As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been staying at a workmate’s place at Lake Hayes Estate for the two weeks I was based in Queenstown.

If you are familiar with area, Lake Hayes is out of town past the airport, towards the turn off to Arrowtown and near Lake Hayes … who would have thunk?   😉

There is one restaurant in the actual Lake Hayes suburb which looked a little too classy and upmarket for me (or closed when I went past).  So for dining options, Frankton, near the airport is the closest about 10 minutes away.

My first meal the day I arrived was from Thaitanium.   If you are getting your shopping from the Remarkables Park Shopping Centre, this place is definitely worth visiting!  Its from the same people who own @ Thai in Queenstown which is always good.  This shopping centre has spectacular, check out my Instagram to see a photo.

From Thaitanium’s menu, I got the Pad Thai with Vegetables and Tofu and a serving of Brocolli with Garlic.  This came to $26 and was enough to feed two (thats half of it shown in the picture).  This was delicious and so good I went back a second time.

On a return visit to the Remarkables Park Shopping Centre, I went to Starlight Chinese Restaurant.  There were a couple of vegetarian options on the menu.   I got Stirfried Broccoli Mushrooms & Tofu and Egg and Vegetables Fried Rice.

They didn’t have a lot of other vegetarian choices on their menu.  One item listed under the vegetarian choices was the Chinese Greens with Oyster sauce which clearly not.  The big hint there is the word Oyster…  This is a real issue for vegetarians with limited english who may just choose based on the symbols on the menu and not actually know what Oyster means.

Total for this was $30 and again served two meal (that’s half of it on the plate).  It was ok but only just.  The restaurant itself is very inviting, but the food was lack lustre and I wouldn’t go back.  Quite possibly, they just don’t do vegetarian well…?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t check out the local Indian restaurant so I stopped in at Bombay Palace Indian Restaurant‘s Frankton location on my way back to the house (after my flight was cancelled).  From their menu I chose the Khadai Paneer (Fresh homemade cheese cooked with onions, tomatoes, capsicums and green chilli in a thick sauce) and an Aloo Paratha (Soft whole meal bread kneaded well stuffed with spiced mashed potatoes & cooked in the tandoor oven).

Total for this including basmati rice was $20.90.  This was a complete bargain as it served two large meals.  The paratha was the best I have ever had … and I have had a lot 😉  The curry was mild but with loads of flavour.  Definitely a location to return to.  A good choice for gluten free diners  too, as nearly all their curries are GF.

For the most part many of my dining choices were back to some old favourites that I’ve spoken about before.    So be sure to check out my other posts about New Zealand including more on Queenstown.

As an aside, there is a new Indian restaurant in central Queenstown that I got very excited about, as they do North and Southern Indian food.  We don’t see much southern Indian food on menus here.  But I’m afraid to say that it wasn’t as good as I had hoped.  As they are new, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and review them next time.