NZH Plus August 2016

A New Zealand Herald Commercial Publication

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

OUTSIDE THE NORM JOHN REYNOLDS ON CREATIVITY THE NIGHT OF

PAUL CASSERLY ON THE YEAR’S BEST SHOW CRUISING TO BORA BORA

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, August 23, 2016

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INSIDE +PLUS TODAY 4-5 COVER STORY

6-7 GETAWAY

One of NZ’s leading artists wants to solve a decades-old mystery

8 CRUISES

9, 11 DINING

Small ship, luxury cruising around the Pacific

12 TV

This remake is one of the best new shows in years

Sometimes you’ve just got to get out of town

One old favourite and three newish bistros reviewed

14 DESIGN

15 GARDENING

When DIY doesn’t work, it’s time to call a designer

Spring is finally on the way.

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COVER STORY

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, August 23, 2016

John Reynolds, pictured in his home studio August 2016, says most artists have talent, what they need is stamina.

PHOTO Ted Baghurst

Outside the norm Award-winning artist John Reynolds talks to Adam Gifford about creativity, inspiration and how the best is yet to come

J

ohn Reynolds is tackling one of the big mysteries of New Zealand art.

What happened when Colin McCahon disappeared from the Sydney Botanical Gardens in 1984?

He’s calling the project Walk With Me – the title of a McCahon series, also echoing the title of Martin Edmonds’ book on the same incident, Dark Night: Walking With McCahon.

He expects it to engage him for the next four or five years.

“I want to engage with those 28 hours when McCahon lost his mind.

I want to describe those hours. I want to get the monkey off my back.

“I want to look at McCahon with distance. I want to look at McCahon from the Botanical Gardens in Sydney, and you can’t do that unless you configure Sydney in there somewhere.

“So it’s my way of having Australia, Sydney and that history looking back

,,

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Part of it is bloodymindedness.

You keep doing it, you put up with the slings and arrows. And part is selfishness. You require a lot of time to make art

through the lost hours of a New Zealand artist on the cusp of his first major retrospective offshore.

“It brings together key themes for me,” says Reynolds, whose own gestural mark-making and use of words can be seen to have taken licence from New Zealand’s greatest painter.

Like Dark Night, it doesn’t matter if his speculations differ from the facts, because McCahon’s place in our culture means for many artists of Reynolds’ generation he was someone who needed to be addressed.

“I am very pleased with myself for finding this point of research but it is putting me through sheer hell because I am now reading Oliver Sachs on the subject of hallucination and psychotic episodes so it is taking me in a different direction.”

It’s an example of the sort of strategy the artist pursues to keep his creative juices flowing and perhaps even to maintain his relevance within New Zealand culture – though that is for others to determine.

Reynolds has exhibited extensively both locally and internationally and has received a Laureate Award from the New Zealand Arts Foundation. When he started the project he saw it as photography, but that’s changing.

“I am trying for it not to be painting but it keeps wanting to be painting

Colin McCahon: John Reynolds is bent on solving the last, great mystery.

and it probably will be painting,” he says. “There will be the usual Reynolds’ tropes but I hope it behaves differently.”

Reynolds found critical success relatively young.

He left Elam at the end of the 1970s after essentially teaching himself, as was the state of the art school at that time.

After a few months looking at art in New York and elsewhere he returned to a city where studio space could be rented relatively cheaply.

“You didn’t make art with any expectation you could sell it. You made art because you had to.”

To pay for the studio and painting time he set up Auckland’s first latenight espresso bar, John’s Diner.

Julian Dashper, who shared the studio, drove taxis. They held joint shows in the studio.

“At one Julian famously wouldn’t let Dick Frizzell in. Dick was so pissed off,” he says.

T

he diner opened in July 1981.

The Springboks had just landed, the heavy hand of Rob Muldoon lay across the land, and Reynolds found himself a target for police scrutiny for offering something outside the grey norm.

He remembers the palpable sense of fear of friends and patrons as they prepared to go off to protest, and sees it as a time not just of political but of cultural change, a reorganisation of the New Zealand psyche.

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No. 2 Kepler's Dream, 2012.

John Reynolds in the 90s: “You didn’t make art with any expectation you could sell it. You made art because you had to.”

“The great thing and why I have great optimism about New Zealand is we are such a small culture that a moment like that was swallowed, masticated and spat out and we understood we weren’t going to do that any more. Even the police culture eventually changed.”

Eventually Reynolds found enough work as a photographer for magazines like The Listener and Metro to support a studio himself.

It was a far cry from what’s taught now about making a career in art.

“Art in a larger sense is a speculation. We are all trying to pursue something ineffable, desperately hoping certain level of support coalesces around our particular set of enthusiasms and there is merit in what you are doing, because you literally can spend decades pursuing something the wider community sees little merit in, yet you have invested attentions and ambition in it. That is the fate of the artist.”

Sharing studios early on laid the ground for a lifetime of collaborations.

“Maybe because I’m from a large family, I have never had strong sense of narcissistic self. I have always understood if you go into project with several voices it is an accelerated opportunity for discovery and innovation.

“If you pander to your own strength it tends to get repetitive and diminishing in value.

“I often watch filmmakers and musicians with both horror and jealousy, because they often so depend for their art on a collective ambition.

“I have been lucky working with printmakers, sculptors, with photographers. I have worked with a lot of people and still do.”

He says making art is a constant negotiation around degrees of anxiety about performance, ambition, opportunity.

The question of success is harder – he likes to quote Chilean writer Roberto Bolano’s maxim that “success is no virtue, it’s just an accident.”

“He doesn’t mean success in business or political terms but in creativity

Cloud 2006: The work comprises 7000 small canvases and was a finalist in the 2008 Walters Prize.

– it is an accident if your work happens to find an audience and even if that audience happens to celebrate it in your lifetime.”

