Christchurch and Canterbury Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Christchurch and Canterbury - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in Christchurch and Canterbury - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
This restaurant's laneway setting and beautifully restored two-level building gives it a London pub feel. With food and drinks to suit all tastes, it's a popular hangout for locals day and night. Plush dining rooms and a wide covered veranda lead to a manicured garden that is also a year-round source of produce for this busy kitchen. The pizzas are hard to skip (try the salmon), and the lime-and-coriander-crusted fish is a treat. Staff go out of their way to make you feel at home for brunch, lunch, dinner, or a drink anytime. The emphasis here is on seafood, vegetarian, and vegan dishes. The Dux also brews its own acclaimed beers.
Don't be fooled by the unassuming alleyway outside: this chic restaurant and bar delivers fine Asian fusion cuisine on all levels. It's hard to recommend particular dishes because they are all exquisitely prepared and taste so good, served in a striking, seductive setting. Try the spinach leaf with roasted coconut, peanuts, garlic, chili, and lime for a stunning starter or the light, crunchy texture of moong dal and mixed seed salad with fresh lime and avocado. The sticky beef wontons are popular but save room for the equally delicious main courses to follow. There's a good selection of wine and, of course, fabulous cocktails. The restaurant is offset from the road, so keep your eyes peeled to find it. If you can't get a table at this popular spot, head to the bar and check out the snack menu so you don't miss out altogether.
It's well worth making the journey to this award-winning haven for honest food, made from scratch by passionate people, using local organic and biodynamic ingredients. The philosophy here is all about bringing high-quality produce to the table, from the owners' garden, preserve cellar, and foraged nature. The degustation menu from the open kitchen includes seasonal specialties like blackfoot paua (abalone), Muscovy duck, wagyu beef, long-line caught fish, and guinea fowl.
It's worth the climb 27 steps to this stylish European bistro, consistently rated one of New Zealand's best and situated on New Regent Street's heritage row. The welcoming staff delivers stand-out dishes (including several excellent vegan options) made with a wide variety of fresh local produce, including Canterbury beef, lamb, Te Tapu venison, and Akaroa salmon. A generous wine cellar, with an emphasis on Waipara locals, is tucked into the snug cocktail bar.
Set in the heart of Christchuch's dining haven, The Terrace, this rain-forest-inspired restaurant combines delicious food with friendly service. Behind the busy bar is an opulent dining area with an open kitchen where you can watch the talented chefs create Mediterranean-style dishes.
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Named after a notorious American pirate, this modern restaurant occupies a great site overlooking the yachts moored in the harbor. New Zealand cuisine is highlighted, and there are light and full-size main courses for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all year round.
Set in a retro-vintage shop on MacMillan Street, you'll find treasures herealong with their legendary bacon-and-egg sandwiches and excellent coffee. Grab a granola breakfast here and a muffin for later.
This cozy haunt is packed with locals who come for the tasty tapas-style food, produced in a tiny kitchen, and the excellent cocktails. There's an eclectic selection of international and New Zealand wines, spirits, and craft beers.
Here you can dine in a 1920s Tudor-style house, looking out on the Botanic Gardens and the Peacock Fountain, or take a garden table and be part of it. The menu has tapas selections and a good variety of seafood, with owner–chef Javier Garcia producing authentic Spanish cuisine evoking an old-world atmosphere. Try the Cordero Asado (slow roasted alpine lamb shoulder) or something a bit lighter like the Spanish Paella served in its pan. The kitchen garden supplies herbs, berries, and vegetables to the restaurant, and they have a strong environmental policy to keep things green.
One of the city's most beautiful pieces of architecture also houses one its most popular cafés. Christchurch Botanic Gardens's rare plants and nurseries sit alongside a busy dining room in this modern take on a glass conservatory. With their own vegetables and herbs just outside, the ilex chefs are no doubt inspired by the 52 acres surrounding them. Line up with the locals for well-priced and inventive seasonal soups, pies, and salads washed down with organic soda or a glass of wine. The clever cakes and desserts-in-a jar taste as good as they look. On a fine day grab a picnic blanket from the friendly staff and spread out on the impressive lawn.
Tucked away down a side street off the main road, this cute little café with a red door is packed with country locals and is fast becoming a popular visitor stop, too. Besides the great coffee, there's also an excellent selection of well-priced baked goods, including delicious muffins, and a tasty brunch menu to suit all appetites.
Well-known for its excellent coffee available in many Christchurch cafés, this is the home of the legendary roastery and plenty of hearty fare to match. Great service and an arty atmosphere mean this heritage building is buzzing from early morning until late afternoon every day.
Acclaimed around the country as having some of the best fish-and-chips available, this takeout-style eatery often has queues out the door. The deep-fried fish is served with a big side of perfectly cooked chips and a big chunk of lemon, or try the ciabatta fish sandwich from the wharfside caravan. But watch the seagulls, who also seem to like the fish-and-chips—a lot.
In a renovated villa on the main road into Hanmer, No. 31 serves exceptional food. Its well-established local chef specializes in modern New Zealand cuisine, using the best local produce, offered with a selection of wines from the Waipara–Hanmer area. Candlelit, moody, and romantic inside, you can also dine alfresco in summer.
This predominantly seafood restaurant is renowned for its creative, conceptual New Zealand cuisine. From the moment you set foot into the white space-age foyer at the George Hotel, taste buds are tantalized with local, seasonally influenced and sustainably sourced ingredients. Choose from the à la carte or degustation menu and enjoy some unusual pairings (think celery sorbet with chocolate). There's an extensive wine list to accompany the interesting food.
Now a popular café for locals, the Powerhouse building used to contain a small hydroelectric generator that supplied power to the old Queen Mary Hospital and a few streetlights. Today, it opens at 8 am offering a great brunch menu to suit all tastes with local and free-range ingredients used in dishes that are all house-made.
A great place to get a coffee fix, this hip café is styled with a utilitarian look based on a distinctive red-and-white grid pattern. Careful attention to detail is evident on the food side, too, with simple house-made, organic, and locally sourced breakfast and lunch dishes. Countertop goodies are served with excellent coffee, sodas, shakes, and smoothies. Sit at the communal bar or smart wooden tables.
This eatery's clever take on Asian fusion has won rave reviews from locals thanks to its selection of carefully crafted dishes that are perfect for sharing. It's set in the beautiful Old Royal Hotel Building on the waterfront, and the atmosphere is stylish and relaxed.
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