A bit about Billy

Billy Allan leads the diverse team in the No.7 kitchen. Billy has been plying his trade at prestigious restaurants throughout New Zealand and Australia for many years.

Luckily for us Billy left Sydney & returned to NZ in 2009 with his Australian wife Penny and young family, settling in Dunedin.

Billy worked for internationally acclaimed Chef Dietmar Sawyere at Berowra Waters which was awarded best New Restaurant in Sydney's Good Food Guide 2009. Prior to that he worked for five years as sous chef at La Grillade Restaurant.
Before moving to Sydney, Billy was the sous chef for Alister Brown at Logan Brown in Wellington.

The end of a busy May

We've had a frantic May with three graduation weekends in a row

It's been all hands on deck at Balmac catering to our many out of town visitors and returning graduates

Chef's Billy, Erwin, Lisa & Kitchen Porter Tim have been amazing over the dinner service and Mike, James,Shane, Nalinee & Erwin (yes Erwin again....when does he sleep!) & kitchen porter Sam were equally brillant over very busy brunches

Solei did a fabulous job on the bar, she is the cocktail Queen and we all love her

What makes these busy times even better is recieving such a lovely feedback from wonderful customers:

Sunday 23 8.52am

Hi, Neil and I and the two other friends that were with us would like to compliment the staff who looked after our table last night on their friendly capable and efficient manner. We appreciated how busy the restaurant was and that this must put a lot of added pressure onto their workload.

On these graduation nights it is so good for visitors to Dunedin to receive such a warm welcome to add to their experience of our fair City

Thank you

Cheers, Margreet Simpson

Autumn in the Garden

Our gardener John has been busy this week harvesting the last of the late summer growth from Balmac's garden.

Heirloom vine Tomatoes are ripening in the kitchen to avoid the frost, perfect in the Putenesca Salad. The Rocket has lasted wonderfully, it looks gorgeous on the Grilled Mushrooms with Olive Toast & Truffle Oil on our All-day Menu. John has planted a new crop of Rocket that should see us through early winter.

Industrious head chef Billy Allen has been working hard to stop the Italian parsley going to seed, using it to make delicious Parsley Puree which he serves with Wood-grilled Merino Lamb Chops...Yum! Come in any night, Mon-Sat after 5pm & try it for yourself.

John has grown a lovely array of Rainbow Chard from seed which is now planted and growing well. It's a perfect accompaniment to our Wood-grilled Chicken with Lemon Thyme & Potato.