Location: 554 Frankton Road, Queenstown 9300 New Zealand
Price: NZ$174 for 4 people, ~A$163.10
Website: https://sherwoodqueenstown.nz/restaurant

The Sherwood came up on my google searches as one of the top places to try in Queenstown, so we managed to wrangle a booking one weeknight when we were in town. 

For entrees we ordered their radish dish, served with labneh and olive oil. These were fresh from their garden, served raw. Whilst the radish itself was crunchy and fresh, it was still raw radish at the end of the day, and definitely not a dish I would order again. I wish this was served grilled or steamed even as it would have been a better dining experience for me personally. 

The next entrée was the chorizo flatbread with cauliflower and pecorino. The flatbread itself was nicely done but the abundance of cauliflower on top sucked all the flavour out of the dish. I felt like it needed additional chorizo or salt to balance out how much cauliflower was on the flatbread. The final entrée was a smoked warehou (NZ fish) croquette. The smoky flavour was really nice, however the fish was dry and the texture didn’t really work for a croquette.

The first main we ordered was the paua Bolognese with squid ink pasta in a buttery sauce. This dish was delicious, the saltiness of the paua went well with the sauce and the green provided additional crunchy texture. This is probably the most expensive pasta dish I’ve had to date at NZ$49, but paua is the NZ abalone equivalent which explains the higher price tag. Definitely a dish worth coming to Sherwood alone to try. 

The market fish was well cooked and served in a light, frothy sauce. It was a pretty lightweight dish, no strong flavours here and ultimately very forgetful. For sides we ordered the charred asparagus which came with a caper and raising vinaigrette. This combination was fairly weird and overly sweet. The asparagus was also aggressively salted. Given this was a dish that cost $18, it fell far from expectations.

The sizes for the mains were fairly small and so we ordered another flatbread deeming it a safe choice. We ordered the rosemary and confit garlic flatbread and it was way too salty in the centre and there was not enough toppings that stretched out to the crust. Again, very disappointing.

Melissa – 2/5, would have been a 1/5 if not for the paua dish. 

Overall, Sherwood held a lot of promise but execution on a lot of their dishes was poor. If not for the paua dish here the rating would be lower, especially given the price point of some of their dishes. Their menu does seem to be seasonal depending on the vegetables in their garden at the time, so perhaps a change in season would be the catalyst for another, more successful visit.