St George Estate Restaurant is a Hawkes Bay treasure, sometimes overlooked as people are attracted to the Winery Restaurants, but the food at St. George Estate is up with the best.
Owner and Head Chef Frankie Godinho set a new standard in the Bay, as Executive Chef at Te Awa Farm winery restaurant, before branching out on his own at St. Georges.
Frankie comes from the former Portuguese enclave of Goa, in India, and most of the staff are Indian, but the dishes are all European.
Our waiter, Sanu was trained in the Maldives and was excellent.
The menu is extensive and obviously I can’t comment on all the dishes, but the Panko crumbed Prawns are scrumptious, and beautifully presented, as is the Pork Belly.
My wife had the Gnocchi, which was served in a Baked Butternut, and she loved it.
A specialty of The Chefs is the use of baby vegetables on the dishes, all of which are grown on site by Frankie, on land adjoining the Restaurant.
I would highly recommend a visit by locals, or visitors to Hawkes Bay.