Food & Beverage

Stories

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  Taste the difference

  With Beervana just around the corner, Capital Times discovers there are more people drinking craft beers than ever before. Cash-strapped backpacker Martin Baptiste says New Zealand craft beers can’t be beaten. “Cheaper alternatives just don’t do it, you really… Continue

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  Explosive cocktail

  WHEN a huge artillery shell was delivered to Calem Chadwick’s home last week, the courier looked at him sideways. “Don’t ask,” Chadwick said as he signed for the delivery The award-winning barman has devised an ingenious way for Wellingtonian’s to get fired up… Continue

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  Offaly close to the bone

  CHEF Kit Foe has always loved eating entrails and organs. The St Johns Heineken Hotel head chef says it was natural for his family to use every part of an animal when cooking and it’s a tradition he has continued to this day. “When you don’t have a lot of money… Continue

• Top wine award

  ENTRIES are open for the 2010 Air New Zealand Wine Awards. All vintage wines must be 100% sustainably produced. “Sustainability has been a focus of the Air New Zealand Wine Awards for several years with the introduction of pure medals in 2007,” says NZ Winegrowers’… Continue

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  Cheeky cow

  BEEF cheeks are the new lamb shanks, says Zealandia head chef Craig Dunshea. Rata, the Karori sanctuary’s new terrace cafe, is doing a main of braised beef cheeks for this month’s food festival Wellington on a Plate. “I wanted [to make] something a little different,”… Continue

• McMurrayMon wins top gong

  YOUNG Wellingtonian Jessamy Murray’s initiative and experimentation has paid off, as her creation was awarded the 2010 Zumwohl cocktail of the year. For the competition, participants were asked to create a cocktail recipe with Zumwohl schnapps as the base ingredient.… Continue

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  Hell for Rugby World Cup kitchens

  A top hospitality trainer says Wellington will suffer a culinary shortfall for the World Cup. Capital Times investigates why there is a shortage of hospitality, IT, electrical, and nursing staff while Wellington’s youth unemployment sits at 22.5%. THE Wellington… Continue

• To ban or not to ban

  A large majority of Wellingtonians don’t want a citywide liquor ban, but Wellington City Council officers do. The council received 604 written submissions on the proposal to amend the city’s Liquor Control Bylaw, which presented three options: to have a citywide… Continue

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  A mean brew

  CAPITAL Times beer columnist Kieran Haslett-Moore will be the first individual to brew his very own beer at Emerson’s Brewery in Dunedin. The Regional Wines & Spirits beer specialist will spend three days in Dunedin brewing his own recipe. Haslett-Moore,… Continue

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  Small and steady

  BOUTIQUE vineyards are the way to go, says Martinborough vineyard owner Katherine Jacobs. She will display wine from her Big Sky vineyard alongside 14 other small vineyards from Martinborough at the upcoming “Unique and Boutique” tasting in Wellington. To be… Continue

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  Memphis Belle flies with Fair Trade coffee

  WELLINGTON seems to have an endless supply of young guns who like a good coffee. Nick Clark, 21, and Bink Bowler, 19, have turned the rundown Quick-E-Mart on Dixon street into the Memphis Belle Coffee House. Clark decided sustainability was a path he wanted… Continue

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  It's all in the family

  DEIRDRE Tarrant has one talented family. She’s mum to Flight of the Conchord’s Bret McKenzie, and Jonathon and Justin McKenzie, the owners of successful Wellington bars Hawthorn Lounge and Hooch. Jonathon and Justin have just received a Capital Award for each… Continue

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  To ban or not to ban

  WELLINGTON could waste up to $200,000 on a proposed Liquor Control Bylaw if Central Government policy overrides it, says Wellington City Councillor Iona Pannett. The idea of a national public place ban was floated in Geoffrey Palmer’s Alcohol in Our Lives report,… Continue

