Planned a birthday catch up for a special out of town friend and casually mentioned this in the booking. Our friend was looked after on arriving with firstly ‘Happy Birthday Lorraine’. Then followed a personalised Chardonnay tasting just for her. A desert arrived with the chocolate happy birthday message on her plate. Such a lovely night and Two Tractors was the Chardonnay chosen. Thank you team Malo. We’ll be back.

Industrial looking interior. Adjacent to a boutique hotel (don't know what was so "boutique" about it) in Havelock North. Was looking for a basic lunch. But there was little basic on the menu. Whenever I come across something that I wouldn't call mainstream, I use the word "kinky." And that's how I would describe the food. Not bad, but not fulfilling either. And limited options. Service was fine. Would not return.

We were recommended to look Malo up by friends in Auckland who knew one of the chef's, so we had had a heads up in advance of dining at Malo and I have to say we were not disappointed.

As fate would have it our hotel for the weekend was the marvelous Porters Boutique Hotel and Malo was right down stairs so from a convenience point of view it ticked the box.

We arrived at the hotel late Friday afternoon and the hotel staff were very kind to run around and make sure we had a dinner reservation. Friday nights trade was brisk and the restaurant pretty much full so getting an advanced booking especially on a Friday evening is worth remembering.

Malo' staff were very welcoming and attentive, simply couldn't fault them. The ambience was comfortable, clean and modern, again another tick. Food was in my books extraordinary, so much so we came back for dinner Saturday evening and again weren't disappointed.

From a food perspective we tried the Venison Carparcio, the Goats Cheese Profiteroles, The Fish Curd (Which was excellent) and for mains the Blue Nose that was on special, the Black Angus Sirloin and the Freedoms Farm Pork Belly, all delicious.

We travelled from Australia for business and decided to spend a free weekend in Hawkes Bay to just have a look around, food was always on the cards but I wasn't expecting it to be this good. Thank you Malo we will be back.

Wen went pre Christmas with a party of four and ordered a three course dinner - I started with a Bruschetta - that lovely Italian dish simple - tomato, olive oil, seasoning and a ciabatta rubbed with garlic … what was served was a terrible semi cooked not definable brown something which went back after the first bite - if you are doing a free interpretation of Bruschetta call it what it is not Bruschetta… the following dishes were OK (only OK) uninspiring… service was below OK as hospitality still relies on untrained staff and is obviously not interested in training them - that might be fine for a take away but not when they call themselves restaurant. Not worth the trip to Karanema

PS - guess what the Bruschetta was on the bill and it was taken off after my eyebrow went up but it took two trips to the kitchen chef to get it remover

Truly delicious meal, great service.
Perfect evening.
The restaurant was recommended by some kiwi friends, and we can’t thank them enough to have sent us there.
If it wasn’t so far away from home (south of France !) we would go back often !