Dinner at Amisfield Wine Company's Bistro

After a day of retail therapy, we headed to the Amisfield Wine Company's Bistro for a 5 course Chef's Tasting Menu.

The winery is located in the Lake Hayes area and as we arrived, the sun was still shining very brightly so we tried to stay under the large umbrellas as much as possible. One thing I have learnt since arriving in Queenstown is that in the summer the sun sets quite late in the day, around 8.30 to 9.00 pm and between 3.00 to 6.00 pm is the hottest part of the day. Since we have been here, we have been having 30 degree days and the heat is dry heat. Humidity is extremely low, almost non existent.

The dining area for the bistro is located in a lovely garden surround and as the evening wore on, it just felt lovely to be sitting outside on such a balmy evening enjoying a good meal with some lovely ladies. Oops, I just realised that I used the word 'lovely' three times in the one sentence. Oh well, it's not perfect English and I want to emphasise how I feel about my experience!

Each of the course was matched with a wine from the winery. As each course was served, the head chef Jay Sherwood came around to each table to check on how the meal was progressing. From a distance Jay looked like he hailed from Europe but it turns out he is a true blue Californian.

A very personable and friendly chef who was only too willing to get cooking tips from some of the ladies at our table. He was also very passionate about the produce he used for his cooking. I must say, the group of ladies I sat with for tonight's dinner certainly knew their food and we had an absolute ball. Poor Jay didn't know what hit him, I think! :)

Jay with some of the ladies at our table

Course 1 - served with Amisfield Arcadia Brut NV. It was salted cod mixed with garlic, olive oil, lemon zest, fresh parsley, and potatoes, served with house made toasted sourdough bread.

Verdict: I am normally not into cod, per se. But I found the cod flavour quite subtle and not overwhelming and I did enjoy the entree. The Brut complemented the dish quite well.

Course 2 - served with the Amisfield Arcadia Brut NV. It was Prawn risotto with sun dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese, with a touch a pinot gris in the risotto.The prawns were marinated in lemon zest and olive oil.

Verdict: Loved the risotto, it was creamy and had a slight bite to the rice (which I do like) and the prawns worked beautifully. Everyone at our table thoroughly enjoyed this dish!

Course 3 - served with Amisfield 2011 Pinot Gris. It was Hot smoked salmon with fennel, capers and dill with cream cheese.

Verdict: The salmon tasted of summer. It was lightly smoked,  and went beautifully with the fennel and capers. The Pinot Gris was a good choice with the salmon.

Retail Therapy in Queenstown

It was another glorious day in Queenstown. We headed to town by water taxi from the Hilton's jetty. It was fascinating to look out to the nice waterfront properties which really had prime views of the lake.

When we arrived we embarked on a morning of retail therapy by meeting some of the local retailers who focus on promoting NZ designers with a majority of them emphasising on NZ made clothes.

Almost everyone of us found something which caught our eye. It also gave us an opportunity to wander around and browse through shops that caught our eye. We even stopped by a Chemist (better known as pharmacies in Australia). It was a very well stocked chemist, which had an extensive range of NZ made facial and body care products. Brands such as Trilogy, Antipodes, Evolu and Linden Leaves were easily available here.

I think in almost every store, they were overwhelmed by 22 ladies all coming in and browsing through their clothes and wares at once. A bit hit was Max, an NZ store chain (similar to Witchery in Australia). They had a good mix of elegant, casual and normal daily wear with very reasonable prices. And the young ladies attending us at Max were so friendly and helpful.

Another store that many found interesting was Decode. A lovely lady by the name of Marie (the owner of the store) had shut the store down especially for our group. I think we all felt quite special just knowing that fact. Decode was a lovely, quirky boutique with emphasis on some of the fresh local NZ designers who promote natural, organic designs and fabrics. As Marie said, their focus is on making women feel comfortable in their own skin rather than following high fashion trends.

Dinner at Wakatipu Grill

It was our first evening in Queenstown and once again we met up at the Pit. I am really liking the name of this round setting/fireplace area located just outside the grill.

Before we headed for dinner, we had some drinks, chatted and there was an official get to know you time. This group consist of 20 ladies plus Maeve and Kate. All hail from different parts of Australia, such a diverse and interesting group of ladies. Looking forward to getting to know all of them.

Mauro Battaglia is the head chef of Wakatipu Grill. Maeve introduced him to us just before dinner started and I was lucky enough to have a personal introduction to Mauro even before he met the group. He is from Northern Italy (never been to Sardinia and is now on his to do list after Maeve and I couldn't stop talking about wonderful Sardinia). A very nice, friendly, unassuming man who is passionate about his food, with emphasis on using as much local produce as possible.

