Jesse Mulligan Restaurant Review: Arbour In Blenheim Might Be The Best Restaurant In New Zealand

Jesse finds ‘excellence at a level of detail rarely seen before’ at this 20/20 restaurant.

This might be the best restaurant in New Zealand.

I say this with no disrespect to the many beautiful Auckland restaurants I’ve visited over the years. But Arbour is doing excellence at a level of detail I’ve rarely seen before.

Its closest comparison up here is the wonderful Paris Butter, but the owners of Arbour have a couple of advantages due to their location, on the edge of a vineyard 10 minutes from Blenheim. They have the space to create a lighted garden and entryway that feel magical before you’ve even stepped through the door. And their proximity to and shared history with the local winegrowers have culminated in a “wine shed” of special bottles, each with their own story.

Before each service, co-owner Liz Buttimore gathers with the core crew and they decide which bottles to open for guests that night. What will go well with the food? What will go well with the season? I lucked into a meal timed just after Arbour’s 10th birthday celebrations, so my selection was dominated by wines bottled in 2015 (if you’ve never tasted a great sauvignon blanc of that age before, put it on your bucket list – it turns into something very special).

The dining room is quiet but not stiflingly so. Post-Covid, they’ve chosen to take fewer guests each night, which means plenty of space for tables or, in my case, a comfy nook with loads of cushions and a view of the room. A combination of living plants and dried arrangements decorate the space, and masterful service is delivered by Liz and another waiter, plus a chef dedicated to bringing each course to you from the kitchen.

It’s a tasting menu-only situation, which won’t suit everybody but I don’t have any problem with it at a destination restaurant like this. Did you fly to Blenheim, book a hotel then make a special trip out into the countryside for dinner, so that you could tell a great chef what he should be cooking? No. You surrender to the experience and order the wine match too – there is a “rare and unique vintages” option which costs more but which I strongly recommend if your budget allows.

Spring’s first baby asparagus, chopped to matchstick length, bundled with truffle-scented mascarpone and wrapped in a thin buckwheat crepe; a first mouthful of “Troy’s” hāpuka, hauled out of Cook Strait and served tartare (the fish would reappear in a later dish, served in an emulsion of poaching stock and butter with a fine dice of green apple and pickled celeriac). The third snack was a tiny puff pastry pie, deep-fried and filled with a chickpea custard, spiked with chorizo.

You’ll have gathered that this is the sort of food that takes longer to describe than it does to eat. I didn’t become a restaurant reviewer to bore my readers with unending accounts of what was on my plate, but to give you a sense of the menu I’ll mention a couple of other favourite moments: a venison “marmalade” served over a creamy porcini risotto, and a study of lamb featuring leg, shoulder and neck – that last cut glazed “char siu” BBQ style in an inventive Asian flourish from the chef.

With degustation dining you inevitably enjoy the earlier dishes more than the later ones. That rich risotto took a lot of finishing (helped by a 10-year-old pinot) and I was seriously starting to fade by the last mouthful of lamb. I don’t know if there’s any way around that but my advice is to arrive hungry and take your time – this is best treated as an event more than a meal.

Ridiculously, the moment I decided this was my favourite New Zealand restaurant was when I visited the bathrooms, and saw the locking mechanism, which is a tiny loop of rope hooked over a crafted hook. It had a considered permanence that flows right throughout the restaurant, and every time you think you’ve got your head around what they’re doing here, there’ll be a little surprise which shows how much thought they’ve put into your meal.

This happened again at dessert when, instead of serving a sweet wine (does anybody really look forward to a sticky at that stage of the evening?), Liz arrived at my table with a cocktail.

“On the day we bought the restaurant, we drove out here to receive the keys but there was nobody here – no lawyers, no real estate agents – so we stood here wondering what to do,” Liz told me. “Suddenly a kōtuku [white heron] appeared, and stood with us for around 10 minutes before flying away again. We’ve never seen one here since.”

“So this drink is called the kōtuku, as a tribute to that moment.”

Arbour

Cuisine: Fine dining

Address: 36 Godfrey Rd, Blenheim, ph 03 572 7989

Reservations: Accepted

Contact: Arbour.co.nz

Drinks: Fully licensed

From the menu: “The Many” tasting menu $139

Rating: 20/20

Score: 0-7 Steer clear. 8-12 Disappointing, give it a miss. 13-15 Good, give it a go. 16-18 Great, plan a visit. 19-20 Outstanding, don’t delay.

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