Retirement Village dining

The image of over-cooked, flavourless hospital food or boarding school meals springs to mind when I think of any sort of institutional cooking, but a visit to a modern retirement village blew those perceptions out the window.

At the new Summerset Richmond Ranges in Hill Street North there is a delightful café serving beautiful food, and what’s more anyone is welcome to eat there, it isn’t just for residents.

I arranged to visit the café, try some food and talk with the people running it, as well as a couple of residents who dine there regularly. Café supervisor Nic Thorpe told me that while the majority of their residents like to cook for themselves in their fully self-contained villas, they also enjoy dining with other residents. It’s also a great place for family and friends to hang out with residents over lunch or a coffee.

While I had lunch with sales manager Jessica Bagge we talked about how important the café is, not just for residents but also for family, friends and the wider community. “It really is the hub of the village.” With facilities like a bowling green, indoor pool, movie theatre, hairdresser, spa pool, library and bar for residents it is a proper village community.

The café is a place people who are considering moving into the village at some point in their lives can drop in to meet residents and generally check the place out. Jessica says, “that means when people do move in they already know others and have experienced the facilities we have.”

So what did I think of the food, it is a lot better and way cheaper than I expected it to be. The Chef Manager is Steven Oliver and he oversees a highly experienced team of five chefs and four kitchen hands that he says work together like clockwork.

Steven brings a lot of experience to this role, he has worked in care facilities for many years and also owned the Kotare Sands restaurant at Pohara for five years. “I worked in age care in Blenheim then at Nurse Maud in Christchurch for several years.

“People in care centers and retirement villages live for their food and I love seeing the smiles on peoples’ faces, they really appreciate great food, and we make sure we have food they love. We also need to cater for dietary requirement and have dieticians on staff at Summerset who design dishes to ensure our guests and residents get a nutritionally balanced meal as well as delicious food.”

It’s also a very busy kitchen, as well as making cabinet food and a small but tasty cook-to-order menu in the café they prepare meals for those who aren’t able to visit the café regularly, so that’s about 100 people a day in the care centre, memory care centre and serviced apartments.

“Then there’s morning and afternoon teas and function catering as well, for example on Wednesday we had a Great Gatsby event with lots of great music and dancing that meant we had to cook for about 150 people just for that evening.

“While the villas in the village are fully self-contained residents can also order from a menu and we deliver food to them too, so it can be very long days in the kitchen.”

Nic Thorpe runs the café and says “we are passionate about what we do. As well as the meals that come from the kitchen for residents who need them delivered, we prepare cabinet food from the same kitchen each day. We have become just a little bit famous for our pies. I put a lot of effort into them and have a selection of fillings we change regularly. Flavours like chicken and mushroom, chicken apricot and cream cheese, pulled pork and apple are all really popular.”

Nic and the team in the kitchen prepare fresh salads, bake muffins and scones as well as making sandwiches, paninis, frittatas, stuffed sausages and the very popular cheese rolls fresh every day, there’s always something different on offer but her ‘Nic Muffin’ with cheese, bacon, egg and relish is a fan favourite.

“I also make a slice that has been dubbed the Granny Slice by residents. I got the recipe from my grandmother and the residents said that’s what I should call it. It’s made with a malt biscuit and is packed with dates, dried apricots, cranberries, desiccated coconut, chocolate and a secret topping.”

While I was there I chose to try the vegetable stack, not only was it really tasty it was a very generous serving, “residents can take home what they don’t eat and have it later for dinner if they like” says Nic.

“While this may be a retirement village our residents are very active so appreciate good food.”

For me the café at Summerset Richmond Ranges is in a wonderful setting, it’s a place where you get some of the very best value meals around (eggs benedict with bacon for $15.00) and great coffee. Because the village backs on to Saxton Field it’s also a great place to stop in for coffee or lunch if you want something more than food cart fare at a sporting event.

I think you should drop in and check out this great wee café when it’s open between 10am and 3pm each day, except public holidays. Everyone gets a warm welcome, resident or not.

Published in the Nelson Mail 26-06-26