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Sign of the Takahe Review

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Sign of the Takahe

Fodor's Review:

From this dining room halfway up the Port Hills, you'll have superb views over Christchurch and the Canterbury Plains to the Southern Alps. The castlelike structure was part of an early-1900s plan to build a series of inns along the Summit Road, all the way to Akaroa. The plan was only partially realized, and now the building is a long-standing local favorite restaurant for its silver-service style and reinterpretations of classic Kiwi dishes. Try the beef fillet Takahe, marinated in soy and sake, or the seared scallops with oysters, spinach, exotic mushrooms, and lemon soy. There's also spiced duo of lamb served with garlic and chicken-liver rice and a coconut-cream-and-chili sauce. Between courses, you can admire the display of the coats-of-arms of many of the earliest European families to settle in Canterbury, and also of some early NZ leaders -- it's the largest such exhibit in the Southern Hemisphere.

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