Lombardi Restaurant A Winner At Monteiths Beer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

26 August 2008

Lombardi Restaurant A Winner At Monteiths Beer & Wild Food Challenge

Lombardi Restaurant at Grand Mercure St Moritz Queenstown has won the formal Queenstown regional category in the eleventh annual Monteith's Beer and Wild Food Challenge.

Competing against some stiff competition, Lombardi, headed by Executive Chef Avi Yochay, won the judges over with their innovative dishes and ideal beer matches. The winning combination? An entrée of seared wild hare loin matched with Monteith's Celtic and a main course of 'O-thar-go': bush spiced alpine thar with wild pork hock pie, watercress, autumn nuts and crab apple compote, matched with Monteith's Black.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Lombardi has entered the competition and the fourth time they have won a prize. In 2005 the restaurant received the Best Service award, in 2006 it was the Queenstown regional winner and last year took out the top prize for Best Individual Beer & Food match.

Lombardi's delicious offering will be available until 20 September, when it will be judged again for the national competition.

The win is the latest in a list of accolades, with Grand Mercure St Moritz recently being named New Zealand's best hotel in the New Zealand Tourism Awards. The hotel is celebrating its tenth birthday in style, with a recent refurbishment to mark the occasion.

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ENDS

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