The Stoaker Room Cromwell is part of a Central Otago bistro and bar brand built around "Barrel Cuisine" — grilling, baking, steaming and smoking local produce inside French Oak Pinot Noir barrel cookers called Stoakers. The Cromwell restaurant sits alongside a sister location in Wanaka, both offering the same distinctive cooking approach.
The Stoaker itself is a versatile cooking system built into a rustic converted wine barrel, combining oak and steam to create food with a unique flavour. It occupies its own space in outdoor cooking, sharing traits with a BBQ, grill, oven and smoker without being purely any one of them. The concept was born in 2008 on the banks of the Kawarau River, when founder Quintin Quider and Stormalong Stanley, faced with a fire ban, converted an old wine barrel into a self-contained cooker and used it to smoke and steam salmon and freshly caught seafood.
Quintin Quider, who also founded Wild Earth Wines nearby, later opened The Stoaker Room Bistro and Bar with partner Sue, drawing guests in for a relaxed atmosphere and food crafted for sharing. The Stoaker Room caters weddings and special events using its fully mobile barrel cookers, with guest testimonials repeatedly praising the food and service at wedding functions. Takeaway orders can be placed online, by phone, or through the free Stoaker Room app, with a discount available for takeaway orders.
The Stoaker Room in Cromwell serves what it calls "Barrel Cuisine" — food grilled, baked, steamed and smoked inside converted French Oak Pinot Noir wine barrels, known as Stoakers. It's a cooking method with a genuinely unusual origin story, and one that now defines the restaurant's identity across its two Central Otago locations, Cromwell and Wanaka.
The idea began during a sunny Central Otago summer in 2008, when Wild Earth Vineyard owner and commercial diver Quintin Quider, along with Stormalong Stanley from Stewart Island, were entertaining guests on the banks of the Kawarau River. Faced with a fire ban and only an old wine barrel to work with, the pair chopped the barrel, rigged up a makeshift heat source, added wood chips, and poured water into the bottom to protect it from burning. They smoked and steamed fillets of salmon and freshly caught seafood, discovering a distinctive oaky flavour they hadn't tasted before — and a cooking method unlike anything else.
A Stoaker isn't simply a BBQ, grill, oven or smoker — it borrows elements from all of them, combining oak and steam inside a rustic wine barrel to create a genuinely different style of food. Many of the barrels used today have been transformed into patented Stoakers, which now serve guests from the restaurant's busy outdoor kitchen. Because they're fully mobile, the same barrels used in the restaurant can travel to weddings, catering jobs and special events.
Quintin Quider's path to Central Otago started at sea rather than on land — as a commercial diver, he was drawn to New Zealand's South Island, eventually settling on Stewart Island. A long-standing passion for food and wine led him naturally toward Central Otago Pinot Noir, and after retiring from diving due to ear problems, he built Wild Earth Wines into an award-winning brand and opened Wild Earth Restaurant near Cromwell. The Stoaker Room Bistro and Bar, opened with partner Sue, is his next chapter — a relaxed space built around great food and wine, crafted for sharing good times with friends.
Catering is clearly a strength for The Stoaker Room. Guest testimonials repeatedly single out weddings catered by the team, describing professional, easy-to-deal-with staff and food that guests kept talking about long after the event. One couple called the food "a true highlight," while another described the Stoaker Room team as the highlight of their wedding day.
At the Cromwell restaurant, the kitchen serves lunch and dinner from 12pm, with last orders around 7:30pm, while the bar stays open until 9pm, seven days a week. For those not dining in, takeaway can be ordered online, by phone, or through the free Stoaker Room app on Apple and Android, with a discount available on takeaway orders.
The Stoaker Room Cromwell is located at 180 State Highway 8B, open Monday to Sunday from 12pm to 9pm. Reservations, catering enquiries and general questions can be directed by phone or email, and the restaurant also sells gift vouchers for anyone wanting to share the Barrel Cuisine experience.