He’s wary of the desire in the wider community to have artists demonstrate talent.

“I think we can presuppose artists have talent. What you need is stamina.

“There are a lot of very talented people who walk away from it.

“Part of it is bloodymindedness.

You keep doing it, you put up with the slings and arrows.

“And part is selfishness. You require a lot of time to make art.

“One of biggest things I discovered is when you start having children, it kicks a big hole in your ability to be selfish.

“One of the things you are charged with as an artist, one of the things the culture is prepared to keep looking for, is if you are still asking yourself certain questions, if you are challenging yourself.

“If you’re just going to muck about in public, the public will move on.”

Reynolds says the artist can be sensitive to public reaction but should not be bound by it – often it takes the public years to catch up, and work that was derided may be the

stuff that is sought out in later years.

“There is no contract between artist and viewer, everyone is on their own. That is why it is interesting.”

Reynolds turned 60 in July, and says being an artist is getting easier.

“Once a certain degree of turning up has occurred, you get a sense of what you are prepared to take on, what has value, and that it is a genuinely valuable undertaking and worth investing your time in.

“All the artists I admire hit their straps in their 70s, 80s and 90s, so all I have to do is hang on a couple of decades and I believe might be able to make a contribution.”

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, August 23, 2016

If you grew up in the North Island, the name has translated as ‘the real Kiwi holiday’ since you and your brothers and sisters were kids in the back seat of … in our family’s case, a Morris Oxford.

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Sometimes you just throw a bag in the boot, reverse down the driveway.

Nothin’ more than a couple of hundred clicks of open road ahead. Ewan McDonald did

Y

ou know how it is. Sometimes you’ve just got to get out of town. For a couple of days. Sure, you could fly to Melbourne or Sydney or a South Pacific island … but somehow that just seems like too much trouble. Even if there’s a degustation at Attica or a towel on a beach at the end of it.

So you just throw a bag in the boot, reverse down the driveway. Nothin’ more than a couple of hundred clicks of open road ahead.

Which is what we did. Destination, as much as there was one: Taupo.

Because, if you grew up in the North Island, the name has translated as “the real Kiwi holiday” since you and your brothers and sisters were kids in the back seat of … in our family’s case, a Morris Oxford. There may be somewhere similar in the South Island. I doubt it.

T

he GPS told us it was 275km or 3h 20m downhill. I’ve been on this earth long enough not to trust the word of estate agents, 70s singer-songwriters and women sitting on their own at a bar.

I can now add “women’s voices on navigation systems”. Especially if they can’t pronounce “Putaruru”.

Five and a bit hours later, we rolled down the hill, past the snuffling Wairakei pipes, past the Huka Falls, and over that little concrete bridge that has always meant, since I was a kid in a Morris Oxford, arriving in Taupo.

W

e’d organised accommodation at the Beech Tree Suites (see: nzherald.co.nz/travel) and our first meal just across the road.

Prue and Felicity Campbell are sisters who run award-winning Brantry restaurant in a 1950s house; one had given birth a day or so earlier

The fantastical Lava Glass sculpture garden and award-winning Brantry Restaurant.

and the other was minding the necessarily blended families, but their staff did not falter.

In a holiday town where there are thousands of visitors one week and few the next, where it can be difficult to find and retain top-line crew, where supplies are more “seasonal” than the adjectives on a chef’s menu, finding a first-rate restaurant is difficult if not impossible. Luckily I have solved that problem for you.

We decided to be more casual next evening, attracted by the sight and, for me, the liquefied temptations of Lake House, which specialises in craft beers matched with better than pub food. We strolled in at 6.30. It was packed to its designer rafters. The maitre d’ was apologetic but she could not seat us for an hour. Or more.

In Taupo? On a Wednesday night?

Restaurants in Ponsonby would kill for that. We satisfied ourselves at Waterside, on the lakefront, with a view of the giant trout, and were more than satisfied.

On a midweek getaway, it seems too strenuous to introduce a word like “activities”. For the following few days we amused ourselves with pastimes.

Like …

ON THE WATER I’ve visited Taupo since I was, oh, 4 years old and … well, I have grandchildren. Never seen it from the water; wonder how many Kiwis have. We took the Ernest Kemp cruise from downtown around the bays and coves. Pulled up next to over-lifesize carvings, eyeballed Rod Stewart’s getaway, Ruapehu and his brother and sister. Taupo and its hinterland, from the water, is an extraordinarily magical place. Every Kiwi should do this once in their life.

IN THE WATER Spas have been part of life here since … ahem, imperial history. Everyone knows the AC Baths but they are kinda like visiting a school swimming pool after a lot of excited kids. We

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kicked back at the refurbished, scrupulously clean, so much warmer, quieter and relaxing Wairakei Terraces.

BY THE WATER Lava Glass garden and cafe´ , a lollipopalooza of hallucinogenically coloured glass sculptures. Mind- and sense-blowing. Yes, one of their unique glassworks came home.

A

lmost time to say goodbye.

Stylish, elegant and refined — the bikes were, if our frames weren’t — we pedalled along a lakefront path. There were birds. Fish and fisher-folk.

People who felt like chatting. Views, vistas, panoramas.

Can’t remember if we got to 2-Mile Bay, or 4-Mile Bay, or 6-Mile Bay, but we pedalled far enough to earn Eggs Benny and flat whites when we got back to Replete Cafe´ in town. Then we hit the road north. We didn’t turn on the sat-nav all the way to Mt Eden.

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Cruising Tahiti in super luxury Cruise aficionado Tom O’Neil boards the Paul Gauguin for a luxurious cruise to French Polynesia

O

The Paul Gauguin’s small size allows it to manouevre from open ocean to shallow lagoon; below, moored off Bora Bora.

