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It is now several years that the Linda Cafe has lain dorment, and decades for the Royal Hotel next door. But the coming years should see new life breathed back in to both of the iconic Queenstown businesses under the stewardship of chef Zara Trihey. Ms Trihey, along with her business partners, is seeking to reopen the Linda Cafe this summer and has grand plans for the ruins of the Royal Hotel. Alongside her in the cafe, which she said will focus on excellent coffee and ‘grab and go’ food, will be business partners Nonna Auderset, a baker, and Toby McCrae, a cheesemaker. Ms Trihey’s background as a chef is in remote area cooking – such as unpowered camel treks through the Simpson Desert – so was naturally attracted to the wilds of the West Coast. She has now been in Queenstown for about a year, and had fallen in love with the ruins of the hotel which she was driving past daily. When it came on the market earlier in the year, she knew she had to have it, and renovating the hotel while respecting and retaining its heritage is the “big picture” plan for the site. But in the meantime, her focus is on reopening the cafe by the end of February as a place which she hopes will attract Queenstown locals as much as the tourists. “The locals are so important to us, since I’ve been here they have just been so welcoming. Queenstown is just such a cool town,” she said. “There is a really changing face happening there in a really good way. We want to look after those people and the old school locals.” However, she also has her sights set on mountain biking tourism as one of the “gnarliest” trails planned for the Mount Owen trail network will finish near to the cafe. Inside it will have a familiar feel, as Ms Trihey has sourced church pews from the recently sold Queenstown uniting church, combined with a “bohemian” cafe serving homemade cakes and organic local produce. But in the background, she and her brothers Matthew and Albert will set to work renovating the ruins of the hotel – which is heritage listed. “We want to respect the heritage of the building, and we really want to make it a destination,” she said. For more information and updates as the opening approaches, follow Royal Hotel Linda on Facebook.
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It is now several years that the Linda Cafe has lain dorment, and decades for the Royal Hotel next door.
But the coming years should see new life breathed back in to both of the iconic Queenstown businesses under the stewardship of chef Zara Trihey.
Ms Trihey, along with her business partners, is seeking to reopen the Linda Cafe this summer and has grand plans for the ruins of the Royal Hotel.
Alongside her in the cafe, which she said will focus on excellent coffee and ‘grab and go’ food, will be business partners Nonna Auderset, a baker, and Toby McCrae, a cheesemaker.
Ms Trihey’s background as a chef is in remote area cooking – such as unpowered camel treks through the Simpson Desert – so was naturally attracted to the wilds of the West Coast.
She has now been in Queenstown for about a year, and had fallen in love with the ruins of the hotel which she was driving past daily.
Barista Carl Ross.
When it came on the market earlier in the year, she knew she had to have it, and renovating the hotel while respecting and retaining its heritage is the “big picture” plan for the site.
But in the meantime, her focus is on reopening the cafe by the end of February as a place which she hopes will attract Queenstown locals as much as the tourists.
“The locals are so important to us, since I’ve been here they have just been so welcoming. Queenstown is just such a cool town,” she said.
“There is a really changing face happening there in a really good way. We want to look after those people and the old school locals.”
However, she also has her sights set on mountain biking tourism as one of the “gnarliest” trails planned for the Mount Owen trail network will finish near to the cafe.
Inside it will have a familiar feel, as Ms Trihey has sourced church pews from the recently sold Queenstown uniting church, combined with a “bohemian” cafe serving homemade cakes and organic local produce.
But in the background, she and her brothers Matthew and Albert will set to work renovating the ruins of the hotel – which is heritage listed.
“We want to respect the heritage of the building, and we really want to make it a destination,” she said.
