Amisfield Vineyard & Bistro (10 Lake Hayes Road)

All I knew about Amisfield is that Princess Kate and Will had eaten here when they came for their visit to New Zealand. Based on that, my expectations were high – and they were certainly exceeded by the absolutely fantastic experience that we had. It was a birthday celebration, so collectively we decided to do the ‘Trust the Chef’ menu, paired with the wines to match. After asking whether we had any dietary requirements (no beef) they told us that the chef intended on just cooking what he pleased, therefore our food mayn’t be the same as the tables next to us – how exciting!

As demonstrated by the photos above, we were treated to a number of delicious courses which included delights such as smoked eel, a beetroot number (which came with blue cheese crumb), a fish chowder and then my delicious dessert – wild sorrel icecream with a pistachio sponge. The most interesting dish that day was the toasted sandwich – which was actually a dessert. It came with Amisfield’s own olive-oil ice-cream, candied olives and what looked like half an olive tree! It was such a cool dish to see, so beautifully presented.

After lunch we definitely needed to move some, so we went and had a wee explore of the grounds. Again, so stunning – although it took us awhile to move past the petanque pitch as everyone’s competitive sides came out. All in all, it was a lovely afternoon and I’m sure that if Kate and Will walked away half as happy as we did, then they would have been pretty satisfied customers!