Wild game highlight of bistro

Olivia Caldwell has a feast of fresh fish and wild game to remember at The Stoaker Room.

I do love a good background story, and The Stoaker Room has a pretty neat one, I must say.

Californian founder Quintin Quider was a commercial diver and fell in love with the South Island’s rugged landscapes and coastlines.

He and his wife Sue moved here and started both a wine brand — Wild Earth Wines, and then the Stoaker Room.

The concept of the Stoaker Room restaurant was born from entertaining friends while cooking freshly caught trout and wild game along the banks of the Kawarau River and, eight years ago, Mr Quider took that concept to Cromwell to open the first bistro.

Wanaka has had the Stoaker Room in Cardrona Valley Rd for two years now and while I have been there a few times as it is, I returned to review the place with fresh eyes and tastebuds.

I make no secret that I am a carnivore and love a good plate of meat — I wouldn’t be a Southland farm girl if I didn’t, I suppose. So if you do have a hankering for all types of fish and game, I would have to say it is the place to go.

We ordered the sharing platter which has a beautiful lineup of meat, so I will work from left to right in the order I ate.

I started with the venison served with mushroom sauce and vegetables. I love venison, it’s never served enough at restaurants, so for that alone, I was happy. Well cooked, and the vegetables were a great side.

Now, goat ragu was a new one for me. Served on parmesan polenta, this was tasty and just a nice amount to kick the tastebuds and move on.

I also have said this, any time there is duck I order it. Another underrated wild game, we need more of this plate charmer on the menu! This was tasty, cooked perfectly and served on a mountain of potatoes. The potatoes were enough for five of you, so if you are a spud fan, book in!

Pork — can you ever turn your nose up at pork? Not me! The pork loin was served with a spinach sauce, which of course must be healthy? As well as onion marmalade. I loved this dish.

We finished on the salmon wings, served on a fresh summer slaw. I have to say I went off salmon years ago and while I can tolerate it, I am not your girl to review salmon with an objective lens. But! It was good, I did eat it and my eating mate across the table seemed to like it best.

Dessert! Agh golly. A great selection and so we went with the sticky date pudding served with ice-cream and a beautiful soft marshmallow meringue. Don’t stop there, a toffee sauce is at your beck and call to pour on the fluffy white mallow. This was heaven and almost made me forget the meat!

But I did not forget the meat, I went home and wrote this review, looked at the pictures of the meat in the smoker cookers and smiled. Great place, great staff, good meat.