Fishbone, Queenstown

Saturday February 2

Queenstown is more of a hyped-up resort town than anything else we've seen in New Zealand - a mall in its center, motels stacked around its edges, lots of loud teenagers in its streets and bars, and paragliders coming off the top of the mountain and landing along its otherwise lovely lake. So the loud music coming out of Fishbone made us walk right past it, despite its high recommendation in Lonely Planet. But all the other fish restaurants in town were full, and everybody we asked said that the best alternative was Fishbone. So we finally returned.

As it turned out, the music was mainly in the front, and people were doing some serious eating in the back. We started with a dozen Pacific oysters (nice and musky), accompanied by a Chard Farm Savvie 2007.

In our constant search for fishes we had never had before, we ordered the Blue Warehou special. The fish is meaty like tuna, but more tender, and falls away in big flakes. It was served on a zucchini pancake with a grilled and parmesaned tomato on the side. Delicious.

We also had the South Island Flounder (patiki, so the NZ fish-spotters' guide informs us). Unfortunately the little floundery thing had NOT been well-cleaned, and a dark bitter patch of guts was clinging behind his head and gills. But once that was cleared away, the flavor was subtle and mild, like Dover sole. It was baked with citrus butter and laid out on a layer of excellent chups (or french fries, as they also say here), along with a good aioli.

Save for the cleaning error, Fishbone was on the whole a very good thing, and from now on we won't judge a restaurant by its music - so much.