HERMITAGE MENU

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30233, 11 September 1963, Page 8

HERMITAGE MENU

N.Z. Items Featured

New Zealand produce is featured to the greatest extent possible in menus at the Hermitage to help interest overseas tourists in the Dominion’s food exports, the manager (Mr L. S. Dennis) said in an interview recently. “Canterbury lamb is served regularly, and we keep delicacies like whitebait, muttonbirds, and oysters in deepfreeze in large quantities so we can serve them all the year round,” he said. Toheroa soup was a specialty, and as much variety as possible was achieved in presenting various New Zealand fish dishes. New Zealand cheeses were prominently featured. A variety of wines was offered, including overseas varieties as well as those produced in New Zealand. “We find that New Zealanders mostly like drinking imported wines,” he explained. It was also important to make overseas visitors feel at home by providing them something they were famiilar with. On the same principle, many overseas dishes were offered in addition to the New Zealand ones. The head chef, Mr F. Luff, comes from Westport, but he has considerable overseas experience. Other chefs on the staff are from Australia, Britain, Canada, and Western Germany.

The hotel now has an occupancy of about 98 per cent in the summer season. A figure of this sort indicated, said Mr Dennis, that expansion could be well considered, but for the hotel to take more guests it would be necessary not only to increase the number of rooms, but to think in terms of larger kitchens, plant, and public rooms. The hotel already provides meals for numbers of persons living in privately-owned motels.