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  How to beat the bottle

  Wellington City Mayor Kerry Prendergast has said Wellington has a binge-drinking problem. The council says it’s had success with the “Stay Safe in the City” campaign, a Kiwi take on popular programmes Sex and the City and Friends, but a group of young Wellingtonians… Continue

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  Cup talent

  FOR three young Kiwis, hospitality isn’t just a job. It’s a passion and a career for life. Wellington boys Calem Chadwick and Josh Crawford, and Aucklander James Goggin, are representing New Zealand in the 42Below Cocktail World Cup. The three were selected after… Continue

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  Kapai food

  THE bedraggled Hungry Kiwi café on Courtenay Place has gone, and been replaced by a vibrant café where you can eat the containers your food comes in. Kapai opened this week after several weeks of renovations. The café is the third Kapai instalment in Wellington… Continue

• New Newtown cafe

  MONTEREY, a new dining and cocktail bar, will open in Newtown this weekend. Kreuzberg summer café owners Joe Slater and Mike Stewart are behind the venture. Like Kreuzberg which serves coffees and cakes from a caravan in an empty parking lot at the top of Cuba… Continue

• A tatse of the South East

  THE Chinese have Chinese New Year, Indian’s get Diwali, and now the South East Asian community has an event to look forward to as well. Through a partnership between Asia New Zealand and the Wellington City Council, the capital will host the second ever South… Continue

• Latina love

  PAULA Caporalini makes food for her customers with the same love and care she would her family. The chef from Argentina arrived in New Zealand three years ago, and always dreamt of opening her own restaurant. Last week, she did it. Caporalini opened the Buenos… Continue

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  The cat that got the milk

  BEING given 60 days notice to vacate the premises was a blessing in disguise for Willis Street café owner Damian Jones. Meow Café’s landlord decided he wasn’t keen on the café being there any longer. “The only reason he really gave was that he’d found someone… Continue

• Public "nuisance"

  A man with a vendetta against liquor licencing has frustrated a group of café and bar owners who have the intention of applying for or renewing their liquor licences. Newtown resident Bernard O’Shaughnessy has lodged a formal objection against outlets that publicly… Continue

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  Beer Necessities Survey 2009

  Brewing up diversity THE top rated beers from this year’s Beer Necessities Survey represent a near perfect cross section of brewing in New Zealand. Represented in the top eight are New Zealand’s largest brewer Lion Nathan, one of the country’s biggest independent… Continue

Columns

• Wine Bloggers Awarded

  LAST week US wine judges awarded Riedel Crystal wine glasses to wine bloggers deemed the best in their field. Check out this list of winners for some truly opinionated pieces on the ups and downs of the global wine industry. Best Graphics, Photography, & Presentation:… Continue

• To BYO or not to BYO

  SHAKESPEARE never had to worry about whether he could bring his own wine to a restaurant or not. The bard thought wine was for the court. He preferred ye olde English ale. As Autolycus sings in The Winter’s Tale: “The white sheet bleaching on the hedge, with… Continue

• Drinking to globalisation

  HEY, wine lover. Bored? Thirsty? Nothing good on TV? Fill in the evening with Mondovino (2004), a film best enjoyed with a glass of vino so that you can drown your sorrows as you discover the impact of globalisation on the wine world. The undercover documentary… Continue

• Dynamite wine

  YEARS ago I passed a vineyard way up north.  I was on my way to Ahipara at the south end of Ninety Mile Beach.  I wish I’d been able to convince my driver to stop – We’d zoomed right past Okahu Estate.  This week I had a chance to make amends when… Continue

• 'K Syrah

  ON recent visit to Woolies I had a peek at the latest Cuisine and discovered that Aussie Shiraz and Kiwi Syrah were flavour of the month.  By a happy coincidence, Syrah is also the most popular drink to have with dinner during these chilly nights according… Continue

