considering a shift to farming life with Maeve O’Meara, an Australian writer and broadcaster who has been running Gourmet Safaris’ culinary tours for nearly three decades. I first discovered Maeve through Food Safari, a television programme that explored Australia’s immigrant food culture, and since then I’ve done my best to celebrate food - and those who bring it to our tables - as much as she does. “Food tells a story of people and tradition and place, of perseverance and dedication,” explains Maeve. “It’s a great portal through which to view the world.”
My Gourmet Safaris tour got into full swing at the Remarkables Market, a community hub packed with stalls from artisans and small-scale producers, as well as coffee carts aplenty. I snacked on tree-ripened nectarines from Freeway Orchard and punchy cheddar from the family-run Whitestone Cheese Co, before stocking up at Miele Apiaries, who make small-batch, wild harvested honey that’s perfect for hot toddies. If we didn’t have a lunch date waiting, it would have been very easy to spend the afternoon lounging (and grazing) on a blanket by the music stage.
Amisfield, a 200-acre organic, single estate winery adored for its pinot noir and aromatic white wines, is found just beyond the Shotover River – a gold-flecked waterway that was the site of a gold rush in the 1860s. We’d come here for gastronomic riches in the form of chef Vaughan Mabee’s conversation-starting tasting menu. His dishes are all about storytelling, and Vaughan uses culinary theatrics and singular ingredients (think frozen fish heads, opalescent abalone shells and game he shot himself) to ensure his feasts look as phenomenal as they taste. Each course arrived with a flourish and a tale, which hinted at the creativity and devotion needed to bring a meal like this to life. “I love that our guests see things they would never find on their own,” mused Maeve. “Finding passionate people who grow and cook food or make wine is my life’s mission. I love that our hosts are real and true and their stories are always interesting. There’s nothing quite so special as being genuinely welcomed and made to feel special – plus tasting something unique to a place is just incredible.”
The following day we drove over the panoramic Crown Range Road - the country’s highest main road - to Wanaka and its massive, shimmering lake. Our morning sail here took us past Ruby Island (where the dance hall was all the rage during Prohibition as local police, who didn’t have a boat, had no way of reaching it) to Mou Waho Island, a scenic haven for both hikers and flightless birds. While the short climb to the island’s panoramic summit (where you’ll find a glacier-carved pool hovering 150-metres above lake level) is well worth the effort, the biggest draw are the inevitable buff weka sightings – inquisitive, chicken-like birds that faced extinction on the mainland.
Our Wanaka lunch took place at Paloma Taqueria, a Mexican restaurant (renowned for its tortillas, made on-site using corn grown in Napier) created by chef James Stapley, who Maeve met on her first trip to Central Otago and has collaborated with ever since. “I fell in love with New Zealand when I moved here around 20 years ago. I worked my way around the country, and then I found Wanaka,” laughed James, who is also behind Kika, an Italian-inspired restaurant and bar. “Coming down the hill, you get that first view of the lake and you hope the rest of Wanaka lives up to that – and it absolutely does. It’s a nice, supportive community. It’s like going back in time a little bit, but in a good way.”
“New Zealand has 100 percent shaped the way I cook,” continued James. “Coming here gave me the freedom to follow the seasons and the produce. I think seasonality is quite a modern thing within food. Back when I started cooking in the UK there would be asparagus in winter and all that kind of stuff, but now it’s extreme in the other way. Asparagus will be on the menu for just six weeks and then you won’t see it again, so you really celebrate the season when it turns up. Food here is governed by produce.”
We sampled James’ fare later in the tour at Carrick, an organically-certified winery in Bannockburn (another former gold mining area) where estate grown grapes are hand harvested and all wine-making takes place on-site. James was the guest chef in their restaurant, and the bucolic setting added extra flavour to his already superlative meal; my attention occasionally drifting from the colourful plates before me to the butterflies flitting through wildflowers, the improbably blue water of Bannockburn Inlet, and the winery-hopping cyclists sipping peachy chardonnay in the sun.
It would be unfair to reveal all of Maeve’s gems (among them Aosta, an award-winning Italian restaurant in historic Arrowtown, and Ayrburn, where the cakes and flower gardens are equally gorgeous), but I can introduce you to one of her stars: Nadia Lim. A cookbook writer, television host and winner of New Zealand Masterchef, Nadia also runs Royalburn Station, a 1,200 acre regenerative farm that’s been in operation since 1887, with her husband Carlos Bagrie. The couple have made it their mission to help people understand where their food actually comes from, and to produce it in the most sustainable and ethical ways possible. For them, farming is about rolling with the punches, learning from previous seasons and drawing on the knowledge of other farmers – and the approach is clearly working. During our visit we crossed paths with some of Nadia’s friendly, pasture-raised chickens (who produce 7,000 eggs a day), wandered through a field filled with two million sunflowers and tucked into a BBQ picnic where I discovered just how delectable lamb can be when it’s had a happy life.
Devouring Nadia’s dessert (a fabulous berry crumble), I was struck again by how special it is to spend time with farmers, artists and chefs – those generous with their knowledge and passion. These encounters change the way you view food and help you appreciate everything that goes into growing, crafting and bringing to the table something delicious.
A Gourmet Safaris tour will fill you up, but also make you crave more. You’ll want to keep your culinary curiosity alive - to continue learning and connecting - and to do this, Maeve’s advice is simple: “Visit farmers’ markets, get out to the regions, talk to people, taste new things as often as you can – use those taste buds!”
This story first appeared in our New Zealand magazine, which you can order here. And you can learn more about Maeve, and Gourmet Safaris, here.
