Dining
The Bridle Path Bar
Named for the track over the hill that carried everything to Lyttelton before the tunnel. Open to the public, not only to guests, and busiest between four and six.
Hours and the shape of the day
Midday to midnight, seven days. Food from midday to nine. The terrace holds forty-eight and faces north-west, so it takes the afternoon and loses the sun about an hour before the bar does — that hour is when it is busiest.
From four o’clock the room fills with riders off the Port Hills tracks, which is loud in a good way and over by seven. Sunday roast comes out at midday from May to September, NZ$36, and it sells out most weeks by half past one.
On tap and on the list
- Twelve taps, eight of them Canterbury brewers, rotated when a keg finishes rather than on a schedule
- Waipara riesling and pinot noir by the glass, four of each
- A short cocktail list of nine, all of them things a busy bar can make properly
- Non-alcoholic beer, kombucha on tap, and coffee until closing
- Bar food NZ$14 to NZ$32, from bread and butter to a plate of the day
The bar and the gaming room
The Rimu Room opens off the corridor beyond the bar, behind its own door. The two are separate rooms with separate staff and separate rules, and that is deliberate.
Nobody is served a drink in the gaming room from this bar, and no drink is carried in from it. Anyone who looks under twenty-five is asked for photo identification at the gaming room door, every time, and the door is staffed for as long as the room is open.
The Rimu Room is restricted to guests and visitors aged 20 and over. Photo identification is checked at the door on every visit, under the Gambling Act 2003. Guests are welcome to use the bar, the restaurant and the bath house whatever their age. Nothing on this website can be played or wagered online.
Live music and the quiet nights
A duo plays on the last Friday of the month from eight, no cover charge, finished by half past ten. Otherwise the room runs on its own noise. There is no television in the bar except for a Crusaders match or a test, and it goes off the moment the whistle does.
Monday and Tuesday are the quiet nights. If you want the terrace to yourself with a book, that is when to come, and the fire is lit from about the middle of April.
The bar takes bookings for groups of eight and over. Anything larger than sixteen goes to The Totara Room upstairs, where the acoustics are kinder to everybody.