New Zealand's best gastropub has been crowned

The Fat Duck was crowned supreme champion at the 2025 Estrella Damm Top 50 New Zealand Gastropubs Awards in Auckland this week.

Co-owned by Cam Davies and partner Selina Wright, the couple have owned and run the popular Southland hostelry since 2016.

Davies is loving his life down in Southland, he told RNZ’s Nights.

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“Life's awesome, we love it. Got two young kids, it's a great town for them to grow up in. And they can roam the streets when they're old enough. The school’s across the road.

“Rush hour traffic’s about three and a half minutes on a busy day, and I'm about a five-minute walk with my dog down to the lake. “

Enviable lifestyle aside, what makes The Fat Duck Gastropub so unique? Davies says Southland’s food suppliers are a big part of the story.

“Southland, we've got to be the food bowl in New Zealand…we’ve got so much good offerings produce-wise, artisans and suppliers, it's just awesome.

“So, our job’s pretty easy. If we buy really good produce and just put out our little techniques on it and spin and serve it, it is pretty straightforward.”

A consistently warm welcome is part of the mix too, he said.

“You need to be offering great food and great drinks, and that offering needs to be really good for them to want to come back.

“You've got to be able to do that every single day that you're open.”

Davies has plenty of food pedigree - he’s even cooked for pop royalty.

"Beyoncé and Jay Z, they were awesome guests, I was lucky enough to work on a super yacht for about seven years and cruise around the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.

“That's where I met my partner, Selina.”

After a spell of globetrotting, he’s happy just where he is, he said.

“We’ve got the best in New Zealand down here in terms of produce and we love serving that to our guests.”