Plume Restaurant — Restaurant in Rodney

The on-site dining for Plume Villas was their Plume Restaurant. Our stay was from a Saturday night to Wednesday. Having traveled close to 70% of the World to date, we are always aware of the specifics of where we are staying, as well as the immediate area. Since the hotel's website was very specific regarding their restaurant only serving dinners on Friday and Saturday, we were aware that the only night we could have dinner on site would be following our long drive and late arrival from Napier. However, we still made reservations in advance for dinner to ensure we could try their relatively highly-rated on-site restaurant.

We confirmed the restaurant would be closed for dinner during the rest of our stay, as well as the Vineyard's Tasting Room being closed. Staying on a wine estate for five days when its Tasting Room/Cellar Door is closed is a bummer...and a bit unusual. The gentleman who appeared to be in charge of the restaurant upon our arrival made sure we knew that they would be "closing early tomorrow" since it was Sunday. We heard him...and went elsewhere for breakfast, lunch, dinner and wine tasting...for the rest of our stay.

Although our reserved table for dinner was reasonably positioned, it was unfortunately directly next to a loud group of five persons who delayed our being able to place our orders for almost 20 minutes as they argued about what they should order. Eventually, our wines, green salads, Lettuce Wraps and Pork Bellys arrived to be enjoyed. The service, with the exception of the uninspired attitude of the apprent manager, was quite good. The food was actually very tasty. If we ever return, we would definitely choose to be seated on the perifery of their outside seating areas.

Supposedly, after years of remaining open throughout the week, the owners understandably decided during COVID-19 to limit the days they would offer dinner. Thus, we made our Saturday dinner reservation, but it would not change our disappointment that their on-site dining location would be closed the entire balance of our stay. Whether or not we knew in advance of our stay to celebrate an important birthday is...

I cannot rate this restaurant highly enough. The restaurant has a new chef and it shows. The food is next level and you almost forget that that you aren’t in Auckland with the high quality of the food! These views will remind you of where you are though, with the amazing landscape.

I had the Scallops with white asparagus, shitake, onion dashi, lardo as a starter. It was absolutely delicious! Absolute umami bomb! My husband had the smoked beetroot cranky goat curd, green gooseberry, buckwheat, beetroot ferment. Great combination of flavours and beautifully presented. Again out of this world, and absolutely delicious.

For mains I had the kiwi fish catch (John Dory) chilli prawns, seeds, curried beurre Blanc. I can’t rate this dish highly enough, I’m dreaming of it now and already planning my next visit! 10/10! Please if you go, order this dish, you won’t be disappointed.

My husband had the Easterbrook farm duck breast orasfarm lionsmane, leg potato roulade, buttermilk shoyu. Well seasoned, nice and pink and the skin was rendered beautifully. 10/10

Desserts I had Annabelle sheep milk cake, milk crisp, hickory and bay leaf ice cream. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I am glad I ordered it, it was beautiful. Hubby had Coconut millefeuille, fermented grape, fig leaf, whiskey snap, absolute perfection. We had the dessert wine, which you must try, it was a great match.

If you are looking for somewhere new to try, make this the place to go. The food was outstanding and hopefully like me your new favourite...

Double anniversary lunch, celebrated 32 and 10 years. I’d decided to invite my wife’s parents to have a joint lunch and we being located in Whangarei, and they would travel from Titirangi, I’d suggested we meet half way, and Plume was what I thought was the best choice to choose from. And it was. The setting is beautiful and relaxing, overlooking the rolling hills and well kept gardens. The service was as relaxed and pleasant which complimented the space. The chefs were launching their new summer menu, so with that, we were aware that there were a few nerves behind the scenes, however, entree, mains and desserts were delicious. Presentation of the meals as expected, but not over the top. Each element on the plates had its purpose and my eye fillet was bang on, Hapuka the same and the vegetarian options were delicious and the kitchen was more then happy to accommodate my mother in law’s deity requests. Our 3 year old enjoyed his meal choices and enjoyed his grape juice. The local wines that are available were a lovely match and we enjoyed our time at Plume so much, the 4 hours flew by very quickly. One little observation, with the light breeze we did have, as well as a fairly overcast day, the heat and sunshine that shone through the clear roofing panels was pretty tense at times, maybe some blinds or louvre? but other then that, price was on point, and there is talk of doing it again soon. Highly...