Four local hospo pros with almost 50 years’ experience between them are opening a European-style wine bar/restaurant in Queenstown’s Shotover St late this year.
They’re Italian Giulio Barducci, general manager of Arrowtown’s Aosta, his Brazilian partner, Aosta’s front of house manager Nathaly Behne, and Frenchman Romain Cunat and Australian-born Kiwi-raised Hayden Davison, who both own Queenstown’s The Locker Room Sports Bar.
The quartet are taking over upstairs premises most recently occupied by Indian restaurant The Spice Room — which closed as a result of Covid — and calling their venture Toast & Oak.
There’ll be spaces for both casual and more formal dining.
Barducci: ‘‘I feel like the majority of places are all either very focused on wine but not so much on food, or very focused on food but not so much on wine, so we’re trying to have a focus on both areas.’’
They’re also planning frequent changes of some of their food and wine-by-the-glass offerings.
Cunat and Davison will employ someone to run The Locker Room, which recently won ‘best sports bar’ in the 2023 Lion Hospitality Awards for Excellence.
They also say fine dining’s more their forte, Cunat having worked in local venues like Amisfield, Jack’s Point Clubhouse, Botswana Butchery and White + Wong’s, while Davison had a long stint running Jervois Steak House.
Barducci has also worked a variety of roles at the likes of Jack’s Point and Amisfield before starting at Aosta.
The partners are hoping to open around December 1, and plan offering lunch as well as dinner service.
