Included with part of our package when staying at Te Waonui was breakfast and dinner at Canopy Restaurant. This is open to the public as well, not just people staying at the hotel (at least for dinner), so it can get a bit packed, and making a reservation ahead of time is definitely suggested. The main dining room upstairs is relatively spacious, with a nice view of the 'rainforest' courtyard. We were also seated downstairs one night, which was posited as being a quieter, more relaxing experience for hotel guests, but I found the service to be noticeably worse, probably because you had waiters having to bus things from upstairs; as such, it took a bit longer for food to come out. Overall, the service was decent, although there was a wide variety - some waiters would take the time to explain what was in the dishes, while others would simply put the food in front of us and walk away. I asked one waitress where 'New Zealand oysters' (as described on the menu) came from, and she had to go ask someone in the kitchen...so while it is posited as a high-end dining experience, the wait staff definitely did not match that quality.
That pretty much extended to the food as well. A brief note on breakfast - it's a pretty standard buffet, with mostly Western-style options (e.g. scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns), along with a couple of Asian options (like fried rice). Overall, it was decent, with the locally-caught smoked salmon being a highlight...the fried rice was also okay, and the scrambled eggs were very good the second day (they were overcooked the first morning we were here). The juice isn't fresh-squeezed; I sampled the orange juice, and it definitely was from concentrate out of a carton, so that was a mild disappointment.
Dinner, as part of the hotel booking, was a 5-course degustation menu. It sounds great on paper, but the portion sizes are on the bigger side. On both nights, we ended up completely stuffed...so as paradoxical as it might sound, I would actually prefer if the dishes were made to be a bit smaller. I also think this would help the chef and the rest of the kitchen staff focus on tightening up the dishes. My main negative comment about the food was that almost every dish was way, way too busy - too many sauces and garnishes that might make for a colorful dish but made it very difficult to get a consistent experience across the entire dish. A couple examples would be the NZ oysters (which turned out to be from Bluff) - while they didn't seem super-fresh, adding radish, anchovies, and caviar served to really make it a muddled, generally salty bite that did not have a strong presence of flavor one way or the other (if anything, the anchovies were what stood out). The sous vide venison rib I had the second night suffered from the same issue - it was served with both venison jus and with a beet reduction, served on separate sides of the plate, and they did not mix well together. The second comment I had would be that some of the quality of the dishes did not seem as well-done as others. The salmon was done really well, for example - probably one of my favorite dishes we had for dinner - but the venison rib that I had seemed a bit undercooked, with a good portion of the meat not really being edible. The grouper ceviche, aside from being doused in way too much aioli, simply was not a fresh cut of fish at all; it was extremely chewy, and the pieces were way too big. The sous vide duck breast was also a bit undercooked - too chewy.
That said, there were some bright spots. As mentioned, the salmon was very well-done. The soba noodles in green tea broth was a very simple yet delicious dish, with subtle flavors that were a nice prelude to the main course. The crepe dessert, served with manuka honey and almond ice cream, paired really well together and provided a sweet (but not overly sweet) finish to our meal the last night here. The night before, my pumpkin bavarois was very good as well, with the pumpkin, nutmeg, and molasses infused into a panna cotta-like dessert, making it a bit more aromatic and spiced relative to most meal-enders.
As part of staying at Te Waonui, the food was adequate; if I was staying somewhere else, though, I would probably come here once, and I would probably cut down on the number of courses ordered, as the prices are definitely on the higher side. I also think that if the dishes were less varied in the absolutely quantity of ingredients that seem to be jammed into every dish, it would also result in a dining experience that feels less cluttered and more straightforward and enjoyable to experience. read more