Enjoying a relaxing summer alfresco lunch in our courtyard.

The Lemon Tree Café's History

We arrived in New Zealand in 1999, took a three-month bike ride to get to know the country, and started off by working as restaurant managers, which made immigration to New Zealand easier. Over the next years, we spent the Southern hemisphere winters in Europe or the South Pacific, and summers in New Zealand, until we found our own place in Lawrence, Otago, in February of 2004.

The Mediterranean look and feel of the Lemon Tree was inspired by our trips. It was all ready in our heads, all we needed was the perfect venue to turn it into reality. When we started working on a shabby and run-down corner store to transform it into our dream Café, we expected to be finished within two weeks. As the remodelling work progressed, however, we found that we might as well "do it right", so we gutted the building and rebuilt the interior, with the help of a builder, but mostly our own hands (and lots of sweat).  A local craftsman built the sweeping counter, and friends from Christchurch lovingly created the stunning exterior mural. Ultimately, it took us about 5 times as long and cost 4 times as much as we had anticipated, but as you can see from the pictures, it was worth it!

The Lemon Tree Café is our pride and joy. We are proud of our food, which is exclusively homemade, and of the immense popularity of the café. We have countless customers who keep coming back again and again, and they grow in number each day.

Remodelling begins...

     

     

 

The Lemon Tree Café today!