,,

n my honeymoon, 14 years previously, I read Tales of the South Pacific — James A. Michener’s short stories dating from his time as a US Navy officer on the island of Espiritu Santo, now part of the nation we know as Vanuatu. Ever since, I’d dreamed of Bora Bora and the mythical island of Bali Hai, as well as beautiful coral atolls marooned in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean.

Researching my next cruise, I was drawn to the 332-passenger Paul Gauguin. With such a tiny complement of passengers, I was curious to see what a smaller ship could offer compared to the comparative behemoths of the sea.

Named after the French postimpressionist artist who lived in and painted everyday scenes of French Polynesia in the late 1800s, it’s a more intimate and far more luxurious way to cruise than I had experienced before.

Winning almost every prize, award and accolade the industry has to offer (including selection in the coveted Conde´ Nast 2016 Gold List), I was drawn to their three restaurants — one serving Michelin two-star chef JeanPierre Vigato’s cuisine, amazing “up close” itinerary and all-inclusive beer, wine and spirits.

With a wide range of cruising destinations and options to choose from, including Fiji and the Cook Islands, my wife and I travelled on the 10-night Society Islands and Tuamotus cruise to Bora Bora and Moorea, Fakarava and Rangiroa atolls and the exclusive, Paul Gauguin-only island of Motu Mahana.

To get a head start on the holiday, we travelled via Air Tahiti Nui, direct from Auckland to Papeete.

French flair combined with genuine Polynesian friendliness really made for an exceptional journey.

Stepping aboard, we were greeted with a welcoming “la orana” and given a beautiful tiare flower as a token of Tahitian hospitality.

I actually saw one waiter almost run to top up my wine during one meal, dare I put my glass down empty

While I appreciate the incredible wines New Zealand has to offer, it was a nice change to sample a Tahitian wine and French chablis, pinot noir and chardonnay, as well as the always exciting champagne. If you are heading to Tahiti for a holiday, this is a great way to get into the spirit of it from the minute you step aboard the plane.

Checking into a garden bungalow at the InterContinental Tahiti Resort in Papeete, I was amazed at the whitesand swim-up bar pool as well as the

stunning ‘Lagoonarium’, helping my wife Sarah and I to get up close to resident sea creatures.

The next day we were excited to board our “home away from home” for the following 11 days. Taxiing up to the Paul Gauguin at the pier, I was instantly put at ease by her decent size. At 153m long, she has only 332 passengers and 217 crew, one of the highest passenger-to-crew ratios of any luxury cruise ship.

Now came my favourite part – checking out the bars, restaurants, health spa and swimming pool, as well as discovering the special semiprivate nooks and crannies that always abound on a cruise ship.

With three high-quality restaurants, the Paul Gauguin consistently wins international awards for its food, including the USA Today Top 10 Best Cruise Ships for Dining – 2016. The wait staff have to be the friendliest I have met at sea, and ensure your glass is never empty. I actually saw

one waiter almost run to top up my wine during one meal, dare I put my glass down empty. I have never had that level of service in any restaurant in the world.

Later we were introduced to Les Gauguins, the cruise line’s on-board troupe of Tahitian hosts and entertainers who bring the spirit of Polynesia to life. Sarah and I revelled in the retelling of ancestral legends through dance, and learned how to make local handicrafts during their hands-on demonstrations.

Our fellow travellers were a bit different from the usual Kiwi and Aussie contingent we usually cruise alongside.

Mostly Americans between the ages of 40 and 60, there was also a smattering of French, English, Australians and Brazilians, providing a rich assortment of accents and languages to keep us on our toes.

Our always-fun and engaging entertainment director Steve Wood, originally from Christchurch, made

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sure there was never a dull moment on board, with acts from around the world such as Gustavo Vierini (a Brazilian magician who was honestly “mindblowing”) and big-band swing singer Tony Tyler, who got me up and grooving with his rendition of Michael Buble´ ’s Haven't Met You Yet. One big difference the Paul Gauguin has over many competing cruise ships that pass through these waters is that the crew are locals who know and respect the area. As well as this, the Paul Gauguin has a relatively shallow draft, allowing her to get close to many islands and spots that larger cruises can’t.

One of my highlights was the marina that folds down at the stern, allowing scuba trips, kayaking and paddleboarding to be very easily done without the hassle of checking out of the ship.

Another favourite of the cruise was Motu Mahana. The islet was replete with a large, fully stocked open bar, Polynesian buffet, loungers and brilliant blue waters, the like of which I have never seen. On the motu a large party was in full swing, with music, another separate floating bar in the sea and volleyball. They almost had to evict me when it was time to go…

After an incredible 11 days, the hardest part of the cruise was saying goodbye to new friends (both passengers and crew).

Reflecting on the trip during my return to the cold and misty northern Waikato, I was convinced that Paul Gauguin had really gone out of its way to truly be authentic to the culture and spirit of French Polynesia. Tres magnifique!

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Remember those 70s Woody Allen movies — Woody sitting in a booth talking existentialism over a pastrami on rye?

It’s that kind of place

,,

+PLUS FOOD

While you’re unlikely to see Woody, the crowd’s always interesting. Below, chef Kyle Street takes care with every dish — especially the sandwiches.

D9

PHOTO: Ted Baghurst

Auckland’s destination deli has travelled to the States to research famous Jewish delis and takes his sandwiches seriously.

“Each layer of the sandwich should serve a purpose. The meat (or protein) should be the star: everything else should be in proportion to this. A mix of warm and cold elements adds another layer of complexity.”

For proof try the turkey on rye ($15), the apple and walnuts add crunch, the cranberry sweetness. If you subscribe to Warren Zevon’s latelife advice to “enjoy every sandwich,” regular lunchtime visits to The Fed will be mandatory.

