The Chef’s Table—fondly referred to as the restaurant at "the top of the world"—opened in 2021 at Blue Duck Station. With incredible views of the surrounding hills amongst the clouds, it is only accessible via ATV.
I love great service and it’s no exception here in the hills of Retaruke. With floor to ceiling windows behind us, we could look out at the clouds and to endless views of the North Island. Seated with beautifully ironed white tablecloths and the peaceful hum of the restaurant—I’m in my happy place. The space is intimate, with the restaurant seating usually 10 guests, and the open kitchen just steps away. Chef-owner Jack Cashmore and his restaurant team of three, with Chef Ben McKenzie and Sommelier Clover Sykes are already set up and ready for us—calm, collected and effortlessly cool. We’re invited to come up to the kitchen and chat to them, and with just the four of us in the restaurant, it feels like we’re dining with friends. Surrounded by rolling hills and the low hanging clouds, as the sun sets over the ridge, it’s another breathtaking sunset moment at Blue Duck Station as we begin our degustation dinner.
Image credit: Eel + Nasturtium | Jack Woon
The menu is trust the chef style with 10+ courses—utilising produce from the veg gardens we visited, as well as foraging by Chef Jack and a few things from Aunty Rosemary’s garden. Given their location, the restaurant relies a lot on what’s available in the gardens each day—and anything else is foraged, sourced locally or made in-house. Bread is baked fresh and veggies are picked day to day, so the menu often changes with the offerings from the garden. It’s a snapshot of the changing landscape and season each day.
We start with a couple of snacks—a very clever study in textures. We begin our flavour journey with a bite of a crisp “mushroom biscuit”—discs of savoury tuille sandwich creamy mushroom parfait, sweet layers of paper thin mushroom sliced raw and a jammy centre. It almost feels like a savoury s’more. One bite and it’s umami-forward, mushroom personified—the perfect introduction as we dig into a crisp and refreshing ‘Marceline’ Blanc de blanc to start. Clover Sykes, our sommelier tells us about the fun, bubbly number from Hawkes Bay’s Swift Wines, named after their very excitable sausage dog Marceline.
Image credit: Wagyu Flaxseed + Whitebait Caviar | Jack Woon
Next, a warm, comforting horseradish custard set like chawanmushi arrived. Wagyu, seasoned with the flames of mānuka on the charcoal grill is served in a harakeke tart shell. Topped with whitebait caviar, it comes out like an art piece, sitting on a marble slab surrounded by harakeke shells. We savour our last snack with a quiet hum of content—and another glass of Aotearoa wine (this time, ‘Solange’ Blanc de Noirs from Marlborough’s Clos Henri). It instantly makes me salivate and think of grapefruit peel.
Image credit: Bread + Butter | Jack Woon
The bread course isn’t just any traditional bread course. We received two bread options, hot off the oven to share. I spread freshly cultured butter over a mini round of sourdough (perfectly cut into four even bites), and dip my mini glazed treacle breads (as soft as steamed pud) into glistening spheres of velvety duck liver pâté, garnished with 24 ct. edible gold leaf. If bread was a band, this selection would be the greatest hits with the best of both worlds—savoury and sweet. The bread is matched with a beer—a light golden and bittersweet ‘La Blonde’ from France which brings it all together.
Image credit: Garden Salad | Vicki Young
A vibrant garden salad of the moment was next. We watched as chef Ben meticulously arranged each leaf and flower (some which we’d tasted at the gardens earlier that day). It arrived at our table, like a miniature garden on top of a creamy walnut ajo blanco split with a vibrant green oil. The last of the season’s tomatoes were smoked into concentrated bursts of flavour followed, before the smell of torched kabayaki-style eel filled the room—sticky and sweet glazed eel, grilled under meltingly tender and wrapped with nasturtium leaves.
Eaten like a taco, the peppery notes of the leaves were like a spicy wasabi addition. Next, Chef Jack brought a whole duck table-side in all its crispy glory—nestled in a wreath of aromatic rosemary and smoking hay. Just as we thought we’d finished, melt-like-butter braised lamb shoulder dotted with black garlic alongside crunchy compressed cucumber and micro mizuna from the garden finished our mains—matched with a garnet red Pinot Noir from North Canterbury (Mon Cheval). It was a celebration and reminder of the incredible produce we have right here on our doorstep in Aotearoa.
Image credit: Petit Fours | Jack Woon
For cheese and dessert, we moved onto a fun interpretation of a cheese course: Mount Eliza cheddar in custard form, complete with juicy raisins and baked apple (from their heritage fruit trees). Sticky, chewy beetroot leathers rolled into rose-like lollipops topped with fragrant rosemary flowers followed—a grown-up roll-up of sorts.
We finished our meal with an apple and chamomile pudding, layered with shatteringly crispy filo pastry. Toasted hay cream poured tableside revealed a shimmering copper swirl—like a galaxy of stars in our bowl. Chef Ben brought over intricate petit fours—mossy green lemon verbena dusted golden pâte de fruit. Plated on a nest of dried lemon verbena, I could smell the lemonade fragrance as it arrived at the table. Crispy lemon meringue kisses and a warm, oozy cardamom-spiced chocolate tart sitting in a bed of cacao nibs completed the trio.
We're given a cool thermos of milk for a morning cuppa and we wander back to our cabin just steps away, happy and content.
Want more? Check out:
- Everything You Need To Know About Blue Duck Station
- Where To Eat, Stay And Play In Ruapehu
- Weird And Wonderful Places To Stay In New Zealand
Main image credit: The Chefs Table at Blue Duck Station | Jack Woon (@unkofilms).