If you’ve got only one meal slot to fill on a rare day trip out to Waiheke, or you’re a tourist looking for something special, we’d probably steer you towards Tantalus. Tantalus ticks all the boxes for what you want in destination dining: lush grounds, elegant dining room, a cellar door and a trust-the-chef menu that reflects the ambition of head chef Axel Curtet Latreille.

That menu is six courses of local New Zealand produce, changed seasonally, taking inspiration from the island and estate that Tantalus sits on. Latreille is French, so you expect some leanings that way: think liver parfait, mushroom tart, tartare, a lamb loin with cabbage and hazelnut plated precisely, to emulate a work of art… plus a cheese course. It’s fine-dining food, though the experience feels less stuffy than that might suggest, due to the coastal casualness of Waiheke.