• Affordable Martinborough Pinot Noirs

  LAST night I learned a new word, ‘pinosity’, as I huddled with 26 other pinotphiles around tables laden with Riedel glasses trying to keep our samples of Martinborough pinot noir warm as southerly winds howled over our heads. My new favourite word was coined by… Continue

• Chardonnay all white

  I love drinking chardonnay in winter, especially when the wine has spent some time in oak.  Contact with the wood adds texture and complexity, but sometimes those layers of flavours can come at the price of fruit purity.  Winemakers love to play around… Continue

• Red hot

  THE annual Hot Red Hawkes Bay wine tasting hit town last week.  I took a break from exam study and headed down the to the Michael Fowler Centre to see what’s hot in the world of red wine. It’s best to approach these big roadshows with a tasting tactic, rather… Continue

• A warm drop

  ONCE upon a time, the only thing Gimblett Road had going for it was its drag strip.  But now the arid paddocks just off the beaten track on the way to Hastings grow some of the best wine in the country. Chris (CJ) Pask was one of the first to discover the… Continue

• Roaming in Richmond

  THE next time you are holidaying in wine country and fancy popping around the corner to visit a winery, remember a country block is a lot bigger than a city one! Surveying the map of Richmond, we were convinced we could wander a short 15 minutes to visit some… Continue

• Keeping up with the Jones's

  AS the rain lashes our fair capital, I wish I was on sunny Waiheke Island, where the wine flows freely and the views are breathtaking.   Robyn and Nicholas Jones, a couple of Auckland accountants, had similar thoughts when they bought a chunk of land on the… Continue

• Central Otago Procrastination

  ON St. Patrick’s Day I avoided the Irish shenanigans and instead headed down to The Boat Shed to a tasting of Central Otago wines. First up was a tutored tasting of pinot gris, riesling and pinot noir from the seven sub-regions of central. Our guide, Paul from… Continue

• Happy Santa

  PINOT hits the capital once more on St Patrick’s Day when 20 producers from Central Otago colonise the Boat Shed to show us their wares.   The tasting Central Otago Wine: A World of Difference is designed to showcase the terroir of the various sub-regions.… Continue

• Wine of the week - $12

  AUCKLANDER Murray Brennan was drawn to the Gibbston region when he was a uni student at Otago.   He bought some land in 1994 and started planting. Since 2006 his son Sean has been making wine under the family’s own Brennan label, saving for themselves the… Continue

• Guinea pigs, sheep and wine

  SENSITIVITY to the environment is so hot right now.   But well before Al Gore made his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, New Zealand wineries were adopting green principles and raising funds for endangered species.   One of the latest initiatives saw… Continue

• Queen of the pinot

  WINEMAKER Carol Bunn first got into pinot noir while working at Dry River and Martinborough Vineyards in the ‘90s.   Her success with the 2002 vintage at Akarua winery at Bannockburn had her dubbed “Queen of the pinot”. Bunn brings this fine pedigree to her… Continue

• Mediterranean mix

  MY heart was all a flutter when I thought I’d found out that an old boyfriend’s family now owned a winery and olive grove. Who needs to move to the Mediterranean, I thought. Dreams of connections and their benefits were soon dashed, however, when I discovered… Continue

• Pinot envy

  PINOTPHILES, it’s time to start saving your pennies. Pinot Noir 2010 is just a few days away. Mark February 1-4 in your diaries. One hundred wineries strut their stuff, along with guest speakers from around the world, addressing themes of regionality and sustainability,… Continue

• Holiday horrors and hurrahs

  I tasted some of the nastiest and nicest wine over the hols. My worst experience was at a music festival where the bottle proudly boasted “wine made from the vines you’re peeing on”.  I should have known then to expect a killer hangover. On a happier note,… Continue

• How to party with wine

  THE holidays are a time of silliness, happiness and good times. Here is the best way to get yourself in the mood for those long nights partying with friends. Start with something light and bubbly, like Brown Brothers Zibibbo ($16.99).  Named after “zabib”,… Continue

