History
Totara Restaurant was established in 1998
Received 14 consecutive awards
History
tōtara - n - Tree peculiar to New Zealand, favoured for making waka (maori canoe) and traditional carvings. Podocarpus totara, also used figuratively for a ‘great leader’. Also translates to ‘the tree that stands alone’.
tōtara - n - Restaurant was established in 1998 by Peter Jackson, Rod Fevre and Adrie Havermans. For the past 14 years, the Totara has held a reputation for fine dining and magnificent cuisine and has been awarded the prestigious New Zealand Beef & Lamb Excellence Award every year since it's conception..
The owners, Willem and Charmaine Oliver are serious in maintaining the high standard and will innovate to meet the guests' needs for an unique dining experience. Peter Jackson will ensure that the cuisine at Totara will be as exquisite as always.
Totara is being regarded as one of the best for fine dining on the North Shore.
Totara Tree
Podocarpus totara (tōtara) is a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island and northeastern South Island in lowland, montane and lower subalpine forest at elevations of up to 600 m.
The largest known living tōtara, the Pouakani Tree, near Pureora in the central north island is over 35 meters tall and nearly 4 meters in trunk diameter at breast height. Other large trees are known in this area, while Whirinaki forest, to the East, but also on deep recent volcanic soils, has groves of very tall tōtara (>40m in height).