We have spent years in five-star hotels, resorts and award-winning restaurants, but Marlborough has always been a place we would like to settle down in. Here are some of our past adventures:

Recent accolades

• One Hat, Cuisine Good Food Awards 2017, 2018
• Kiwibank Local Hero 2017
• NZ Restaurant Personality of the Year, Cuisine Good Food Awards 2017
• Best Restaurant 'Top of the South', Aronui DineOut Awards 2017
• Westpac Supreme Business Award 2016
• Trustpower Customer Service Award 2016, 2017
• Annandale, Banks Peninsula (set up team)
• World's Best Experiential Luxury Property
• Best Experiential Luxury Property Australasia
• Best Luxury Property New Zealand
• Wills Domain, Margaret River
• Best Regional Restaurant, Two Hats, Gourmet Traveller Stars
• Knee Deep, Margaret River
• Best Regional Restaurant, Two Hats, Gourmet Traveller Stars

What is your idea of perfect happiness? LIZ - A busy restaurant service filled with the sound of happy locals, friends and visitors, then going home to enjoy a glass of Marlborough Pinot Noir outside in the garden.

What is the purest thing you have ever tasted? LIZ - Bradley has several spice blends he makes from foraged herbs and berries. He has one he uses with raw seafood and it gives the seafood the most beautiful, clean flavour. Beyond taste, it becomes light, bright and pretty. BRADLEY – A freshly shucked scallop whilst out on a boat with friends.

What was your first experience with sustainable eating? BRADLEY – Growing up in small towns in the South Island hunting and fishing was a big part of our life, and we ate a lot of wild-caught produce. Mum also has a beautiful vegetable garden, so as a family we were eating fresh, seasonal and local just because of where we lived.

What do you love most about what you do? BRADLEY – Paying attention to the small things around us that come in and out of season. As wild ingredients go out of season, you spend the next part of the year reimagining dishes you can form around them the next year. We are lucky to have the opportunity to be creative every day and to use that creativity to make others happy.

What’s the best thing you’ve ever been taught? LIZ – To never do anything I can’t call my dad and tell him about. I use the idea of ‘what would Ross Buttimore do?’ in all aspects of my work, including monetary decisions and negotiations. I feel that people trust us and like dealing with us because they know that with each business decision we are also thinking about what the other party needs and how we can get there.

Are there any mentors or food heroes you would like to thank? BRADLEY – I was lucky to be trained by two very strong South Island chefs who pushed me hard every single day. I worked on and off for both of them straight out of polytech until my mid 20s. I still talk to both of them every week. Another chef I take inspiration from is Ben Shewry. I love his food of course, but his approach to his team, community and the other people around him is something I look up to. We have the pleasure of seeing him now and then, and he always has time for us and shows genuine interest in what we are doing.

What are your favourite books or cookbooks? BRADLEY – My favourite book of all time is The Lore and Science of Cooking by Harold McGee. The book that I have paid excess luggage for time and time again over the years would be Quay by Peter Gilmore.

What do you make from scratch? BRADLEY - We pretty much only buy in raw ingredients and make almost everything from scratch; spice blends, bread, pasta, all our stocks and sauces, sorbets/ice creams, all our desserts, bar syrups etc.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing what you are doing? LIZ - We incorporate a huge amount of charity work into our business, so if I wasn’t running a restaurant I would likely be working in some sort of not-for-profit work. Arbour’s events incorporate the whole community and it is a vehicle that, with the help of its peers, has raised over $450,000 for local groups in the last three-and-a-half years. We put up the event management, Arbour and our fabulous local hospitality friends, staff the kitchen and front of house, our wine and food suppliers donate to the menu, local businesses donate auction items and our guests purchase the tickets and make sure the auction items are bought. There is a clear respect for each person in the chain and when a result is announced the guests at the table are just as likely to be hugging the nearest waiter as each other.

How do you like to spend your day off? BRADLEY – We tend to work typical owner/operator hours, so when we have a day off we bring home our favourite food and wine, lock the front door and hide in our garden (with our dog and cat) where the world can’t find us.

Bradley Hornby, Arbour. Image credit: Richard Briggs Photography

What does success mean to you? LIZ - That I am happy, my team can afford to have a nice life, that our guests keep returning and that Arbour is considered an integral and valuable part of such a beautiful region.

What are the qualities you most admire in others? LIZ - Kindness. We are all in this busy, crazy, confusing life together and we should all be trying to make sure each other’s pathway is as smooth as possible.

Can you tell us something we don’t know about you? LIZ - People think I am lucky to be so extroverted because I host big events, speak often to groups and always have a bright, contagious grin on my face. But I was, and to a certain extent still am, incredibly shy – to the point of it being crippling. I trained myself in public speaking by applying to be head girl. I was just awful for the first half of the year and then barely bearable for the second. I repeated this torture at university and over time the fear disappeared. There is still that girl in there who may at times cancel going to non-work related events, but I no longer dive into supermarket displays to hide from someone I know.

Which three words best describe your cooking style? BRADLEY - Regional, seasonal, always evolving,

If you could eat only one thing today, what would it be? BRADLEY – I am fascinated by the subtle and beautiful style of Japanese cooking. Whilst I can’t choose which I would eat as a last meal, it is most likely going to be either a bowl of ramen, nigiri sushi, chawanmushi, gyoza or tempura.
LIZ – Kumara, in particular kumara that has been cooked in a hangi, preferably soaking in the meat juices!

What do you see when you think of the cuisine of your own country? BRADLEY - Arbour is known for championing local producers, but it really is so easy for us here in Marlborough. We forage in the mornings at the beach or in the organic vineyards. Our menu uses almost all local suppliers, not just because they are local, but because they are outstanding in their field as well. Our food tastes of the region; it is fresh, local, has a beautiful lightness to it, is generous and most of all, delicious.

Which producer or supplier really brightens your day? LIZ - No one would be jealous reading this, in fact most Marlburian’s in wine and food would nod their head and agree! Takaki Okada from Folium Wines. He is so hard-working, humble and incredibly polite. He is often found in a kitchen when we have a charity event on, and when he delivers his wine he goes to the effort of restocking his own shelf! He also hosts post-vintage hangi for sometimes 70 guests, and if he has invited you and four others for a private dinner you might turn up to 300 hand-folded dumplings or a tempura station. His mum sends care packages from Japan and always includes gifts of expensive soy and vinegars for our restaurant (or a handbag for the restaurant owner!).

Do you have a motto or mantra? BRADLEY – Our previous boss instilled the mantra ‘Listen, Filter, Absorb’ into us. We are all constantly being critiqued and sometimes that can fill your mind, become an obsession and keep you awake at night. He helped us to learn to ‘Listen’ to what each person was saying without interrupting or correcting, go away and ‘Filter’ out what was simply personal taste or unnecessary, and ‘Absorb’ any nuggets of wisdom that could improve the dish, business or service.

Visit Arbour’s Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.