Food & wine critics raise their hats to Elephant Hill

TOP JOB: Elephant Hill Restaurant Manager Robert Ferbar and Executive Chef Ashley Jones say winning Cuisine magazine's Good Food Guide Best Winery Restaurant title was a shared effort. PHOTO/PAUL TAYLOR HBT142410-01

On a warm winter's day, with sunshine soaking a side deck and glinting playfully on a rippling outdoor pool, it's easy to see why Te Awanga's Elephant Hill has been named New Zealand's Best Winery Restaurant.

The recent Cuisine magazine Good Food Awards saw a panel of expert judges eat anonymously at 80 restaurants throughout the country, scoring them out of 20 for a combination of food, ambience and service. Those with top ratings were then revisited to determine the overall winners.

Elephant Hill gained an impressive 15.5 out of 20 earning them the prestigious Best Winery Restaurant title - something their hard-working team had been aiming for.

"It's fantastic, everybody is invested in growing the reputation of Elephant Hill to where it needs to be and that's at the top," Executive Chef Ashley Jones said.

"We like to pretend it's a surprise but deep down we were hoping that all the work we put in over the past year would pay off," Restaurant Manager Robert Ferbar added.

A Cuisine expert summarised the restaurant as having smart surrounds, sea views and great food, but behind the scenes there were plenty of other factors at work.

"It's just about day to day consistency and quality, those are the biggest things," Mr Jones said.

A chef's hat rating system already used by Good Food Guides in Australia, was adopted by Cuisine this year.

Its significance was not lost on Mr Jones: "the hat is recognised internationally, I started off at hatted restaurants in Sydney, so to have that awarded to us in New Zealand is quite something," he said.

Elephant Hill has featured in the Good Food Guide for about four years, but this was the first time they had won a category.

It was too soon to say whether the award would be a boost for business.

"I think it will be interesting to see how it goes, I think it will be a slow trickle, I don't think it will be immediate - but it's all part of the growth."

An aside to the award, was a sophisticated winter F.A.W.C! Chefs in Homes event, being held tonight.

People get the opportunity to step inside The Lodge, an exclusive home situated behind Elephant Hill where Mr Jones will prepare a sublime seven course dinner.

"It will be a fairly casual thing where people can watch us cook and ask questions, " he said.