Conde Nast Traveller 2012 Gold List – Best Hotels for Food
Condé Nast Traveller compiles a yearly “Gold List” of hotels based on the best of the best in a specific category. The categories are – best location, best ambience & design, the best rooms, best service, best leisure facilities and the best food. Why not experience some culinary masterpieces during your next holiday starting here in New Zealand and then add some of the Condé Nast Traveller 2012 ‘best hotels for food’ to your list of must stay places. We are able to book all the 2012 Gold List hotels and their restaurants.
New Zealand….The Farm, Cape Kidnappers
Set on a 6,000-acre working sheep and cattle farm in the Hawke’s Bay wine region, this 22-suite luxury resort – which also includes a four-bedroom Owner’s Cottage – is famed for its spectacular, Tom Doak-designed golf course. Most of the suites are clustered on either side of the main lodge (designed in a ‘farm-chic’ style), which contains four Lodge Suites. The spa, on a hillside above the lodge, has three treatment rooms. Activities include quad-bike tours of the farm, visits to the local gannet colony and mountain-biking. Group chef Dale Gartland and head chef Tim Pickering’s menus feature local produce, much of which comes from the lodge’s own vegetable garden and also includes local seafood, beef and lamb. The wine list is excellent.
Australia….Cape Lodge, Margaret River
This charming boutique hotel is set in its own vineyard in Western Australia’s Margaret River wine region. It has 22 bedrooms and suites decorated in a contemporary style and showcasing original works by top Australian artists, as well as a two-bedroom cottage and five-bedroom villa in the grounds. There are tennis courts and a pool. Wine and gourmet tours, cookery classes, horse-riding, fishing and eco-tours into the bush are all available. The gorgeous Cape Lodge Margaret River Restaurant, where chef Tony Howell cooks contemporary Australian cuisine with a Mediterranean twist, has a 14,000-bottle cellar. ‘There may be hipper places to eat among the vineyards,’ says Gold List contributor Mike Dolan. ‘But nowhere else showcases Australian cuisine with such finesse and flavour.’