• Topsy turvy twins

  NEARLY 30 years ago, Andrew and Cyndy Hendry bought land at Huapai west of Auckland, planted grapes there and founded Coopers Creek winery.   Now they have vineyards dotted all over Aotearoa. Chief winemaker Simon Nunns creates one of the most diverse wine… Continue

• Toiing with your tastebuds

  NEW kids on the block, Toi Toi, are based in the Omaka Valley, in the same neighbourhood as Cloudy Bay and Seresin. They are enthusiastic about the recent success of their Toi Toi Marlborough Riesling 2009 ($20.90) at the New Zealand International Wine Show… Continue

• Size doesn't matter

  A collective of small vineyards has formed an exciting new label, Little Vineyards of Wairarapa, so that we can “taste the true terroir of the Wairarapa” though their selection of single vineyard wines.   We tasted a red and a white from the range, and discovered… Continue

• A fine tasting year

  THIS year has seen the rise in popularity of pinot gris, especially among the ladies.   At netball drinks nowadays it’s Yealands Pinot Gris 2008 ($15) replacing the old favourite sauvignon blanc. Easier to drink as an aperitif thanks to low acidity, gris… Continue

• Nobel wine

  KIWI rieslings are world famous. One of our most shiny stars comes from Marlborough’s Framingham Estate. Company founder, Rex Brooke-Taylor, was one of the first to plant vines on the rivers bed soils just outside Renwick in 1982. The first riesling under the… Continue

• Scents and sensibility

  FLORAL aromas are the sign of a good wine.   The scent of blooms indicates the use of physiologically ripe grapes. A good pinot noir, for example, might smell ever so slightly of carnations.   Tim Heath of Cloudy Bay is a master at creating such fragrant… Continue

• Why is chardonnay so hot?

  JUDGES sniffed, swirled, slurped and spat their way through more than 2,000 wines at the New Zealand International Wine Show a couple of weeks ago, awarding 156 gold medals, 317 silver and 791 bronze medals.  For the second year in a row a chardonnay won… Continue

• Handbag smells and WOW

  WINEMAKERS from Nelson gathered at The Boatshed last week to open Wellington eyes to the delights of their art, and to share scallops with us.  Aromatics, pinot gris and gewürztraminer were the theme of my night at the Nelson Wineart Show. I started with… Continue

• Tri-nations win

  NEW Zealand’s won the tri-nations… wine competition, that is. A couple of weeks ago, wines chosen to represent NZ, Australia and South Africa (SA) took the field. The competition was stiff, but we came out on top, bringing home 11 double golds to Australia’s meagre… Continue

• Pinot envy

  PINOTPHILES, it’s time to start saving your pennies. Pinot Noir 2010, featuring 100 wineries and plenty of tastings, is just over four months away (February 1-4). Programme highlights include the Winemaker’s Party on the opening night, a tasting of the 2003… Continue

• Spring wine festivals

  THE Eurowine International Winemakers Roadshow hits town on September 22. Just $25 will get you tasting a selection of new releases from Australasia at the Holiday Inn on Featherston Street. There’s always a hard decision to make at these roadshows. There will… Continue

• O Romeo, Romeo

  ONE hundred years ago, an Italian investigated New Zealand’s winemaking potential.  Romeo Bragato’s legacy to the industry is celebrated every year at a conference named after him. Winemakers, students and enthusiasts gathered in the Hawke’s Bay last weekend… Continue

• Wet and winged

  I was heading south for a Classics conference when we stopped at a beach in Pegasus Bay, North Canterbury. It was hot, we were sticky, so we stripped off to our undies and took the plunge. Luckily the only other people in the water were a young couple far more… Continue

• New era at Esk

  I winged my way to Napier for the unveiling of Esk Valley’s new label.  The new look is a brighter cream label, designed to grab the consumer’s attention, as is the “price realignment”.  We started with the Esk Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc… Continue