Chef Mauro

Chef Mauro with Maeve

For dinner, we had a choice of 3 dishes for entrees, 3 dishes for mains and 2 dishes for dessert. Before we ordered, Mauro was kind enough to explain to us some of the dishes (now this is something I don't get to experience first hand unless I am with one of Maeve's groups). When I think about it, how many restaurants/cafes have I dined at over the years? How many of them do I get to meet the chef and have a personal run down of the menu and ingredients? Nada.

For entree, I chose the Venison carpaccio with wasabi, cucumber, crisp shallots and chilli with a herb salad.  This is was the first time I have had venison. I chose the venison dish because one of the many well known produce from this area is venison. My verdict - I loved it, loved it, loved it! The venison was slightly salty but very thinly sliced and beautifully tender. Loved the Asian touch to the dish and the hint of mint leaves lifted the saltines of the venison.

Venison carpaccio

The other very popular entree was the Roasted red beetroot salad, barrel aged feta, date, navel orange served with a hazelnut dressing. The ladies verdict was it was very good!

Roasted red beetroot salad

For main I had the Slow roasted merino lamb shoulder, with garlic, smoky aubergine, buffalo yoghurt tzatziki, broad beans and mint. This dish was ordered by 80% of the group. There was also the Master stock braised Angus beef short ribs with carrots, pearl onions, ginger and pickled shiitake mushroom. The seafood dish was the Citrus baked salmon, with English pea vichyssoise, asparagus, lardons and tarragon.

Beef short ribs

Slow cooked lamb shoulder

Citrus baked salmon

Arrival in Queenstown (Day 1)

Yay! My Gorgeous Girls Safari to Queenstown has finally arrived and I am actually in Queenstown. I cannot believe it but it is true. The time has arrived for me to throw away all the stresses from the past 9 months and focus only on relaxing and enjoying myself on this ladies only trip.

View from Queenstown airport

It will be a week of pampering, shopping, wine tasting, good food dining and relaxation, relaxation, and relaxation! All that on top of enjoying the beautiful surrounds of Queenstown,

I also get to hang out with dear Maeve, who was such a joy to have during the Sardinia and Corsica trip last year. She has personality plus, that one! Oh dear, I hope she doesn't take it the wrong way when I say that. :)

We are staying at the Hilton Queenstown for the whole week. Thank goodness I don't have to unpack until I actually leave for home. What a lovely hotel, only less than 2 years old but located in a very beautiful part of the town. It is located right next to Lake Wakatipu and when you sit at the Pinot Pit, you actually see a portion of the Remarkables.

Kate, Mandy and Maeve

Kate Kennedy, a local Kiwi who actually lives in Sydney, but has known Maeve for years welcomed the group together with Maeve at the airport. And when we arrived at the Hilton, Mandy Kennedy (related to Kate by the way) who is the Marketing Manager of the Hilton greeted us personally and gave us a quick tour of the facilities. We all had a chance to have some pinot noir, pinot gris or sauvignon blanc and hang out at the Pinot Pit to introduce ourselves and just really chill out.

Biota Dining in Bowral

Biota Dining is located in the town of Bowral, in the Southern Highlands of NSW. The only time I have been to Bowral was to have a quick walk around the town centre and that was many years ago.

This time around, we walked up and down the main street, and browsed through some of the shops. The Gumnut Patisserie was very busy and I could see the numerous awards the patisserie had won over the years, there was a lovely organic store in town and numerous cafes. Bowral has certainly thrived over the years.

Biota Dining is located only a few minutes out of the town centre. There was so much green around the restaurant, with lovely ducks and geese hanging around the pond, a herb garden and a vegetable garden right next to the restaurant.

I was excited to get the chance to dine here. I have heard so much about the restaurant and their emphasis on supporting local farmers and growers. It was great to have a table close to the kitchen so we could see what was happening in the epicentre of any restaurant. I didn't realise until then there was a lounge area off the main restaurant which serves tapas style dishes. Will try that next time as the dishes being served for the lounge diners looked really interesting.

Back to my dining experience. There was a choice of 3 course menu, 5 course menu or 7 course menu. I wanted to try everything so I voted for the 7 course and DD went along. How could he not!

First up was Salmon jerky - yummy! It was salty, absolutely addictive! It definitely got the taste buds going.

Then there was in-house churned butter with sourdough bread. Then a very fascinating and truly delicious was served. It was Bottleneck squid with ink and blackened cucumber.

The second dish was Sheep milk curds, with asparagus, hen yolk, smoked rye with fresh pasta. There were slivers of bottarga in the dish too. OMG, this dish was the dish of the day as far as I am concerned. The textures and flavours were just delightful.

Then we had Trout, with squash, samphire, truffle sand and mussels. The truffle sand was quite salty which in turn lifted up the subtle flavours of the gently poached trout.

The next dish was the Duck with cauliflower, white raisins, pear and pine needles. Visually quite pleasing and a lovely dish to boot.