I’ve sat at the counter many times, ostensibly engrossed in my phone when what I’m really doing is watching the team at work. It’s as mesmerising as it is appetising and run with military precision.

The other day I even scored a wrong-order plate of the aforementioned poutine. OK, it’s starting to grow on me.

Auckland needs more places like this. Just like that turkey on rye (served with a dollop of potato salad), all elements at The Fed work in perfect, moreish, unison.

Tip: They don’t take bookings, but if you don’t get a booth — these run along the left side of the restaurant — you can put your name down and you’ll be moved when one becomes available. They’re one of the city’s best tables.

Now in its third year, Al Brown’s Federal Delicatessen remains the best casual food spot in the CBD. You’ll often find Greg Fleming at the counter

A

uckland has long needed a place where you can turn up at (almost) any hour for a coffee, a piece of pie or some turkey meatloaf — and The Fed ticks all the boxes.

Open from 7am till late, it’s got your pre-show dinner, post-gig snack, long boozy lunch or carb heavy breakfast (try the pastrami hash) sorted.

The Fed — as it has come to be known — has a busy, urban vibe and the service (waiters and waitresses in uniform) is just the right side of attentive. You won’t sit on an empty cup of coffee for long, but they don’t ask you how your meal is every five minutes either.

The Fed is modelled on a classic New York Jewish deli. Remember those 70s Woody Allen movies — Woody sitting in a booth talking existentialism over a pastrami on rye?

It’s that kind of place, and while you’re unlikely to see Woody, the crowd’s always interesting — Tinder daters, businessmen on a tear, pre-shoot models attacking the fennel and apple salad, and on one memorable occasion a New York couple at the next booth who loudly

judged The Fed superior to any place back home.

It’s also a place where you can take the kids and they’ll clear their plate.

While the peculiar popularity of the poutine ($9 or $12 — fries, cheese curd and gravy, get someone from Canada to explain) remains a mystery to me, menu staples like the lemon sole ($25) and the New York-style strip steak ($26) are the kind of classic, unfussy deli dishes which The Fed excells in. The spit-roast chicken too.

Everything’s served to share, the sides — in Fed terminology, Shotguns — are generous (creamy slaw with peanuts $6), the filter coffee ($4 for as much as you can drink) will have you reassessing your coffee snobbery, and, if you make it to dessert, the lemon meringue pie is outstanding. The New York cheesecake is also good.

The Fed remains the only place I’ve ordered a hot dog (New York-style street-dog, $7) and not regretted it. Care’s taken with every dish.

Executive chef Kyle Street, whose new joint Culprit opens later this year in Wyndham St,

Federal Delicatessen, Federal St, CBD thefed.co.nz

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D11

Bistro inspired In which Ewan McDonald visits three new restaurants that are out to impress

I

t was a birthday dinner, and since the two blokes share the same happy day in October, Herself was allowed to choose the restaurant. “Paris Butter,” she advised or more accurately instructed. He and I sighed and checked our bank balances.

Things you should know about Paris Butter (if you don’t know already): It is in the space, as people say nowadays, that used to house the inimitable Vinnie’s. If you are reading this section of the paper, you will understand what “inimitable” means, and why it applies to several generations of Vinnie’s Restaurant, not least during the tenure of chef-owner Geoff Scott.

It is now the domain of Nick Honeyman, the enfant terrible of Kiwi haute cuisine (no, honestly, that is a thing, as people say nowadays). In earlier columns, I would have to supply some background here, but you all have Google and the editor doesn’t pay for extraneous words of exposition and background.

The name comes from a herby sauce traditionally served with beef, and provides management with its mission statement of “French bistroinspired”.

Which the menu supports: it comes over all chicken liver parfait, confit pork belly with boudin noir and scallop, gin-cured salmon in the entrees; chicken Maryland, cassoulet lentils; confit duck leg pie, and the king-hit, butcher’s cut of sirloin with paris butter, house fries and black garlic rouille (AKA steak and chips) in the mains. The desserts are classics.

Yes, here is a chef who still believes that a meal contains an entre´ e, a main and pudding. On your own plate.

How can I put this? We rated the salmon, the pork belly; the pie. As for our other dishes, we found them heavy, studied, rich: rather than bowled over, we were rolled over.

The wine and cocktail list is — choose one from the following — (a)

Paris Butter: between a fine-dining restaurant, with prices to match, and a good-timey 4th arondissement bistro.

exciting (b) expensive (c) exorbitant.

I will go for (a) with, as Jamie would say, a slug of (b). Himself wasn’t drinking so Herself and I shared a bottle of halfway decent burgundy.

No more than halfway, though. It suited the food: as they say, when in Lyon …

The service was a little flaky. There were more than enough staff per diner but it seemed management hadn’t decided whether this was a faine-daining restaurant, murmurs and suggestions, or a 4th arondissement good-timey bistro.

Tablecloths no. Napkins no. Music yes. Prices … mais oui.

The experience was one or two degrees on the wrong side of -whelming, to be frank. Or, since I could never resist the temptation for an appalling pun, to be Francaise.

P

erhaps you might have formed the impression that my friend(s) and I can be difficult to please when we eat out together. Honestly, we’re not – no more than you’d expect from a former journalist of the nation’s bestknown gourmet magazine and a waspish dining diarist, anyway.

So it gives me great pleasure to point out that we recently found a place that [insert cliche´ here] ticks all the boxes for us. Knocked our socks off. Since it was a freezing, raining, howling gale of a night, and the setting isn’t all that conducive to warm, cosy and intimate dining, that took some doing.

Without further ado, six stars out of five for Gemmayze St, Samir Allen and his mother Liane Farry’s Lebanese-rooted restaurant in the marble and deco, leadlight and hippie-ish St Kevin’s Arcade on K Rd. Their family arrived in Dunedin when years still started with “18” (yes, children, New Zealand was a multicultural society back in those days) and has made its name (literally, because Farry is not the original version) in the hospo and rag trades.

