Spring has arrived at Bazaar

We are well and truly charging our way through spring, welcoming these last dumps of snow accompanied by bold, bright sunny days and climbing temperatures. With the sun greeting us earlier and sticking around to chill for longer, it means the foods available are hitting a fresher and more colourful array. Being situated among mountains with windy roads (subject to snow and rock falls) transporting goods in and out of our little town can be a mission and a half, so this means we take as much of what we can from the region around us to give out the goods.

As you may be aware, (if not listen up) our Bazaar Interactive Marketplace does not come with a menu – it changes the flair each night in accordance to the best produce we can find that day. We give our culinary geniuses free reign to mix and match to every taste imaginable, and then you’re free to float through, eat as much as humanly possible, and then waddle back out again full to the brim with the best Central Otago has to offer.

Winter saw us rugging up against our 10 foot windows, staring out at snow-capped mountains and indulging in the warm belly-hugging kind of food any mountain dweller would be stoked to end the day with. Our marketplace was over flowing with spicy curries, thick soups, whole roasted meats and deep, hearty vegetables from below the Earth’s surface.

We were all about keeping you fed, rested, wholesome.. It’s time for a different seasonal approach.

Now it’s all soft and light; pastel colours, freckled skin, baby shoots and berries for days. Speaking to our chefs in charge, they’re getting giddy for the light stuff. Torin Barnes, our Sous Chef (by night, free-ride snowboarding shredder by day) is frothing over using all the young vegetables – the early days before vegetables establish themselves as mature, well rounded vege-adults off to conquer the world with full flavours. He describes them as the “innocent flavours” (and he means that in the least creepy way possible), just that they haven’t quite got the same punch, but make for the lighter, fresher tastes that go hand in hand with a chilled glass of Rose or Riesling from Misha’s Vineyard in Cromwell.

You can lay the day away along the lake front or work up an appetite hiking a mountain; either way, you’re going to find the taste of spring in your dinner to match that of your days and each of your steps.

words by olivia glynn