Queenstown & Rata restaurant

Nearly a whole week now of not writing any blog as we have been having such an enetertaining time staying with Derek and Jenny in a real house with big rooms and big stairs and wonderful big views over Lake Hayes. Back in our bus now and funnily enough it seems very tiny!

Ready, Steady........!

Last Tuesday (26th) before going to Jenny and Dereks we drove into Queenstown again from 25 mile creek and spent a little time trying to find Josh Emmett's restaurant "Rata" with the thought of going for lunch or booking for dinner. Surprisingly, when we did find it about 1.00pm it was totally empty both inside and out although all the tables were set and the outside area looked very inviting with the dappled shade under the trees. They always say you should look for the busiest restaurant and this was the only quiet one we had come across but of course we decided to stay anyway and later on probably another 10-12 arrived for lunch while we were still there. I gather they are always very busy at night.
We decided on the set 4 course lunch menu which gives you a little sample of all their signature dishes as well as either a glass of Pimms or Pinot Noir for $50. Our little Argentinian waitress was great at explaining all the dishes to us and how they were prepared and it was a truly delicious meal. We were able to savour every mouthful from the delicacy of the tiny profiteroles filled with goats cheese and rata honey, to the melt-in-your-mouth ravioli and seafood, to the perfectly cooked venison and finally to the dessert which included icecream, white chocolate mousse, crumble and intricately flavoured cubes of jelly. I need the menu to do a decent description! I had been concerned that the quantity would be too much for me but the small portions were exactly right and the whole fine dining experience was wonderful.

Entree on Schist!

Josh would have been just a little perturbed to know that the chopped orange in Len's Pimms still had a bit of label stuck to it. I guess that's not as dangerous as a fishbone!

Pimms in a jar!

We stayed that night in a parking area for self contained campers by the Shotover River after doing a cycle ride firstly in the direction of Frankton only to find that the track isn't yet completed and we had to turn around. So we rode back along the track to near Lake Hayes estate, not quite getting there as it would have made one too many hills that I would have had to walk up!
In the morning we saw that the European couple with baby in a rental camper had been given a ticket as they weren't fully self contained. I guess they will stick to the camp grounds from now on.