Allen moved north and worked alongside Ben Bayly at The Grove.

They have played and won one of the most hands in the restaurant game – taking the traditional dishes of the mothers and the sisters and the cousins and the aunts, subtly tweaking them from Allen’s upmarket training, and creating an eatery that contrives to be ancient and modern, simple and clever, down-to-earth and flash. Without appearing in the least contrived.

Baba ganoush, hummus, falafel and more: the greatest hits of mezze are here, each with a twist. There’s a pheasant ravioli that I couldn’t resist, and didn’t; a halloumi that she, ditto.

Actually, we shared. There are larger meals – a stonking baked lamb with mint, pomegranate molasses and pinenuts; a riotous spicy fish with more flavours than I’ve space to itemise.

We shared dessert: pistachio done several ways that included filo, ice cream and candy floss, washed down with suitably bitter, double-boiled

Arabic coffee.

They’ve even sourced Lebanese wine but, to my taste, they shouldn’t have bothered. Maybe that’s unkind, for it’s one of the oldest winemaking traditions on the planet, but the shiraz-crossed-with-marsala taste reminded me of Turkey’s Angora, and I’ve no wish to be.

One piece of advice: pick your own dishes rather than the $50 “we’ll just bring you platters” option. Another: I’d have like to have been the one to tell you about this hitherto-undiscovered secret. Except that the rest of Auckland has discovered it. Book now: you won’t be disappointed. You’ll be excited. Honestly, we were.

T

ricky business, this restaurant reviewing caper. There aren’t many businesses exposed to the same level of social or unsociable criticism. Do many people write umpty-hundred word reviews of the new plumber or electrician?

Possibly closing the business and putting people out of work?

In a previous life I wrote about an evening when there was a plastic fingernail in the risotto, the waiter spilled red wine over my white shirt and mopped it up with a paper towel (no, they didn’t offer to pay for the laundry), and the food managed to be expensive and execrable at the same time. The restaurant closed 10 days later.

I was reminded of this when we allowed a newly opened bistro in the genteel inner-city suburb where we

reside to appreciate the pleasure of our company. Thoughtfully situated halfway between her villa and my infill house, it should have been what we dream of: name chef, classy website, interesting menu, free parking.

The place was cold: I blame “industrial” de´ cor. The food was bland: I am not sure who to blame, whether the chef’s caution, or diners’ palates, because everyone else who’s written about this place seems to praise the piquancy of the dishes. The service was haphazard: I have never previously been invited to shake the maitre d’s hand, certainly not before seeing the menu. The coffees didn’t arrive, and the desserts had been commandeered by earlier patrons.

Blame us for eating at 630.

“I’ll be interested,” I said with the most surreptitious nod I could muster, “to see what he makes of it,” indicating the chap sitting with his wife at the next table. The celebrity critic’s review checked all the issues we did, then gave it 7/10.

Oh, you’ve just noticed I haven’t mentioned its name. Perhaps I’ve mellowed. Tricky business, this restaurant reviewing caper.

Paris Butter 166 Jervois Rd phone 09 376 5597 parisbutter.co.nz Gemmayze St St Kevins Arcade, K Rdphoine 09 600 1545

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Nights of remakes

I’m four episodes in and it feels like it can’t possibly get any better and that it can never last long enough

Remakes are not always inferior to the originals. In The Night Of — a remake of a 2008 BBC series — we get one of the best shows in years, writes Paul Casserly

A

merican TV and British TV have long been considered different beasts: one exciting, or trashy, the other deep or boring.

“American shite,” a friend often says, and I know what she means.She’s talking 2 Broke Girls or CSI Every Bloody City in the US, certainly not an HBO gem like House of Cards or my current favourite, The Night Of. Both these shows are that other thing that is meant to denote utter crapness — they are remakes.

House of Cards first ran on the BBC in the 1990s. Ian Richardson played the PM just as Kevin Spacey plays the President. Both actors nailed it and both versions are rather good.

Going back to the BBC original after bingeing on the HBO show is actually rather fun, and easily achieved thanks to Lightbox.

Americans have been remaking British shows since the beginning of TV, with mixed results. Perhaps the greatest success is All In The Family, Norman Lear’s 70s classic sitcom that propelled Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor) into the world. He was a redneck curmudgeon whose DNA is

to be found in everyone from Tony Soprano to Homer Simpson and especially in Donald Trump.

Lear had only read about the British show Till Death Do Us Part show when he decided to buy the rights and turn Alf Garnett into Archie Bunker.

It reminded him of his own family, which is possibly why he made such good a job of the remake, now considered far superior to the original, which seems a bit one-note in comparison.

Till Death Do Us Part certainly hit the same race-based funny bone, but All In The Family had extra dimensions to explore, giving it the ability to somehow tug the heartstrings.

A similar flair is also evident in the upgrade of The Night Of, currently showing on Soho, though its originator, the BBC’s 2008 series Criminal Justice, was nothing if not classy.

The British version had a young man, Ben Coulter (Ben Whilshaw), entering the legal maze after being accused of murder.

Did he commit it? We know that the girl he was with was killed sometime during or perhaps after a good

John Turturro and Riz Ahmed in The Night Of.

old-fashioned booze/drug bender and blackout. He is, of course, unable to remember killing her, but terrible, crazy, things certainly happened and you would have to say he looks as guilty as sin.

The Night Of sticks to the script but we’re in New York and our young man is a Pakistani, a Muslim, in these troubled Trumpian times.

The racial confusion of currentday US is nicely illustrated when a black witness describes the suspect to the cops.

First he calls him “an Arab dude”.

But the cop wants more details so the man offers that “he looks like he works in a deli or shit, a short Puerto Rican-looking motherf****** with beady eyes.”

