Breakfast at Huka Lodge is the most communal dining experience and the breakfast room is amazing; in warmer weather guests can eat outside on the terrace as well. 

You’ll find the full traditional spread of fluffy scrambled eggs, bacon and toast, with fantastic additions like pastries, croissants and muffins baked on the spot and jam made from fruit picked from the Huka orchards.

I can’t accentuate enough how important the kitchen is here at Huka. The menu changes according to what produce has become available but there is always a set, six-course menu. This isn’t just a nature paradise but a foodie’s delight as well. The cuisine is European based but with that fresher, modern New World edge - and a private chef is always on hand at extra cost.

The lodge encourages you to come for PRE-DINNER DRINKS in the loungeroom to meet the other guests, which is a nice touch. It’s a little bit like an Agatha Christie movie, with all the different characters from around the world meeting in front of the log fire for hors d’oeuvres every night at 6.30pm.

You are approached 24 hours in advance about where you would like to have dinner. It is always somewhere private, your own nook: in the cellar, the library, or a small patio just off the lounge that has a log fire burning, and plenty of blankets to keep warm. Weather permitting, under a pergola, or outdoor corner you may fancy. ITS ENDLESS THE CHOICES ! The staff are efficient in their crisp white linen aprons and so friendly. On our first night in the library, we kept pinching ourselves that the Queen had sat in front of this fire, at our very table on her previous visits to Huka!

Of course there is plentiful, fresh seafood like moonfish, snapper or trout from the nearby Waikato River and the salmon is organically farmed. The chef, David Griffiths, sometimes mixes in Asian influences like orange miso, Japanese horseradish and pickled ginger but also cooks his signature lobster the evil European way - in lots of butter! There are plenty of rich flavours like heavy cream bisques, gamey venison and a sinful après-hike chocolate cake with espresso ice cream - but lighter vegetarian options too, like beetroot tart or broccoli soup.  Apart from the obvious gourmet flair of the chef, it bears repeating that the produce here is fabulous - from the world-famous local lamb that your knife glides through to the passionfruit on the cheescake to finish.

I have to confess to slightly sacrilegious behaviour on our second night when David Griffiths was turning Zoe’s-caught Trevor the trout into dinner. Trevor was a bit too ‘fishy’ for us and my mother and Zoe caved in after the first course fennel salad from sheer delighted exhaustion after our heli-ride/lake cruise. Sheira and I were left with droopy lids and 5 courses to go. The Huka kitchen takes great pride in its degustation menu but we did the unthinkable and asked if we could skip straight to the main course. An eyebrow or two may have shot up but of course they obliged. I’m a simple chicken and rice man at heart and often feel hemmed in by a long menu and major production. But believe me, the cuisine is a main focus at Huka and many people come here ready to swoon over every single wine-matched dish!

At Huka, I felt that my usual uniform - open shirt, a scarf, jeans, with clean runners fitted right in. It’s crisply casual, a look that I can wear into any hip restaurant in my hometown, Sydney, like hotspot, North Bondi Italian.

This is where Huka Lodge have got it so right with their approach to their wide, exclusive range of guests; they have been around the block and seen people with money and class come in lots of different packages. If it’s an off-duty celebrity in Dolce & Gabbana jeans, they’ll be comfortable with it. These days clients know how to pay the bills, be polite to staff and yet dress with understated chic…