The Treetops Dining Room
This is a unique, personal encounter with Treetops gamekeepers and specialist wild food chefs on this 2500 -acre year-round lush wilderness estate and 2019 winner of the World Travel Awards - Australasia Responsible Tourism Award. Treetops 'Estate to Plate' philosophy, created by the dedicated team of chefs featuring ingredients reared or grown on this vast estate is near 100% pesticide free. These include world-class game and trout and also highlight estate-grown fruit and vegetables plus unique native herbs from the forest. Also offered is a superb wine cellar of New Zealand and world wines, with expert advice on making the best possible matches.
Every morning our chef sources from the estate garden and meets with our resident gamekeeper to select game and fish ingredients for the day. By late morning he is at his desk crafting dishes to the preferred tastes of that night's guests. The menus are European contemporary, using simple techniques to bring out the clear, fresh flavours – but remember every season is different and so with the dishes.
Guided by our chef, guests are encouraged to try 100% pesticide free and organic heritage varieties of indigenous and seasonal vegetables; native spinach (tetragonia), kumera, fresh turmeric, wasabi, native cress, and an abundance of fruit trees. Our own Manuka honey aviaries produce wild native comb honey of exceptional flavour, and the estate rears wild deer; red, fallow, sika, wapiti (elk) and water buffalo, wild pig, sheep, rabbit, pheasant, partridge, geese, duck, rainbow, and brown trout. We offer guests a Wild Food Cooking School commencing with native ingredient gathering in the pristine wilderness of Treetop's 800-year-old forest but this does need to be booked in advance.