LOCA HEROES:For Riverstone Kitchen the key to an award-winning menu, is home-grown produce

摘要

They don't do things by halves in the Smith family. When Bevan and Monique Smith decided to build a restaurant in an unlikely location - the front paddocks of the family dairy farm 15 minutes north of Oamaru - their efforts didn't stop at the restaurant door. While it was under construction they planted herbs and leafy greens in two raised beds measuring 40m x 5m, with an access path in the middle. So when the now multi-award-winning Riverstone Kitchen opened in 2006, home-grown produce was on the menu.The owners of Riverstone Kitchen - supreme winner in Cuisine magazine's New Zealand Restaurant of the Year 2010 and joint winner in its class in 2011 - are renowned for the quality and variety of the vegetables they serve. And those original garden bedshave now been increased to cover a 1.2ha area, including raised beds, orchards, playgrounds and poultry runs.