Queenstown Downtown

Queenstown has a cute downtown that is right on the lake. We visited it a few times during our stay. It’s a quick drive or a half hour walk. Out Airbnb is partway up a mountain so there are some steep parts to walking downtown. It’s a nice walk though.

We ended up having several meals downtown. The first place we tried was Fergburger. This place has huge lines and is maybe the most famous. We waited about 15 minutes to order our burgers and another 15 for them to be made. I had a Cock Cajun which was grilled chicken tenderloin with cajun spices a cooling lemon yogurt and lettuce. Kuah has a Sweet Bambi which was wild Fiorland deer, brie cheese, boysenberry and caramelized onion chutney, lettuce, tomato, onion and aioli. Kuah also got a side of onion rings.

They have very limited seating so most people take their burgers out and sit on one of the nearby benches, which is what we did. The burgers were really good but I’m not sure I’d wait in line for them again. Many times we saw the lines get much longer than what we had waited in.

The have branched out and now also have a Ferg bakery, gelateria and bar. We also visited Ferg’s bakery. Kuah liked their meat pies. I tried their hot chocolate and it was really delicious. They keep a big pot of it brewed and ladled it out into cups. You can tell it is real chocolate and not just a powder or syrup. I also got a focaccia but didn’t like it. We’ve gotten bread from a few places but the bread here is not really to my taste.

Our second time downtown we walked. The second half of the walk there was particularly nice as we went along the edge of the lake and passed the Botanic Gardens. Once in town we walked around for a bit and popped into some shops. Then we had lunch at Sunfire. I wasn’t sure about sitting outside as it was a bit cool but they had heat lamps on that made it comfortable.

I was happy to find something on the menu that was healthy, Grilled Snapper Fillet, chermoula, white bean salad, salsa verda. It came with a grilled lemon that was perfect to squeeze over everything. The bean salad had onion in it but it was cooked down enough that I didn’t notice it. Kuah started with a Kingfish Crudo yuzu, mandarin, chili, grapes and picked shallots. He enjoyed the fish and it’s preparation. For his main course he had Gnocchi 36 Remarkable wild mushrooms, shallots, spinach and truffle. Remarkable is a place and their mushrooms are on quite a few menus.

Another place we tried was Botswana Butchery. We stared off sharing a Soy marinated spiced watermelon tartare. It came with coconut yoghurt, pickled courgette ribbon, sesame, avocado mousse and rice crisp. When it first arrived we thought they had delivered the wrong dish because it looked exactly like raw tuna. I really enjoyed it but Kuah thought it was just OK. For my entree I had a blue cod dish. Kuah had a lamb dish.

The last meal we had in downtown Christchurch was fish and chips. We got 1 order of blue cod and 1 order of silver trumpeter. I liked the blue cod the best but Kuah preferred the silver trumpeter.  We both enjoyed the fish which was crispy and delicious. Kuah really liked their tartar sauce as well. But neither us liked the chips. The malt vinegar tasted like it was watered down and the chips were not crispy on the outside.

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