• A riesling to spring

  SPRING-CLEANING is a necessary evil, best enjoyed with an invigorating riesling. Drs John and Brigid Forrest’s Doctors Riesling 2008 ($22) is an off-dry award-winner that is delicious as an aperitif. Better with food is Forrest’s The Valleys Wairau Library… Continue

Reviews

• From Mild to massive

  WHEN Michael Jackson the famous beer writer (not the moon walking one) toured New Zealand in the 1990s, one of the beers that captured his imagination was Mikes Mild Ale from the Organic White Cliffs Brewery in Urenui on the Taranaki Coast. White Cliffs was founded… Continue

• Coyotes proves hidden gem

  AS a newcomer to the capital dining scene I had previously viewed Coyotes Bar and Restaurant as a venue more popular with late night revellers than a quality dining venue. Coyotes proved me wrong. Right on Courtenay Place, Coyotes offers a secluded, tranquil ambience… Continue

• A drop of Majesty

  LAST year Wellington’s Yeastie Boys Brewing Co released their first bottled beer. Named His Majesty, it was the first of two annually released bottled beers presented in 750ml champagne bottles. Last year His Majesty took the form of a strong hoppy India Pale… Continue

• Let’s get festive

  AT the end of this month Wellington will play host to Beervana: the biggest event in the New Zealand beer calendar. On August 27 and 28 the Town Hall will be a bustling hub of activity as the country’s finest brewers, publicans and retailers combine to showcase… Continue

• A Cup of Old Stingo

  FOR the last 18 months contract brewing has been the leading trend in New Zealand craft brewing. With the release of their first beer “Stingo”, the Malthouse has now entered the beer brewing game.  To modern ears Stingo might seem an unusual name for a… Continue

• Great culinary experience

  LAST week there were two events that celebrated how beer can have a place at the table. On Tuesday night I was involved in The Emerson’s Degustation Dinner at Logan Brown.  The event showcased just how well fine food and craft beer can work together. Logan… Continue

• Extra Special

  MY favourite beers tend to have rich malt flavours balanced by tangy earthy hops and fruity yeast characters, and most of them tend to be brewed in England or in the English tradition. Like many home brewers I have often day dreamed about what beers I would brew… Continue

• Winter Festivities

  AT the end of June the New Zealand beer consumer group the Society of Beer Advocates, or S.O.B.A. for short, successfully held their first beer festival. The Matariki Winter Ales Festival was held at The Boatshed on the Waterfront to celebrate winter beer styles.… Continue

• Keeping our Jack Frost

  WITH winter hitting hard over the last weeks the time for hearty warming food and drink is most definitely upon us. While in New Zealand, beer has traditionally been used as a summer refresher served chilled and highly carbonated, more and more brewers are turning… Continue

• American Styles

  FOR a city that prides itself on leading the way in craft beer consumption Wellington has precious few breweries. With the loss of Mac’s there is no longer an active commercial brewery within the city limits. While we can almost lay a claim to Yeastie Boys, as… Continue

• Belgian brilliance

  BELGIUM is responsible for some of the most original and idiosyncratic beers in the world. One very unusual characteristic of the Belgian brewing industry are the six Trappist Monasteries, which brew and sell beer to fund their abbeys and the charitable works… Continue

• That's Epic

  BACK in February I attended a very special tasting. Kelly Ryan, an ex-pat Kiwi and head brewer of English craft brewer Thornbridge, presented a range of his beers at The Malthouse. Having studied food science and brewing for DB in New Zealand, Kelly set off on… Continue

• Scorchorama -A family feed

  Scorch-O-Rama, 497 Karaka Bay, Scorching Bay, Coffee: Havana MURIEL (the dodgy Mercedes) now has a slippery steering wheel. “A lot of play” they say… I refuse to give her up – she’s part of the family. But we went out for a coffee a couple of months ago,… Continue

