For chefs and restaurateurs all over the world, hospitality’s pressure-cooker environment is no joke. As we increasingly grapple with the consequences of depression and anxiety among those working in our food industry, what’s New Zealand going do about it? Le Suquet à Laguiole in the south of France enjoyed the highest accolade in fine dining for two decades. … Read more
Dietary Requirements is our new monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms and Fine Wine Delivery Company. On Dietary Requirements this month, Rebecca Smidt and Dariush Lolaiy from Auckland restaurant Cazador join Alice and Simon in the studio to talk about (and eat) sausages, offal, Beervana, their … Read more
For many in the restaurant industry, Anthony Bourdain’s death hit close to home, so a group of hospo friends decided to build something positive out of the sadness. When Dariush Lolaiy got home after work at his Auckland restaurant Cazador late one night in June, he saw a text from his head chef Brendan Kyle … Read more
‘Too much of anything is bad, but too much champagne is just right,’ according to Mark Twain. Simon Day has a cleansing glass of bubbles (or three) to go with a history lesson on champagne. Champagne and fried chicken make surprisingly good tablemates. The sharp, cleansing effervescence of the wine cuts through the rich fattiness … Read more
The results of a new poll show that the cover of the Cazador cookbook is not “shit”. The people have spoken. A new cookbook, slandered as “shit” by Spinoff books editor Steve Braunias, has been declared in an important new opinion poll to be “good”. The Spinoff ran a story of two halves on Tuesday. … Read more
Books editor Steve Braunias and Auckland editor Simon Wilson debate the merits of the book cover just named New Zealand’s best of the year. Steve Braunias: People say New Zealand literature is short of laughs but the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ!) book design awards are reliably LOL. Oh hang on they’re not joking. Year after … Read more