Eat Your Way Over The Remutakas

July 12, 2019

Visa Wellington On a Plate is a great excuse for a road trip. Round up your foodie friends, get out of the city and explore those out-of-town eateries you’ve always been meaning to try. This week we head over the Remutakas to the vineyards and olive groves of the Wairarapa.

We’ve rounded up a selection of Wairarapa Visa WOAP Festival Events, Burger Welly burgers and a couple of Festival Dishes and Cocktail Wellys for good measure, to make your road trip planning easy.

Festival Events

Hands-on

Get that bread (or make it) and take a baking class at the home of New Zealand’s best bread (officially!), The Clareville Bakery. Learn to bake your own award-winning loaf at Roll It and Fold It or try your hand at the perfect croissants with Layer Upon Layer. Both events include wine and cheese, plus you get to take home all your baked creations.

If meaty issues are more your thing, head to Head’s Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Knees and Toes) at Peppers Parehua Martinborough and join a hands-on butchery session and tutorial on how to prepare a pig’s head, shoulders, knees and, you guessed it... toes!

The finer things

Get a taste of the world’s most famous and exclusive dessert wine at the Château d’Yquem Degustation at Union Square in Martinborough. Spend an afternoon roaming the olive grove, blending your own oil and enjoying a two-course lunch at Olea Estate for An Extra Virgin Affair. Or learn about and, of course, indulge on truffles over a sophisticated six-course dinner prepared by Michelin Star Chef, Adam Newell at All About Truffles.

Get feasting

Experience the best the Wairarapa has to offer at A Hop, Skip and a Jump, a long lunch cooked over the fire at Rose & Smith at Tauherenikau in association with Matahiwi Estate and Light House Gin. Enjoy a three-course vegetarian feast crafted with ingredients foraged within 30kms of The Country Cooking School at Te Puhi for A Forager’s Tale. Or for Bitterballen and stroopwafel, head to the seven-course Dutch-themed banquet, Feest Mijnmakerij at Julicher Estate.

Burger Wairarapa

From Marty to Masterton there are Burger Welly burgers in every corner of the Wairarapa for Visa Wellington On a Plate.

Cafe Medici (Martinborough)
Prawn Underbelly - King prawn toast with caramelised pork belly, Asian pickles, housemade sweet chilli dressing in a sesame and buttermilk bun with toffee crackling and Sichuan pepper fries. Matched with Garage Project Hapi Daze.

The Top Pub (Greytown)
Deerlicious - Venison patty with cherry rosemary chutney, caramelised walnuts, blue cheese, tomato and lettuce in a Clareville Bakery brioche bun, with potato fries. Matched with Garage Project Fugazi. Or head next door for 1860 Restaurant’s Dine Welly menu and Festival Dish.

Peppers Parehua (Martinborough)
Smoke’n’ Hot Peppers Pig - Chipotle dry rubbed pulled pork with grilled smoked Gouda, apple slaw, smokey barbeque sauce and roasted garlic aioli in a housemade black brioche bun, with curly fries. Matched with Garage Project Hapi Daze. While you’re there, try their cocktail, The Devil’s Lighthouse.

The Clareville Bakery (Carterton)
Wia Fri Chicken - Buttermilk chicken thigh with Asian slaw and smokey barbeque sauce on a charcoal bun, with French fries.

Union Square (Martinborough)
Wagyu Wrangler - Wagyu beef burger with whipped goats cheese, tomato and chilli jam and crispy onion bits on a Gruyere bun, with triple-cooked fries. Matched with Garage Project Aro Noir. Or try their Festival Dish, smoked Wairarapa lamb backstrap, cassolette of white beans, lamb croquet, and confit garlic.