You’d expect the exchange to end

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there, but the cop and the show aren’t done yet.

The devil and much more is to be found in the detail, and this is a finely crafted, slow-moving machine.

The cop, fixing the witness with a calm gaze that may as well be a liedetector asks, “Well, how do you know he isn’t a Puerto Rican, was he wearing anything Arabic?”

The cop is played with notable precision by Bill Camp, a veteran of American theatre.

It’s just one of many exchanges that magically delivers the texture you’d usually associate with a novel.

It can also be a gruelling ride as we follow young Nasir “Naz” Khana (British actor and rapper Riz Ahmed – he was terrific in Four Lions) into the purgatory of muted tones and

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terrifying jailbirds. Luckily it’s so beautifully honed that you’ll be able to bear even the moments that test your gaze.

I nearly didn’t look a few times, and I can watch anything, even Hosking and Toni Street.

The cast is superb. Sure, the original boasted the late, great Pete Postlethwaite among others, but here you get to soak up one of the greatest performances yet from John Turturro, and that’s really saying something. His shambling lawyer John Stone, channels a few things.

Chiefly I’m reminded of Peter Falk’s Columbo, although it has to be said that Stone makes that bung-eyed sleuth seem as dapper as James Bond.

But he shares Columbo’s chief superpower: he can smell a rat and perhaps spot an innocent man.

Stone, like all good heroes, has some issues, including a skin complaint that makes wrapping his feet in Gladwrap seem like good idea.

Even better, why not poke the inflamed skin with chopsticks?

He also has sex with a prostitute, his client, but it’s not the heroic thrusting of the leading man. This is all too real, it’s socks-on dull and a just little bit grim.

Of course Turturro has good material to work with. This thing is made by people at the top of their game, and they’re playing a blinder.

I’m four episodes in and it feels like it can’t possibly get any better and that it can never last long enough.

The Night Of (Soho) House of Cards (1990, Lightbox)

+ PLUS DESIGN

D13

When DIY doesn’t always work If you've always been a DIY enthusiast, or simply never had the need to call on a design professional, handing over the reins might just be the best thing you can do, advises Leigh Bramwell

W

hy pay someone to pull your own design ideas out of your head, reinterpret them and then bring them to reality?

Well, here are just a few reasons: ■ A design professional will come up with ideas you would never have thought of.

■ A design professional will interpret your ideas and turn them into a plan that other professionals and tradespeople will understand.

■ A design professional will have access to information on other resources, such as new technologies that might be cheaper, or more appropriate materials than you have considered, which will give you a better and possibly more cost-effective result.

■ Council, code, health and safety and other requirements are changing all the time and chances are you are not keeping up. Your design professional will be.

■ If something turns to custard, you can hide in the bathroom while your

Interior design While most of us accept that designing a new home or a major renovation is a job for an architect, we are inclined to take on the interior design ourselves. After all, anyone can choose a few paint colours and throw some cushions around, can't they?

Yes they can, but most can also benefit from the skill of an interior designer to navigate the selection of colours, fabrics, flooring, lighting, furniture and accessories on the market.

His or her services may include spatial design, material and finishes,

design professional figures out who is to blame and sorts it out.

Now to find one. Where does one look for the perfect architect, landscaper or interior designer?

On websites, in design magazines, through referrals and through professional bodies.

Check out examples of their work online and wherever possible in reality, and choose two or three whose style seems to reflect your taste.

Architects specialise in different types of projects, so choose one who has experience with the sort of project you are planning.

It might not be wise to engage a specialist in ultra-modern glass boxes to design you a mudbrick igloo.

Similarly, interior designers and architects and designers sometimes specialise in particular styles and periods so check out examples of their work to find a good match.

Cross-check qualifications on the websites of their professional bodies and review the services they can provide.

furniture design, window treatments, lighting and more.

They also do the boring bits like measuring, ordering, arranging deliveries and worrying about what size the cushion covers should be and whether they should have natural or synthetic inners.

Again, rapport and communication are key to getting a good working relationship, and having a detailed brief will save time and money in the long run.

As a starting point you could put together your own collection of images, paint colours, paint finishes, wallpapers and fabric samples to show your designer so he or she can establish the style you're looking for.

The more you know about what you want, the easier it will be for your architect or designer to help you to achieve it.

When you've made your selection, arrange a meeting and treat it as an interview: literally, you are interviewing this person for a job.

You need to find out if he or she speaks your language, listens to you, asks the right questions, treats you as an equal and laughs at your jokes.

In short, there has to be a rapport if you are to enjoy working together.

Whether you are building a new home, renovating an old one, adding an extension, having interior design updated, creating a landscape from scratch or adding a pool and outdoor living area, it's useful to have an idea of what you like.

Approaching your designer with the words “I don't know what I want” isn't helpful, and wastes time and money.

The more you know about what you want, the easier it will be for your designer to help you to achieve it.

If you really don’t have a clue, start by describing what the space has to do.

For example, is it a private space for one or two people, or is it an entertaining area for parties?

Define the basics of how big it should be and how much it should

cost, and then start filling in the details around building style and materials.

If you have eco-considerations about energy efficiency or using natural products, make sure these are specified in your brief.

Discuss the brief thoroughly with your design professional and ask for help in filling in the gaps.

Be open to new ideas — he or she has a wealth of experience to call on and has done this many, many times.

Then take your courage in your hands and talk money.

Know what the costs are going to be and what the payment schedule is.

The better organised and informed you are, and the better communication you have with your design professional, the better your experience will be.

Where to find your designer Architects: architecturenz.net, nzia.co.nz Landscapers: nzila.co.nz, lianz.co.nz Interior designs: interiordesigner.co.nz, dinz.org.nz

Landscaping Landscape architects and designers work in much the same way as other design professionals.

