High-end Chinese restaurant Billy's to open in restored Ayrburn farmhouse near Arrowtown
A new high-end Chinese restaurant is due to open next Saturday in a restored 1800s farmhouse at the fast-expanding $200 million-plus Central Otago hospitality hub, Ayrburn.
Chris Meehan, chief executive of NZX-listed Winton Land, which owns the hub outside Arrowtown, said the family home of William (Billy) and Elizabeth Paterson
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NZ Herald
8 hours ago
- NZ Herald
High-end Chinese restaurant Billy's to open in restored Ayrburn farmhouse near Arrowtown
A new high-end Chinese restaurant is due to open next Saturday in a restored 1800s farmhouse at the fast-expanding $200 million-plus Central Otago hospitality hub, Ayrburn. Chris Meehan, chief executive of NZX-listed Winton Land, which owns the hub outside Arrowtown, said the family home of William (Billy) and Elizabeth Paterson
Otago Daily Times
15 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Hospo precinct complete
Visual stylist Alex Watts and Ayrburn GM Kieran Turnbull in front of Billy's. PHOTO: PHILIP CHANDLER With next Saturday's opening of opulent, Chinese-inspired restaurant, Billy's, based around a restored homestead, Queenstown's Ayrburn hospitality precinct's complete. Named after farmer William Paterson, who lived with his wife Bessie in the homestead in the late 1800s, Billy's uses five original rooms for dining, supplemented by a large central bar and kitchen. It also has an attached 'orangery', or glass conservatory, which seats another 50 to 60 diners amid lime and lemon trees. The extensive Cantonese-style menu is a nod to the Chinese immigrants who played a major role in the nearby Arrowtown and wider Otago goldrush. "We thought it would work well for our own precinct but also for the wider market," Ayrburn GM Kieran Turnbull says. Ayrburn developer Chris Meehan's again employed architect Jessie Sutherland from Cromwell's SA Studio and Alexander & Co for interior design, in close collaboration with his own Winton team. According to a release, "the venue's interiors are a bold expression of eclectic luxury, featuring velvet banquettes, chinoiserie wallpaper, notable artworks and richly-layered texture that create an atmosphere where history is honoured and indulgence is elevated". Visual stylist Alex Watts notes she sourced 130-plus pieces of art, 85% from New Zealand, over 18 months. Reconstruction of the homestead — one of the first homes in the area featuring electric lighting — was handled by The Builders, while Diemarco built the orangery. Billy's will open Wednesday evenings for dinner and Thursdays through Sundays for both lunch and dinner service. Added to Ayrburn's six existing hospo venues, "it's the final piece of the hospitality puzzle, and it's the puzzle on the board that kind of fits everything together", Turnbull says.
Otago Daily Times
15 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Super-charging Tech Queenstown
Roger Sharp. PHOTO: ODT FILES Technology Queenstown (TQ) recently appointed five new trustees to help guide the Whakatipu's tech sector development agency. TQ chair Roger Sharp says collectively they bring a "remarkable" balance of skills and international relationships. They are: Webjet Group managing director Katrina Barry, an experienced tech sector CEO and founder based in Australia — her former roles include CEO of Trafalgar and Contiki Tours and payments company me&u, along with senior roles at the Virgin Group and McKinsey & Company; Claudia Batten, a tech entrepreneur and company director, who's chair of NZX-listed Serko Ltd, ASX-listed Michael Hill International deputy chair, and board member of Vista Group and Air NZ; David Downs, incumbent CEO of The New Zealand Story, who holds several board director roles, has founded tech companies and worked internationally for Microsoft; Invest South executive officer Prue Halstead, who's also an executive committee member of Angel Association NZ and a founding board member of Mainland Angel Investors and COIN South; And Dino Vendetti, a seasoned venture capitalist, entrepreneur and Edmund Hillary Fellow who splits his time between the United States and Portugal. He's Seven Peaks Ventures LLC founding partner and managing director, and co-founder, investor and board member of CrowdStreet. TQ chief executive Sarah Russell says she's "thrilled" to have the collective wisdom and capability to draw on, to provide the level of strategic direction and guidance required to attract global tech platforms, and support local tech companies to scale globally. Whakatipu Hangarau Trust will have up to eight trustees in total, including the chair, with further announcements to come.
