NZ a Top Foodie Destination

The past 15 years have seen a seismic shift in NZ gastro-tourism, according to  Telegraph wine columnist Susy Atkins. Since her last visit in 1992, NZ has shrugged off its reputation for “unappetising food, grim motels straight from the 1950s, and an awful lot of sheep” to become “undoubtedly … one of the top foodie destinations in the world”. On her second trip she visited the Marlborough, Nelson, Central Otago, Auckland, Hawkes Bay and Martinborough wine growing regions, and is stunned by the range of accommodation and eateries in all. “The raw ingredients (including the grapes) are a huge asset, of course, and the best – often Asian-influenced – restaurants do a brilliant job of matching the local aromatic wines to their ultra-fresh, famously nutritious dishes. Accommodation ranges from thoroughly modern eco-lodges to chic, upmarket city hotels, and there are plenty of appealing rural b&bs scattered around the vineyards, too.”