Northland Age
  • Northland Age home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
  • Opinion
  • Kaitaia weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northland Age

Taipa resort wins another plate

By Peter Jackson
Editor·Northland Age·
27 Dec, 2017 09:31 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Ramada Resort Reia Taipa Beach head chef Gareth Irwin (right) and sous chef Sam Doherty-Walker with the resort's Beef and Lamb excellence award.

Ramada Resort Reia Taipa Beach head chef Gareth Irwin (right) and sous chef Sam Doherty-Walker with the resort's Beef and Lamb excellence award.

Ramada Resort Reia Taipa Beach head chef Gareth Irwin and his staff are bracing themselves for the busiest time of the year, with the knowledge that they stand alongside the best in the restaurant business.

The resort has won a Beef and Lamb Excellence Award, its second in three years, after an exhaustive process that included twice hosting mystery judges.

"It's good to have on the wall," Mr Irwin said last week of the decorative plate now proudly displayed.

"It shows that we know what we're doing."

It actually means rather more than that. Beef and Lamb NZ says the awards acknowledge a consistently high standard of beef and lamb cuisine. Restaurants are not compared with each other in the assessment process, but are judged on their individual merits.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Whenever you see the Beef and Lamb Excellence Award, you can expect tasty, skilfully composed and superbly presented beef and lamb dishes," it says.

Mr Irwin, an Aucklander who arrived at Taipa via Australia little over two years ago, after his predecessor had collected the resort's first award, said that while the preparation and presentation of the dishes — in Taipa's case black beef cheek and herb-encrusted lamb rump — were obviously critical, success demanded excellence from the entire team.

That included the waiting staff, who the judges expected to display considerable knowledge of what they were serving.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Meanwhile, he already had his sights on another award in 2018 — "It's a nice challenge," he said — confident that his team would once again meet the required standard.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northland Age

Northland Age

Invasive sea spurge found at Spirits Bay, threatening native plants

Northland Age

Kaikohe to welcomes two officers in unity ceremony at marae

Northland Age

'Grateful no one was killed': Man clambers on campervan to rescue pensioner hurt in twister


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northland Age

Invasive sea spurge found at Spirits Bay, threatening native plants
Northland Age

Invasive sea spurge found at Spirits Bay, threatening native plants

Sea spurge, an invasive weed, was found at Spirits Bay, 60km from the nearest site.

16 Jul 04:00 AM
Kaikohe to welcomes two officers in unity ceremony at marae
Northland Age

Kaikohe to welcomes two officers in unity ceremony at marae

16 Jul 02:00 AM
'Grateful no one was killed': Man clambers on campervan to rescue pensioner hurt in twister
Northland Age

'Grateful no one was killed': Man clambers on campervan to rescue pensioner hurt in twister

15 Jul 03:26 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northland Age e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to The Northland Age
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northland Age
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP