Riverstone Kitchen embraces wild menu | Oamaru News | Local News in Oamaru

Waitaki restaurant Riverstone Kitchen has joined the 2011 Fish & Game New Zealand Gamebird Food Festival, which starts on Sunday.

Back for its sixth year, and fast becoming a Kiwi tradition, the  event has attracted a reputable list of restaurants, including Cazador, à Deco, Bistro 1284, Café Nero and Café de Paris.

Riverstone Kitchen, which was the supreme winner in the 2010 Cuisine  NZ Restaurant of the Year, joins the festival along with other finalists Palate, Bracu, Cable Bay Vineyards and Bouterey's at 251.

Gamebird Food Festival event manager Rose France said the organisers were "delighted" to have so many restaurants supporting the festival. "And [we are] thrilled to have some of the country's most awarded chefs participating," she said.

The concept is simple: you take your wild birds into a participating restaurant (dressed, of course), and the chef will turn them into a feast.

By law, restaurants are not allowed to purchase or sell wild gamebirds, so the only opportunity for New Zealanders to taste them is to harvest them themselves or join a hunter who has.

The Gamebird Food Festival is an annual event and an initiative of Fish & Game NZ to promote responsible, licensed hunting.

For a complete list,  visit www.gamebirdfoodfestival.co.nz.