Amisfield

The intersection of charcuterie and taxidermy is not a space most chefs would dare occupy, but Vaughan Mabee has built a career there and turned it into something close to art. Perched on the hills above Queenstown, Amisfield is both laboratory and lodge, where New Zealand’s wilderness becomes the medium for a kind of culinary storytelling few can match.

Mabee hunts, forages and collaborates with microbiologists to create dishes that are as cerebral as they are delicious. You might be served what looks like a duck’s head, its beak fashioned from consommé, its skull filled with rillettes and liver, its plumage implied rather than shown. He calls it “flying salami”; diners call it unforgettable. The theatre is undeniable, but what keeps Amisfield aloft is flavour, delivered with startling precision and a sense of humour that stops the spectacle from tipping into madness.

It’s high concept without pretension, and high country without cliché, a restaurant that could only exist here, at the far edge of the world.

Tatler Tip

Can’t snag a seat? Try Jack’s Point, the championship-course restaurant where Mabee’s touch runs subtler, less flying salami, more burgers, fried chicken and eggs Benedict, but the care remains the same.