Seventy-four covers on the ground floor, east-facing, named after the point at the north end of Russell that eleven of the tables can see. Breakfast 6.30am to 10am, dinner 5.30pm to 9.30pm, seven days.
The kitchen buys snapper, kingfish and trevally off the boats at Opua, nine kilometres south, three mornings a week. Oysters come from Orongo Bay, twenty minutes away by road, and are shucked to order rather than in advance. The greens and most of the fruit come from two growers outside Kerikeri; in February that means the stone fruit is a day off the tree and in August it means there is not much of it and the menu says so.
Dinner
A set four-course menu at NZ$78 a head, which changes when the boats and the growers change it — usually every ten days or so, and always in a way you would notice. There is an à la carte card as well, six mains, for people who do not want to be told what to eat. Both are cooked by the same eleven people.
We can work around most things if you tell us when you book: coeliac, dairy, shellfish, vegetarian and vegan are all normal here. Tell us on the day and we will still do it, just less well.
The smaller room off the lobby, thirty-eight seats, open midday to midnight, seven days. Named for the boats that were built along this shore before anything else was.
Forty-one New Zealand wines by the bottle and eleven by the glass. Nine of the eleven are from Northland — a smaller wine region than most people expect and a better one, mostly chardonnay, syrah and pinot gris from between Kerikeri and Whangārei. There are four beers on tap, two of them from a brewery in Kerikeri, and a short cocktail list of eight that the bar staff can actually make well rather than twenty they can make.
Bar snacks until 10pm: oysters by the half dozen, whitebait when there is whitebait, and a plate of Northland cheese that comes with too much bread on purpose.
Room service
6.30am to 10.30pm, from a shorter card — eight dishes, all of which travel well in a lift. After 10.30pm the night porter can make you a club sandwich or a bowl of soup, and will, without making a performance of it.
| The Tapeka Room | Breakfast | 6.30am – 10am, seven days. Continental and cooked, and the bread comes from the bakery on Williams Road that opens at six. |
|---|---|---|
| Dinner | 5.30pm – 9.30pm, seven days. Last orders 9pm. Booking advisable from December to March and on Waitangi weekend, essential. | |
| The Longboat Bar | Midday – midnight | Seven days. Snacks until 10pm. Open to non-residents. |
| Room service | 6.30am – 10.30pm | Shorter card. Night porter after that, on the front desk extension. |
| Terrace | Weather | Twelve tables outside The Tapeka Room, used from about October to April, and on any still day outside that. |