Jack Cashmore Is Bringing The Chef’s Table At Blue Duck Station To Auckland For Two Nights Only

One of Aotearoa's best restaurants is not in Auckland. Nor is it in Christchurch, Wellington, or Queenstown. It's not in a town, either. In fact, what is quite possibly the most exceptional meal you can have in the entire country is located over an hour's drive from the nearest town, on the top of a hill in the midde of a 2,500 acre working farm on the edge of Whanganui National Park. 

The Chef's Table at Blue Duck Station is a singular dining experience. Chef Jack Cashmore quite literally crafted the restaurant with his bare hands, building it from the ground up. First coming across the station on a gap year when he volunteered there for six months, Cashmore went on to build an impressive career across kitchens in the UK, notably working at Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham, In de Wulf in Belgium, and Anglo in London. But the memory of those impressive hectares in Aotearoa never left him and, in 2018, he returned to New Zealand and convinced Blue Duck Station owner Dan Steele to let him open a restaurant in the heart of the farm. 

Image Credit: The Chef's Table at Blue Duck Station | Supplied

Two years of hard labour later, The Chef's Table at Blue Duck Station opened seemingly on top of the world, serving just 10 guests a night in a dining room with 180 degrees across fog-filled valleys as far as, on a clear day, Mount Taranaki, Mount Ngāuruhoe, and Mount Ruapehu. 

Food is a celebration of the farm's abundance; much of the menu is grown or foraged across the station, while meat and fish come from nearby suppliers. It's a true celebration of New Zealand's produce and cuisine, translated with immense talent into dishes like wagyu in a harakeke tart with whitebait caviar, or grilled, glazed eel wrapped in nasturtium. 

Getting there is no small feat. Once you make it to the entrance to the station, you can either head out on a two hour ATV tour of the property, hop in a helicopter to the top or, if time is on your side, opt for a two day horse trek through the station to dinner. Cashmore's food is well worth the journey, but luckily for us Aucklanders, the restaurant is coming a little closer to home for just two evenings in November. 

As part of the Auckland Feast powered by Mastercard festival, Jack Cashmore and his team are bringing The Chef's Table to Kauri Bay in Clevedon for two intimate dinners on 16 and 17 November. The venue's rural location and sweeping views are like a miniature Blue Duck Station, minus the five hour drive. This is one of the country's most talented chefs, more accessible than ever before. 

Mastercard presale tickets go on sale at 10am Monday 28 September, with general release tickets launching Thursday 1 October. Sign up for first release at aucklandfeast.co.nz. 

Image Credit: The Chef's Table at Blue Duck Station | Supplied