Fancy a little bit of locust with your wallaby? How about a slice of seaweed with some fresh tahr?
That is just some of what is on offer this week as Tītī takes part in the 2026 Wild Dunedin Festival.
Head chef Nico Parry said he had created a five-course ‘‘trust the chef’’ taster menu, using local — yet rarely eaten — produce.
Luckily, he had not encountered any picky eaters — yet.
‘‘Everyone ate it all actually, which I was surprised about.’’
The menu included a tahr-based first course, as well as some wild Otago pork and a seafood dish of octopus, clams and wakame seaweed.
The restaurant was also dishing up slices of wallaby, which Mr Parry said was similar to kangaroo.
‘‘In New Zealand, they're an invasive species ... so we’re utilising them.’’
Dessert consists of a manuka honey cheesecake with a horopito-flavoured ice cream and caramel, topped with crunchy, sugar-coated locusts.
‘‘They're actually really high in protein.’’
‘‘Part of working here that's the most fun is overthinking everything ... and wasting nothing, ideally.’’
In previous years, the festival tasting menu had been restricted to a one-night function.
However, Tītī’s new owner, Kartik Aggarwal, decided it would be fun to have it all week.
He said a couple who came on Monday enjoyed it so much they had booked another session.
‘‘The only thing is we can’t do any dietary restrictions ... it's hard with the wildlife.’’
With the cost of the special ingredients being so high, the venture was not making the business a profit, but Mr Aggarwal said that was fine because it was not often they had the chance to get this adventurously creative.
The menu will run until Saturday night and was only available during dinner service.