• The last brew

  A month ago I was invited to the last brew at Mac’s Shed 22 waterfront brewery before production was moved to Christchurch. It was a very special and rather sad event. The brewing team decided to go out on a high by making the special harvest ale Brewjolais their… Continue

• Gonzo Brewing

  ASPEN Colorado is an affluent ski resort town and attracts the rich and famous. However there is a darker more creative side to this alpine city. It was home to author Hunter S Thompson, the graphic genius Ralph Steadman and one of the most original American breweries.… Continue

• The farce of low carb

  I fail to understand why brewers are put under pressure to compromise their craft by producing reduced alcohol beers. Given most beer styles are already far lower in alcohol than wines and spirits, why should brewers have to start tinkering round with them to make… Continue

• Beer from the wood

  IN the sun drenched wine country of California there is a brewery that has taken the Victorian technology of rainy Midlands England and replicated it on a smaller scale. The English brewing town of Burton-Upon-Trent became renowned for producing fruity hop accented… Continue

• A Captain's brew

  TUCKED away in the rural hinterland of Golden Bay, the Mussel Inn has been providing old fashioned country hospitality and some of the most idiosyncratic brews in the country since 1992. Captain Cooker Manuka Beer is the most famous of those brews. Inspired by… Continue

• Crafty brews

  I’VE always found it strange that the UK, with its rich heritage of brewing, doesn’t have a regular publication devoted entirely to beer.  I find it even more remarkable that France, a nation more commonly associated with wine, does. I discovered this last… Continue

• Hot Wired

  8 Wired is the youngest of the new breed of contract brewers to take New Zealand by storm. Contract brewing companies like 8 Wired brew their beers in other people’s breweries meaning they can concentrate on producing striking character full products without… Continue

• Christmas beer

  THE festive season is often seized upon as a chance to publicise the diversity of the wine world and to promote how different wines suit different situations and complement different foods. Sadly beer is often overlooked on Christmas Day being relegated to a… Continue

• Mayhem on the shelves

  BACK in 2006 Epic brewer Luke Nicholas brewed a festive beer for BrewNZ. The brew was assertively called Mayhem and threatened to “willfully maim and cripple the palates of the most extreme hop head”. Formulated as a bigger bolder stronger version of the award… Continue

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  Dine in style

  Khmer Satay Noodle House, Readings Courtenay. WHAT a neat idea to have a traditional restaurant in a mall setting. Khmer Satay Noodle House in Readings Cinema on Courtenay Place provides a mouth-watering alternative when grabbing a quick bite before a movie.… Continue

• Delicacy on a Plate

  Plate Restaurant, 75 Featherstone Street. PLATE Restaurant serves my new favourite dessert, so I’m going to start at the end. If you’ve never tried pannacota with amaretto jelly and amaretto granite, please do. The combination of the amaretto, a white, custard-like… Continue

• Best Indian

  Masala, 2 Allen Street I’VE yet to meet someone who doesn’t love Masala. A two-time winner in Capital Times’ Best of Wellington Readers’ Survey this year, Masala is a must visit for anyone in need of a spice up. Voted Best Indian Restaurant and Best Take-Away… Continue

• Living beer

  REAL ale is not a concept that’s readily understood in this country. Coined in the 1970s by English consumer organisation the Camra, Real Ale refers to beer that has been naturally carbonated by the actions of the yeast in the bottle or cask from which it is… Continue

• Out of the Cellar

  RECENTLY I was privileged to be invited to a very special tasting at local beer bar Hashigo Zake. Owner Dominic Kelly assembled a fantastic assortment of vintage beers from several private cellars for the event, including some beers that are no longer produced… Continue

• Three out of three

  GROWING up in West London in the 60s and 70s I served my beer drinking apprenticeship in pubs where I learned to enjoy the traditional English ales, usually amber or copper coloured bitters and best bitters. In those days although most pubs offered a lager or… Continue