Mission Estate Restaurant belongs to New Zealand’s oldest winery, which traces its beginnings to 1851, when French missionaries reached Hawke’s Bay bringing a handful of prized vines and the winemaking skills of their homeland. The estate has a history of resilience. In 1910 the mission’s main house was moved off flood prone land, cut into eleven pieces and pulled almost five kilometres by a traction engine to its present home in the Taradale hills, and the estate rebuilt after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake. Today the dining rooms occupy a carefully restored historic seminary on Church Road, roughly ten minutes’ drive from Napier city and the airport, with sweeping views over the vineyards to the city and the coast.
The mood of the place changes as the day goes on. In summer the outdoor terrace catches the sun for long lunches, the indoor rooms are arranged for more intimate dining, and the view over Napier is at its most striking after dark. Guests are invited to wander through the gardens before or after a meal, and the cellar door in the Grande Maison offers hosted tastings with stories of the missionaries who built the estate. The bar is open for drinks and light bites, the estate hosts weddings, celebrations and corporate dinners, and larger groups dine from seasonal set menus drawn from the current à la carte selection, so it works for a quiet lunch for two and for a family milestone alike.
Executive chef Ricky Littleton, who was born in Napier and refined his style in Hong Kong before taking charge of the kitchen in 2018, cooks contemporary fine dining with an international outlook and a firm loyalty to local produce. The menus follow the seasons, so a spring visit might begin with Te Matuku oysters and lemon, pumpkin and goat cheese arancini with honey, a mushroom and Earl Grey soup with Marmite bread, or beef tartare with kimchi ketchup and pear sorbet. Mains have included Hawke’s Bay fish with prawn and spinach curry, charred pork fillet with a cider jus, a market seafood bouillabaisse with potato rēwena bread, and a choice of eye fillet or scotch fillet, served alongside Café de Paris butter, onion rings and mushroom ketchup.
For a shared centrepiece, slow cooked lamb shoulder comes as an oyster cut for two, with sides for the table such as kūmara and gruyère dauphinoise, grilled local asparagus with burnt chilli butter, or potato doughnuts with sour cream and chilli oil. Desserts run from a house tiramisu to a banana bombe Alaska with warm dulce de leche, and the cheese selection draws on makers in Havelock North, Waikato and the Bay of Islands. Every menu carries vegetarian options, with a dedicated vegan menu and a children’s menu alongside, while a tasting menu of snacks and four courses can be paired with premium Mission Estate wines, most of which are made and bottled at the Taradale winery itself.
Address: 198 Church Road, Taradale, Napier 4112
Been to Mission Estate Restaurant? Be one of the first to rate it.
+ Log your visit
