Following been recently named in 2021 as the Best Vineyard in Australasia, Craggy Range has won two hats and the coveted title of Winery Restaurant of the Year at the 2020-2021 Cuisine Good Food Awards. Video Warren Buckland.
After four years of being the runner up Craggy Range Restaurant was awarded New Zealand's best winery restaurant of the year.
Following their Cuisine, Good Food Two Hats award in 2018, Craggy Range has been on a roll racking up 2021 Best Vineyard in Australasia, and now the coveted title of Winery Restaurant of the Year.
The Cuisine reviewer said, Craggy Range head chef Casey McDonald's local lights shine brightly, and he is clearly on to a good thing in Hawke's Bay.
"With the spectacular Te Mata Peak as a backdrop, Craggy Range enjoys an extensive kitchen garden and, of course, a globally celebrated winery at its side."
The reviewer said that the restaurant nails that perfect combination of comfort and luxury, steeped in the kind of tradition that almost compels us to rise to an excellent occasion.
With his many years' experience in Michelin-starred restaurants, McDonald started at Craggy Range five years ago after moving from Australia.
The team has spent years changing things, wanting the restaurant to be somewhere that approachable where everyone could come to eat.
Casey McDonald head chef at Craggy Range Restaurant talking about all the hard work that when into the restaurant's newest award. Photo / Warren Buckland
"Day after day, week after week, and month after month we have been putting our best foot forward, so the Winery Restaurant of the Year award it means quite a lot," McDonald said.
"So many hours go into earning those awards. They are a good reflection for the team of where you are at, reaffirming that all the hard work and hours they are putting in is worth it," he said.
Even though the Craggy Range restaurant has missed out on the award for a couple of years, they keep improving on the little things.
The head chef said, "you aim very high and drive everyone to aim that high, so when you get accolades it shows you are going in the right direction."
"It's nice but it's not the top of the mountain its just another part of what we do."
Craggy Range Restaurants award winning food; Sweet corn and cheddar fritter with harissa mayonnaise and sweet and sour shiitake and oyster mushrooms. Photo / Warren Buckland
After the 2020 Covid lockdown Craggy Range braced itself for visitor numbers to drop.
Because of the predicted decline in visitor numbers, McDonald peeled back the menu in terms of price and made the menu bigger than it has ever been.
"We just wanted to get people through the door, thinking no one was going to come out and then, whack, people kept coming and it didn't slow down for a year."
Covid hasn't affected the restaurants' numbers, with fully-booked weekends months in advance.
Before Covid, they saw 25,000 people a year and now its about 50,000 people a year.
The head chef associates the rise in visitors and the Cuisine award to trying not to say no, accommodating everyone, finding ways to make it work.
"We have a nice community swell of people that want to come here and they bank on being able to come here and get a meal, even if they don't have a booking."
In trying to accommodate everyone, McDonald created platters for guests to enjoy in the courtyard area.
The gardens out at Craggy Range winery continue to surprise the kitchen staff, with tomatoes growing for the first time and two watermelon growing down the back. Photo / Warren Buckland
"The idea of the platter is that if we can't fit people for lunch, we can still offer them something more thoughtful instead of sending them away," the head chef said.
"It's not just meats and cheeses, the platter is the best items on the menu, but in a platter form i's lunch for two people or a snack for four.
"We want to be thoughtful, because it is easy for restaurants to just say 'no, sorry we are fully booked'. We are trying to accommodate everyone while focusing on the experience as a whole."
The restaurant's chef is known for his use of local fresh produce that often dictates the menu month to month.
Craggy Range restaurant has its own on site garden, taking garden to table to another level.
"The way we use our garden has morphed in the past few years, now we can get all our garnishes from it, but its getting to the point as soon as broccoli pops up it's gone," McDonald said.
Craggy Range restaurant has leased an organic plot of land from their large produce supplier, just over the river along Tuki Tuki road, and for the first time has employed a gardener who works half for the Craggy grounds and half for the kitchen team.
Craggy's gardens will be purpose-run with a head gardener who will focus on planting for ingredients that will be available year-round, and the cooks now have one of Nadia Lim's ex produce staff running the harvesting and planting for them.
Craggy Range wineries growing vegetable gardens growing beside their world famous grape vines. Photo / Warren Buckland
"We use so many local suppliers anyway, so it just adds to it."
It's special to have it all at your fingertips, McDonald said
