I was recommended Toast & Oak by a friend on my trip to New Zealand and they gave me probably one of the best meals of my life. I made a reservation in advance but when I came in around 6pm on a Friday night there were till plenty of tables available. I ordered the Chef's Favorites ($105NZD), and then I also ordered a Lavender Cowboy Cocktail ($27NZD). Let me just say just 1 of that cocktail definitely kept me buzzed throughout the whole meal.
For the first course I had this fried date in tempura batter. Then, the next dish had 3 pieces of toast, each with different items on them. I'm assuming it's one of each of the ones in their "To Toast" menu, so one had mussels & fennel, one had aubergine & sesame, and the last one has beef tartare and yolk. The next one was their pappardella and fungi, which was probably my favorite dish of the whole meal. Next was this octopus with wakame seaweed, along with a piece of sourdough bread with two different butters. Then they gave me some wagyu beef with a potato terrine. For pre-dessert they gave me this fried parmesean in rolled egg white. And then finally for dessert they gave me this ice cream with pears and cinnamon.
For the price this dinner was amazing. Each dish was only a few bites, but especially with the sourdough bread it was enough to fill me up for the night. Every dish was uniquely seasoned and were flavor combinations that I've never had before.
Service was great. They constantly checked up on me, kept my water glass full, and kept the plates cleared out as soon as I was finished with them. The whole meal took maybe about an hour, but they did say that it usually takes about 2 hours. It was probably faster for me because I came by myself.
I had a lovely time here and I would definitely be recommending this place to anyone visiting Queenstown. And if I ever come back to New Zealand, I will be making another reservation here first chance I get. read more