Again, you need to find one whose style you like and who will talk you through the decisions that need to be made.

Have some photographs or drawings to illustrate the sort of spaces you want, and ask whether what you envisage will accommodate the activities you are planning for your garden.

When finalising plans and selecting plants, keep top of mind that, unlike furniture, plants do not stay the same size or shape for long. Listen to your landscaper and take on board his or her warnings about how large or how quickly some plants will grow. Choices for the garden are often long-term, and removing a mistake such as a 30m queen palm from your front lawn is not as straightforward as repainting the wall that wasn't quite the right shade of green.

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D14

+PLUS GARDENING

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Spring praises As the days lengthen and become warmer we hanker to scratch about in the dirt and grow something, writes Sarah O’Neil

F

Growing food is a slow process, not one that need be rushed, and there is order in the process. Time spent tending the soil is a key to a successful harvest.

While seeds will easily germinate and flourish on a warm windowsill or sunny greenhouse, plants have a personal preference as to when they like to grow and the conditions in the garden that allow them to thrive.

Taking the time to plan the garden and understand the plants you want to grow — not only when is the best time to start them in your garden, but

,,

or many, this urge doesn’t last long and is easily shrugged off as a moment of madness. But for others it is the beginning of a journey that will last the entire season and beyond.

It isn’t an easy journey, often fraught with hard labour and disappointment, but the keen gardener can see the end goal and will push on regardless in the quest for the most incredible tasting fresh food imaginable. Spring is here and the air is filled with hope and promise.

Growing food is a slow process, not one that need be rushed, and there is order in the process. The spring desire often comes with a sense of urgency, the “I want it all now” approach that is often applied to modern-day life.

Nature has a different timetable to get to the end result and in order for the keen gardener to have success they need to shift their mindset to a more unhurried pace.

The garden may need clearing of weeds and the soil may need digging over to incorporate compost, wellrotted manures and other rich organic materials, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and the garden doesn’t need to be either.

Slow and steady and bit by bit, a wonderful bed for growing your food can emerge at a rate that won’t break your back .

Many worms will mean you have good soil to begin with. Noticing the types of weeds you have and how they grow will help to keep them at bay easily during the growing season.

Allowing the garden bed time to recover from the digging before planting will help improve the soil structure and microbial communities that assist the plants, will result in a healthier garden long-term. Time spent tending the soil is a key to a successful harvest in months to come.

It is also quite tempting to race off and sow all the seeds for every plant that will go into the garden and also to populate all the gardens in the immediate vicinity.

It isn’t a race.

A good garden takes time

also how they like to grow, how much space they need and how tall they will get — will ensure your garden sets off on the right foot.

Most vegetables like to be planted out after the risk of frost has past, which is usually around Labour Weekend at the end of October.

However, this isn’t the only weekend to get it done and there is generally a window of a couple of months.

Keep a keen eye on the weather as a cold spring or a rogue frost can cause great harm to a new garden.

Spring is also the perfect time to think about one of the most important things your garden will need throughout the growing season – water!

Without adequate watering the garden will struggle in the heat of the summer sun.

However, for many urban gardeners water from the tap comes at a cost and this can become a drain financially.

With a bit of preparation now, devising ways to capture spring showers and the almost guaranteed holiday downpours will ensure gardening remains fun.

Whether you are a long-term gardener or a beginner responding to those spring urges, the garden will bring you great rewards.

Gardening can make you feel good.

Your general wellbeing and outlook on life can be lifted just by being in a garden.

So this spring, if you feel a stirring deep in your soul, calling you to the soil, it maybe be just the thing you need as a respite from the hustle and bustle of our fast paced modern world and at the end of it all you get amazing tasting produce.

■ Sarah O'Neil is an author, blogger and passionate gardener writing about the trials and tribulations of growing food for her family. Her books The Good Life and Play in the Garden are available at all good bookstores.

Online: sarahthegardener.co.nz

Win a Yates Natural Garden hamper Yates’ new range of natural and organic products will give nature a helping hand.

Thrive’s new hose-on plant food, with all the goodness of fish and seaweed, delivers nutrients to your plants with the turn of a tap. Nature’s Way Organic Weed Gun kills weeds fast and is suitable for organic gardening.

Love your garden and reap the rewards.

Be in to win one of two Yates hampers each valued at $200 and containing: ■ Thrive Natural Seaweed Hose-On ■ Thrive Fish Blood n Bone Hose-On ■ Thrive Natural Fish & Seaweed + Hose-On ■ Thrive Natural Seaweed 500ml concentrate ■ Thrive Fish Blood n Bone 500ml concentrate ■ Thrive Natural Fish & Seaweed + 500ml concentrate ■ Nature's Way Organic Weed Gun ■ Nature's Way Organic Vegie Insect Gun ■ Selection of organic seeds: Eggplant Black Beauty / Radish Cherry Bell / Garlic Chives / Lettuce Mignonette / Cauliflower Snowball / Pumpkin Butternut ■ Yates Garden Guide book To be in the draw, simply send an email to plus@apn.co.nz with Yates please in the subject line. Please include your name and mailing address in the body of the email.

W

HEN James Noble went on a three week sightseeing tour around Europe with his wife and four friends, little did he know that his life would change forever. Not only did he discover a miracle for painful feet but it also led to him starting a new career selling these ‘miracle’ Foot Cradles in the UK. He told us, “It was a trip I had always dreamed about, I had recently retired so I had the time and money to go where I wanted and to see what I wanted.”

Unfortunately, rather than a dream trip, it turned into a nightmare. He told us, “I soon learnt that all the time and money in the world mean nothing when your feet hurt too much to walk. After just a few days of sightseeing my feet were killing me so much I just wanted to go home.”

It started on his first day.

