Very nice restaurant up above Hokitika a bit. Seems to be off the beaten path, given that it's not in Yelp (until I wrote this review) and is also outside of the city proper. We we advised to visit by the owner of our Airbnb, and we made reservations (that didn't seem necessary, it was just us and one other party) before visiting. Your mileage may vary on reservations.
Their menu is small - only about 5 mains. They have quite a few accolades on their website regarding their beef and lamb offerings, so I went with the lamb fillets, which were three smaller pieces of lamb, ordered medium rare, rubbed with some middle eastern spices and served over some greens and cumin infused feta. The lamb was good - although came out borderline cool in the center, more rare than medium rare (although this was fine with me). Good although mild flavor, and I liked the spice rub. The salad was a little boring - there wasn't a ton of feta, but it was a nice accompaniment. There was also a little mashed potato croquette thing - a nice little crust on it, quite tasty. We also ordered a side of the cucumber fennel salad, which was exceptionally boring. Needed salt, vinegar, something, anything to bring out a little flavor. There was also very little fennel - I was imagining sliced or cubed fennel bulb, but it was really just fennel greens. But all in all, quite tasty meal. Others had the filo chicken - sort of a chicken roll with bacon, peppers, cream cheese, and almonds, wrapped in filo dough. This was really excellent, tender and moist, good balance of flavors, with a great kind of yogurt dressing.
The location is pretty picturesque - not quite overlooking the ocean, but the sunset was really lovely on a nice weather day. The hotel/restaurant are set on some almost pasture land, with a scenic little water wheel...just kind of an idyllic setting. I would recommend this to anyone in the area looking for a little nicer meal than some of the spots in town (not that there's anything really wrong with what I had from restaurants in town). read more