A tour of the best and brightest of Ōtautahi Christchurch’s dining scene.
Don’t tell Wellington, but Christchurch has quietly slipped into second place in the competition for New Zealand’s best-eating city. Ōtautahi has always done pretty well in the mid-range – solid bistros, pan-Asian shared
I recently wrote about Inati – a high-end restaurant where chef Simon Levy creates dishes fit for a magazine cover. Alongside his bucket-list-worthy tasting menu is a real devotion to the North Canterbury wine region, which I think other Christchurch restaurants will grow into as the culinary scene develops. On my most recent trip I ran into Simon with his family at Pegasus Bay vineyard – he was dropping in to pick up some grapes for one of his kitchen projects. During the international pinot noir conference earlier in the year he contacted all the major local wineries and convinced them to send something special over so that he had plenty to wow overseas media by the glass. I love the idea of Christchurch city being an impromptu cellar door for the wider region, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of this on future trips.
All the recommendations that follow are my personal favourites, but if I had to pick somewhere unmissable it would be Child Sister, an unassuming brunch spot where service is efficient bordering on stern, but the food is out of this world. Order the kimchi fried rice omelette then come back for the breakfast sando. Their coffee is fantastic, too.
One of our first dinners was at Bar Yoku, a Japanese Izakaya-style eatery a few minutes’ drive from the main restaurant precinct. I’d walked past Yoku before (while picking up lunch at the excellent Grizzly Baked Goods inside the same building) and always felt envious of the people parked up with a cold beer and a plate of sushi. So I made the most of this visit, choosing one of the horigotatsu sunken tables and ordering almost everything on the menu. The staff are really lovely, there’s a proper Tokyo vibe to the room (the owner is a Japan-ophile and has done his best to recreate some of the best aspects of the decor and service) and I could have really stuck around and tied one on if I wasn’t already late for my second dinner.
Yes, it is a sad professional reality that sometimes while on assignment in another city I am forced to eat four or more meals in a day. And there was no way I was going to miss this one – a collaboration dinner at Gatherings featuring Masterchef Australia winner Nat Thaipun. Nat will have already returned to her glamorous global career by the time you get to Gatherings but the collab event was a good example of the energy that restaurant, owned by chef Alex Davies, puts into everything it does. The dining room is intimate and the menu exciting – Alex coaxes maximum flavour from the barrow of market-fresh ingredients he delivers to the kitchen every day. The food is supported by a fantastic, local-dominated winelist and you’ll need to book early to get in. Look out for a more casual bar out the back which is due to open any day.
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Advertise with NZME.We had a phenomenally good lunch at Montreal, a hotel restaurant with such a good local reputation, it’s feeding as many walk-ups as guests. There is a huge amount of international experience in the kitchen, and they bring a unique flair to familiar dishes. I loved the deep-fried kimchi sushi, loaded up with indulgent condiments, while a late summer caprese-style salad featured an ice-cold scoop of basil sorbet on top.
If you can find time for a side trip to Akaroa you won’t be disappointed. A new winery-restaurant called Caldera – on the outskirts of the town – offers elevated views of the harbour from the dining room and a big sunny deck where you can enjoy a glass of wine before your food arrives. Owner Tony Anderson was a plasterer before this foray into hospitality, and his warm, down-to-earth personality infuses the whole operation. Meanwhile, in the kitchen his head chef creates wonderful bistro-style meals you can match with an extensive range of house wines. I recommend the lamb shoulder (perfect for sharing with a glass of pinot noir) and the souffle, made with local Barry’s Bay aged cheddar (you can visit their factory on the way to Akaroa).
In the evening, we ate at Ma Maison, a fantastic waterfront restaurant where (among other things) you can enjoy a great South Island delicacy: blue cod, cooked in a simple tempura here and one of the best things we ate.
