True South

True South Dining is the lakeside dining flagship of the Hilton Queenstown — a five-star property at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu, opened in 2010, with a direct lakefront aspect — and is the most polished hotel-fine-dining experience in Queenstown. The dining room sits in a glass-walled lakeside pavilion with a 270-degree view of Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables mountain range across the water.

The cuisine is contemporary New Zealand with deep South Island regional sourcing under chef Daniel Mahia. Signatures include a slow-cooked Otago lamb shoulder with juniper; a hand-cut Stewart Island salmon tartare; a wood-fired Bluff oyster with green olive; the famous 'manuka-honey panna cotta' for the dessert course.

The wine list runs to 350 references with deep Central Otago Pinot Noir coverage and a respectable national New Zealand programme.

The dining room and outdoor terrace together hold ninety covers; the kitchen times the dessert course with the Remarkables sunset. Service is hotel-grade — uniformed captains, choreographed plate-arrival, exact pacing.

True South is the close-a-deal room in Queenstown — the Hilton hotel pedigree settles the institutional question, the lakeside terrace is the canonical Queenstown view, and the hotel-grade service makes a multi-course business dinner reliable. Book the corner four-top by the lakeside window.