Chef Vaughan Mabee & Amisfield Dinner 2025
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Charcuterie experience in the private dining room with Chef Vaughan.
A highlight of visiting the Central Otago region has to be dinner at Settling in for the of over 25 courses is an epic gastronomic adventure. On this evening, Chef Vaughan Mabee was in full control and invited us to share the new charcuterie experience in the upstairs dining room with legs of wild boar hanging in the background, house-made cured meats and salamis, liver parfait, & pig snout.
The imagination to dream up these inspired Amisfield dishes, with unexpected combinations of ingredients, flavours, textures and stories is the gift of Chef Vaughan Mabee.
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There is a unique sense of anticipation when you look across the room to see four waiting staff headed for your table holding vases of matagouri with mushroom amuse bouche hidden on their branches or butterfish heads, steaming in a bed of dry ice.
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A spear of pumpkin flower paired with freshly pressed juice.
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The Southern Swede dish was dramatically presented in all its natural glory. Daikon & wild thyme.
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Rakiraki - Mallard Duck charcuterie. Every dish is prepared and presented with extraordinary attention to detail. Chef Vaughan draws inspiration from local flora and fauna and is particularly inspired by both the Rakiraki, the Mallard Duck and Putangitangi, the Paradise Duck immortalised in his charcuterie and the Putangitangi again celebrated as a dessert course.
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Wild boar snout reveals mortadella finely ground cured pork inside.
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'Flying' Paradise Duck tunnel boned, stuffed with salami, and stitched up.
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Greenbone (Butterfish), Baby paua on a rock.
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Smoked Eel on Vogels; King crab, fresh from the Southern Ocean. Winter langoustine.
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Greenbone (Butterfish) whitebait in Beurre Blanc; Paua, fried and presented on its distinctive shell and the served with a rich butter sauce inflused with its liver.
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Titi (muttonbird) wicked wing, hare, mallard palmate. Goat under torch at the tableside.
Each server, which includes chefs from the kitchen, talks in detail about each dish with so much information about the provenance of ingredients and the preparation.
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The whole beast: Venison, cooked outside on the open fire, paired with a glass of Amisfield RKV Pinot Noir 2018.
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Putangitangi Paradise Duck immortalised as an icream-based dessert. Chef Vaughan Mabee with Celia Hay.
Take a look at the menu here.
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At the Cuisine Good Food Awards, Kelli Brett, John Darby (owner of Amisfield) Chef Vaughan Mabee, Head Chef Peng, American Express.
Read more about Chef Vaughan Mabee
Take a look at this
For 13-year-old Mabee, having gone from riches to rags and back to riches, life at the official British Government residence in Mission Bay was a revelation. 鈥淣elson Mandela came to dinner, crazy things were happening.鈥�
鈥淲hen we did the events, this cook, chef, this French caterer used to come in and start making canap茅s and all that kind of stuff. And I still remember them to this day, what he was making. And I was always helping him, and eating a lot and it was really delicious, and it was completely different to what I knew about food and I think that was where I first got my eye on that style of cuisine, and I was really obsessed with it.鈥�
Celia Hay, August 2025