The next day we made it back to the city for a late lunch at Cellar Door, truly one of Christchurch’s great culinary experiences. You must make some time for an extended visit at this wine bar inside the historic Arts Centre, where the owner is devoted to sharing his extensive cellar with the world. A “wine flights” experience combined with a Coravin system means you can taste from dozens of special bottles, alongside food that makes you feel as though you never want to leave. Flights are grouped by region, style, or sometimes more creative themes – part of the fun is picking which one you’ll go for (where else can you try four quarter-glasses of fresh bubbles for around the same price as a glass?).
That evening we visited Manu, an opulent pan-Asian (with flashes of the Pacific) restaurant operated by the equally glamorous Karen Hattaway. It is her seventh restaurant (as she told me her story I thought of the famous Godfather line: “just when I thought I was out, they drag me back in”) and her experience and grace pervade the whole restaurant. The cocktails (and mocktails) are a real feature here, and the food is wonderful.
I recommend the rēwana bread, served in a woven basket with chilli mānuka butter, and the “Kaimoana Laksa”, a Malaysian seafood curry soup that arrives in an ornate iron bowl. The whole restaurant is over the top in the best sort of way and, even better, it’s open seven days a week. Karen will truly never rest.
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Advertise with NZME.If all this is sounding too much to you, you could always act like an American tourist and book an Āmiki cultural food tour. Run by the personable Riwai Grace, the tours come in a range of shapes and sizes but generally include a multi-restaurant experience of his choice, sometimes with other guests in your party. Riwai is on something of a foodie journey himself and enjoys the chance to show off favourite city restaurants while making pleasant conversation with guests and sharing his own takes on the world.
We had a great day in Waipara wine country, less than an hour north of Christchurch on State Highway 1. There are all sorts of places to stop but the crown jewel for food-lovers is Black Estate, a wonderful restaurant overlooking the rows of vines doing their quiet magic. The building is almost rustic – the floor is simple decking and there are few architectural flourishes – but the menu would easily sit alongside the best bistros of Auckland.
The dishes are exceptionally pretty, garnished with fresh herbs and flowers from the garden, and the chef’s tasting menu (four courses plus extras, with an optional wine match) is the way to go if you have time. If not, make sure you try the fish – butterflied whole and grilled. You should also take the opportunity to try some of the estate wines which are otherwise hard to find. They do multiple Pet-Nats, for example, and we quickly ordered two glasses of the Netherwood after sampling it at Cellar Door restaurant the previous day.
(Earlier in the year, I hosted Christchurch’s Pinot Noir 2025, a showcase of New Zealand’s best red wine for a coterie of international guests. One of them was New York Times journalist Eric Asimov, who made a beeline for Black Estate and spent several hours onsite doing tastings with the owners. As I write this he hasn’t published his discoveries to the world, so you may want to buy their wine while you still can!)
If you’re still in the mood for a serious tasting, make plans to stop at Pegasus Bay, a sprawling estate of grapes and gardens representing the dream of the Donaldsons, who started planting vines in the mid-1970s and whose sons now run most of the business. Ivan Donaldson is the patriarch but his wife Chris can take much of the credit – it was she who first bought him a book about winegrowing, and while he toiled in the fields she somehow managed to raise four boys while planting a legacy garden.
Visitors to Pegasus Bay are now the beneficiaries. The saplings Chris planted are now tall trees, while new projects continue to be installed year-round. It’s a beautiful environment to drink pinot and enjoy treats from the onsite deli – but if you’re serious about finding that perfect bottle you can do a tasting inside. Hopefully they’ll be showing the Bel Canto, a dry riesling that recently won an international Battle Royale – facing down 32 specially selected international vintages to be named the best wine in the world.
Is that enough recommendations to get you started? I haven’t even mentioned Londo, a brilliant food and wine bar next to Gatherings. Or Lillies, a pizzeria and cidery the locals are willing to queue for. Christchurch has too much good food to eat in one weekend, but you’ll have a lot of fun giving it a go.
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