Dining In Christchurch, New Zealand

Christchurch is the second largest city in New Zealand. It is home to 396,700 residents, making it New Zealand's third most-populous city. It's characterized by small dining establishments. The city's restaurants are either licensed to sell alcohol, BYOB (bring your own bottle), or unlicensed. Restaurants offer many cuisines, but for dishes that have a distinctly New Zealand style there are many restaurants offering lamb, pork and salmon, crayfish, Bluff oysters, pāua (abalone), mussels, scallops, pipis and tuatua (both New Zealand shellfish); kumara (sweet potato), kiwifruit, tamarillo, and pavlova–the national dessert.

The Daily Meal was able to dine at, Inati, a restaurant built on the site of the former Christchurch police station. Inati means "to share" in the Maori language. In the current style of many restaurants in New Zealand, it has a chef's table in the center of the dining room, where the customer can sit and chat with the chefs as they cook a meal for the observing diner. The food is served in small plates brought to the table by a server. It is meant to challenge the consumer's idea of what a restaurant is.

Inati was made by the efforts of a couple who came from London, who realized that the very severe earthquake that struck Christchurch in 2011would create all kinds of opportunities for businesses and for new restaurants in the city. The restaurant has seen brilliant success. While in Christchurch, The Daily Meal had the pleasure of visiting was Annandale. Annandale's chef, Craig Martin, makes dishes out of the food that comes directly from the historic Annandale farms, which have been there since 1843.