To quote the great Kiwi satirist John Clarke, ‘We don’t know how lucky we are.’ Many a world traveller will tell you that Aotearoa New Zealand has the best food, so it’s perplexing that the Michelin Guide has never reviewed anything in the country—the French are fine having colonies in the South Pacific, but reviewing something Down Under is just a tad too hard.
One chef decided to take matters into its own hands, with an event at Kura Tawhiti (Castle Hills) at the foothills of the Southern Alps, a location that has more stars than any other—and invited 50 international tastemakers to sample the cuisine for themselves.
Said leading Kiwi chef Ben Bayly, who led the unique restaurant experience, ‘Why be satisfied with a Michelin star when you can cook under 2·5 billion of them?’
Those tastemakers included Masterchef judge Sofia Levin, Food and Wine USA’s Ashley Day, and other influencers across Asia, who travelled to Kura Tawhiti for a winter dinner when Aotearoa’s clear night skies are in sharp focus.
The restaurant was dubbed Pou-o-Kai, a name gifted by Ngāi Tuāhuriri, local tangata whenua. Aotearoa’s food identity honours people and place, rooted in kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and manaakitanga (hospitality).
Bayly, meanwhile, will rotate the dishes created for Pou-o-Kai at his restaurants (Ahi, Aosta, Origine, Little Aosta, and the Bathhouse) in Auckland, Queenstown and Arrowtown through August 2025.
More information can be found at www.newzealand.com/stargrazing.