Dining
Tarn, and the wine bar next door
One kitchen, two rooms and a menu that changes four times a year with what Central Otago is growing. Both rooms are open to guests of the lodge and to anyone who books a table.
Tarn
A tarn is a small mountain lake, and there are several of them above the Wakatipu if you walk far enough. The name suits the room: sixty-four seats, one long window, and a kitchen that would rather do eight dishes properly than thirty adequately.
Our head chef has cooked in Queenstown for fourteen years and buys accordingly — lamb and venison from Central Otago, salmon from the Aoraki canals, stone fruit from Cromwell in February and March, vegetables from two growers in the Wakatipu Basin, cheese from Whitestone in Oamaru. What is not local is honestly labelled as such on the menu.
Breakfast is included for house guests and served until half past ten, which is late enough for anyone who was in the gaming lounge until it closed. Dinner is à la carte, with a five-course tasting menu on Friday and Saturday.
Tarn, before service
On the menu this season
| To begin | Bluff oysters, Riesling mignonette |
|---|---|
| Cured Aoraki salmon, horseradish, rye | |
| Whipped Whitestone curd, Cromwell apricots, thyme | |
| Mains | Central Otago lamb rump, kūmara, salsa verde |
| Fiordland venison, juniper, celeriac | |
| Hāpuku, brown butter, samphire | |
| Wakatipu Basin vegetables, barley, aged pecorino | |
| To finish | Poached quince, mānuka honey ice cream |
A representative menu — dishes change with the season and with what arrives that week. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and halal requirements are handled properly if you tell us when you book.
Hours
| Breakfast | 6:30 – 10:30, daily |
|---|---|
| Lunch | 12:00 – 14:30, Thursday to Sunday |
| Dinner | 18:00 – 22:00, daily |
| Tasting menu | Friday & Saturday, from 18:30 |
| Room service | 6:30 – 22:30 |
| Private dining | By arrangement, up to 18 guests |
Tables for guests of the lodge can be booked at reception or on +64 3 442 7180. Outside diners are very welcome — weekends in winter book out ten days ahead.
Lounge & Bar
The Gibbston Room
Thirty seats, a fire, and a list built almost entirely from the valley half an hour up the road — Gibbston pinot noir first and foremost, then Bannockburn, Bendigo and Alexandra, with a short international page for contrast. Around ninety labels, most of them poured by the glass through a preservation system so that a single glass of something serious is possible.
The kitchen sends out a bar menu until eleven: oysters, charcuterie from Canterbury, a cheese board, and one hot dish that changes weekly. Cocktails are classical and unhurried. There is no music after ten, on purpose.
- Open 15:00 until late, daily
- Bar menu 17:00 – 23:00
- Tastings Saturdays, 16:00, by booking
Private dining
A separate room off the main restaurant seating up to eighteen at one table, with its own service and a set menu agreed in advance. Popular for company dinners, birthdays and the night before a wedding.
Room service
A shortened Tarn menu delivered to your room from 6:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night, with a night menu of sandwiches and soup available from reception at any hour.
Events & catering
Everything served in our four event spaces comes out of the same kitchen — canapés for two hundred, plated dinners for a hundred and twenty, or breakfast for a conference at seven in the morning.
A note on alcohol
Harrier Lodge holds an on-licence under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012. We do not serve anyone under 18, anyone who is intoxicated, or anyone in the gaming lounge after 2:30 in the morning. Identification is asked for as a matter of routine, and free water, tea and coffee are always available in every room of the building.