Three hundred people helped to officially open Queenstown's newest restaurant, Rata, on Friday night, the culmination of two years of planning by Queenstown businesswoman Fleur Caulton and four-star Michelin chef Josh Emett.
However, Mrs Caulton, the former owner of Solera Vino restaurant and former general manager of the Amisfield Wine Company, and MasterChef New Zealand judge Emett, let their mothers cut the red ribbon following brief speeches in the restaurant's courtyard, behind 1876 and beside the Queenstown District Court.
Emett, who has worked for more than a decade alongside the internationally renowned Gordon Ramsay, said he was excited about coming back to New Zealand and particularly Queenstown to set up the venture - his only New Zealand restaurant.
"We have a lot of confidence in Queenstown as both a national and international tourism destination.
"Our aim has been to create a uniquely New Zealand restaurant and I think people will find we have achieved that."
The 80-seater restaurant in the Ngai Tahu complex in Ballarat St includes indoor and courtyard dining and has a chic and edgy decor of stone, steel and glass with recycled rimu walls, an extensive polished concrete bar and a pictorial feature wall showcasing the Rata theme.
Many of the restaurant's features have been made by Mrs Caulton and Emett, with help from Mrs Caulton's husband, photographer Daz Caulton.
"The concept has been to take our distinctive environment and bring it indoors," Mrs Caulton said.
"We don't want to be a New York or London style restaurant, this is all about New Zealand."
The Rata menu, which ranges from "bites" to "feasts", had been inspired by regional flavours, with an emphasis on what Central Otago and the surrounding regions had to offer.
The restaurant's opening had been a talking point in the resort, based on the pair's long-standing reputations in the hospitality industry, and there were already bookings as far forward as October, Mrs Caulton said.
"We understand the Queenstown market and know we have to be broad-thinking about our customer base.
"We want people to feel comfortable and enjoy a friendly New Zealand experience.
"We plan to have fun and hope our guests will as well."
Queenstown businessman Sir Eion Edgar, one of the investors in Rata, considered the combined talents of the pair had to be a successful formula.
"Josh is a world-class New Zealander and I have always told him if he ever opened a restaurant in New Zealand I would back him.
"I know from personal experience that Fleur, with her successes both with Solera Vino and Amisfield, always delivers outstanding results.
"By opening Rata they have raised the standard of dining facilities in Queenstown," Sir Eion said.
The other shareholders are Emma Hill, Sir Stephen Tindall, Bettina Hollings and Darryl McEwen.