James told us how painful his feet were, “Oh, I tried to keep going. Our first stop was Paris and I limped through Notre Dame and along the ChampsElysees. My feet were so sore, tired and swollen that my whole body ached. By the afternoon I was so worn out and in so much pain, that whilst everybody else was out having a great time, I was back in my hotel room laid out on the bed.”

A few days later, when they arrived in Hamburg, James was so fed up that he was on the verge of booking an early flight home. Then, by luck or fate he stumbled across an old shoe shop in the heart of the city.

He told us what happened, “I was at my wits end, I was hobbling along the old streets of Hamburg trying, unsuccessfully, to keep up with everyone else when I passed an old shoe shop. The shop owner was saying goodbye to a customer and saw me struggling past, so

Deluxe

Full length, soothing the whole foot.

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James Noble says the relief given by Foot Cradles ‘was truly a miracle’!

My feet were killing me… until I discovered The Miracle ” in Germany! “

Sightseer stumbles across the perfect solution for painful feet and aching legs!

By FIONA LLOYD he shouted to me in German. I couldn’t understand a word he said so he kindly repeated it in English. He told me that I was walking very badly and that he could help me. I was rather sceptical but I hobbled into his shop and gratefully sat down.

The owner, Herr Friedrich, introduced himself and told me very sternly that I needed a pair of his Foot Cradles, immediately! I was in so much pain and he seemed to know what he was doing so I agreed.

“I slipped a pair into my shoes and my feet were soothed almost instantly. The flexible shock absorbing support they gave my feet was like cradling them on a cushion of air. I could walk and stand without pain. The relief was truly a miracle. I paid Herr Friedrich for the insoles and hurried out to catch up with the others. I walked around Hamburg for the rest of the day with no pain at

90 Day

RISKFREE

all. We went on to visit Prague, Budapest, Venice, Rome and Madrid all with no pain, it truly was a miracle.”

This moment changed James’ life. Not only was he now pain free but he also came out of retirement to start on a new career path. He said, “Imagine how dumbfounded I was to discover these miraculous insoles were only sold in Germany, so right then and there I determined that I would share the miracle with my own countrymen.”

Since then James has become the UK distributor for Foot Cradles and sales have gone from strength to strength.

He told us that he now has “hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers, many with aching feet far more severe than mine. They have all experienced this blessed relief for themselves.”

Talking to James, it is clear to see how passionate he is about Foot Cradles. I asked him what

Original

Trial

made supports these different to other insoles, he told us “they are like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

Their unique contoured design enables them to support your full body weight whilst helping to soothe your aching feet.”

In fact, James has so much confidence in his product that he offers all customers a risk-free, 90 Day home trial. He explained, “I get hundreds of customers writing in to tell me what a difference they make. I know they work, they worked so well for me. So, it’s with this

• Pain relief for feet and legs • Millions sold worldwide • Unique contoured design • Suitable for all shoe types • Supports your whole body weight • 90 Day Risk-Free Trial

90 DAY GUARANTEE

FREEPHONE 0800

55 77 99

LINES OPEN 12.00pm-9.00pm 7 Days a Week

One Pair

2 pairs 3 pairs SAVE SAVE

$10

$15

Qty

Victoria Street West, Auckland 1142

Sub Total

Foot Cradle $49.95 $89.90 $134.85 Deluxe Foot Cradle $59.95 $109.90 $164.85 Gel Foot Cradle $59.95 $109.90 $164.85 Postage & Packaging Total

KFF51

I enclose a cheque/Money Order payable to Century Mail for $ Please charge my VISA/Mastercard (please tick):

Women’s Size(s) ________Men’s Size(s) ________

Type

DEPT CODE:

Post To: Century Mail, Dept KFF51, PO Box 912021,

Important please indicate shoe size(s)

• Relieves foot pain • Helps realign posture • Relieves pressure in feet, legs, ankles and back

100% belief in the product that I can offer a 90 Day, money-back, risk-free home trial.”

Foot Cradles are only offered exclusively to customers in New Zealand

by Century Mail for $49.95 a pair. They are also available in two other styles: Full length Deluxe and Gel Sport, both carrying the 90 Day home trial. You can order by calling the freephone order line 0800 55 77 99 or visit the website at www.cmshop.today/KFF51

Why order Foot Cradle Insoles?

Please rush my “FOOT CRADLE INSOLES” on the RISK-FREE 90 DAY GUARANTEE.

Gel Sport

“Foot Cradles have changed my life!”

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$9.95

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Occasionally we may make your data available to carefully selected companies. If you do not wish to receive interesting offers from these companies, please tick this box ❑ C150 C151 If you do not wish to receive further communications from Century Mail, please tick this box ❑ Delivery normally within two weeks but please allow 28 days.

BUY ONLINE AT www.cmshop.today/KFF51

©Century Mail 2016

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Fixed village fee

FOR LIFE

Enjoy a stunning and relaxed retirement lifestyle on the NORTH SHORE Whether you prefer a lively Takapuna location, relaxed easyliving in Glenfield or the bustling neighbourhood of Unsworth Heights, the choice is yours with our three outstanding North Shore retirement villages.

DROP IN THE POYNTON

At any of these wonderful villages, residents enjoy the comfort of maintenance-free living and the benefits of caring

142 Shakespeare Road, Takapuna Call Jan on 09 488 5711

staff and friendly close-knit communities. Should you need extra support, each village provides a variety of care options to meet your needs. With these fine retirement options in prime locations, you will be spoiled with choice when deciding which village suits you best.

To find out more or to see one of these North Shore villages for yourself, simply give us a call or visit us

RAD1337

online at metlifecare.co.nz.

THE ORCHARDS 123 Stanley Road, Glenfield Call Karen on 09 444 4370

GREENWICH GARDENS 5 Greenwich Way, Unsworth Heights Call us on 09 444 4011

The Orchards

Greenwich GARDENS