This Stunning Queenstown Restaurant Has Been Refreshed Just in Time for Summer

Two top chefs from Amisfield are behind a new menu serving up quail ravioli, blue cod tacos and woodfired cheesecake.
Stephen Heard
December 16, 2020

The restaurant at Jack's Point is set in a stunning, post card-worthy location. The dining room sits on the edge of Lake Tewa at the base of Queenstown's dramatic Remarkables mountain range, alongside one of the world's most spectacular golf courses.

Top chefs Mathieu Lagarde and Vaughan Mabee have now joined the bill to offer fresh eyes on the existing restaurant. Chef Lagarde comes from Paris having trained under many Michelin star chefs in Europe, and was most recently the head chef at the three-hatted Amisfield working alongside Mabee.

Produce from the rich Central Otago region is the main attraction of the new menu. Together the pair have created a menu featuring seasonal ingredients cooked over charcoal and a raw bar featuring Cloudy Bay clams and a selection of New Zealand's finest oysters.

From a coal and wood oven the pair serve up mouthwatering options across breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner, including roasted lamb ribs with smoked tamarillo barbecue sauce and woodfired cheesecake with elderflower chantilly.

Nineties hit the panini makes an appearance on the breakfast menu. Here, the flat Italian sandwich is brought into the 21st century with the likes of heirloom tomato and mozzarella, smoked salmon and crème fraiche, and cured ham with truffle mayo. Cranberry and brie have no place here.

As of writing, the menu also lists whitebait fritters, blue cod tacos and a trio of pizzas led by diamond shell clams, Spanish jamon, and buffalo stracciatella. Lagarde and Mabee's handmade pasta dishes include Bluff paua pappardelle and Canterbury quail ravioli, while the headlining proteins stretch from Rangitea wagyu rump to whole crayfish from Karatani cooked over coals.

It's all, of course, complemented by a wine list featuring Central Otago's finest drops.

Find Jack's Point Restaurant at McAdam Drive, Jack's Point, Queenstown. It's open daily from 8.30am to 7pm.

Image: Jack's Point.

Published on December 16, 2020 by Stephen Heard
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