Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand
After a hard and chilly day of visiting the Franz Josef Glacier, warm up at the Blue Ice Restaurant in town. It has it all. There is a bar with a fast food and pizza menu on the top floor (Wednesday nights are Karaoke nights) and on the bottom floor an a la carte menu matched to some superb wines.
I love a restaurant that is friendly and the service is good, but also leaves you alone to enjoy your meal and your company. Somehow the Blue Ice achieved this even though there are not many eating establishments in the town and they were turning people away. We were extremely lucky in that we took the last available table downstairs. The latecomers were relegated to the porch or the bar upstairs. I would suggest making a reservation, if you know when you will be going through.
The prices were not cheap, but not too expensive. If you paired every dish with the appropriate glass of wine, you will be paying for it. I would say the restaurant was worth every penny.