Twinings have embraced that kiwi spirit and from 13 September New Zealand Breakfast Tea will hit the shelves.  Evocative of billy tea, this world first breakfast tea was blended by a New Zealander specifically for our taste.  It was a lucky competition winner who blended internationally sourced teas to create New Zealand Breakfast tea and it was judged right here in New Zealand.

My interest was piqued when invited to take tea with Mr Twining here in Wellington.  Stephen Twining is a 10^th generation Twining and someone who knows and loves tea.  He is a self-confessed 10 to 15 cup a day man and delighted to be back in New Zealand.  As I sipped the tasty brew I asked if he tried billy tea in our extraordinary native forests, but alas no.  Not yet anyway.  He has visited to New Zealand a number of times and describes us as ‘way up there’ in the tea drinking stakes, hence our importance as a market.  Australians are keeping up with us and we get on to the subject of what age groups enjoy tea.

He says that in England there is a definite peak in tea drinking in the early student years based on students only affording tea, before, as he points out “they drink everything else”.  Of course, we all end up back at the teapot in the late twenties, early thirties and that would ring true of my own experiences.  I remember well in our late twenties being invited over by smug friends for afternoon tea in their first homes, knowing that no-one really puts on afternoon tea in a flat. (Actually, we did own our own home in our late twenties.  It was more of a case of not having decent cups!)

Topics move quickly and I ask where tea comes from in the Twining world.  It seems that traditional markets for tea are all involved – China, India, Sri Lanka, and in his own words “et al”.  The difference is in the purchasing practices.  Buyers are the blenders and Twinings is a blending firm.  The buyers are out tasting to source the preferential crops, they then become the blenders in the tea making process, creating the final product.  It is a sophisticated task.

With my own interest in craft beer through my business Wild About Wellington, we discuss tasting methods, palates and flavour combinations.  I know from holding formal beer tastings with wine experts that tasting is an art which has no bounds.  While I am no tasting expert (I have Neil Miller for that) it is a joy to discuss tastes and flavours with one who really knows.

Taking tea with Mr Twining was a treat;  matching that with a New Zealand inspired tea, tea-riffic!

New Zealand Breakfast Tea is in stores from 13 September.

Yes, my exercycle and I are very good friends these days and I only allow myself fabulous lunches and dinners with the discipline of 10kms before breakfast;  make that a light breakfast.

The hot spot for me this week was Hippopotamus Restaurant at the Museum Hotel.  It has been creating waves and the sharp luncheon menu was calling to me.  $35 for lunch at Hippopotamus is a decidedly good deal, especially when groper, prime sirloin and a superb risotto were the main course luncheon dishes.

On arrival I managed to briefly acknowledge Laurent Loudeac, Executive Chef, as he passed by.  He’s always happy to chat in French with me, as is Timothee Lepoutre, maitre’d extraordinaire.  This particular French connection is a huge point of difference for me, and not because I can spin a yarn in French.  The French consider service as an art form, and a meal at Hippopotomus morphs me into a feminine, and slightly more petite version, of Matt Preston as words like “impeccable” roll off the tongue.

And impeccable it was too.  My dining companion, a close Swedish friend, and I enthused about the tender steak, the beautifully deglazed red wine jus and the pommes frites cooked to a perfect crisp.  OK, so I am back on the steak again.  After two months on the liver cleansing diet a girl is allowed to knock back a bit of prime beef from time to time!

The dessert was a light and caramel infused tart served beautifully, and typically French.  The Ata Rangi wine a treat with the meal and our coffees served with a heavy silver sugar bowl replete with sugar lumps and the requisite servers.  Oh la la!

Laurent Loudeac at Hippopotamus Restaurant

Let the good times roll and so they are.

Tomorrow I complete my round up of Visa Wellington On A Plate with a luncheon for eight at Monsoon Poon.  As fortune would have it, three of my dear friends share their birthday time in August, so why not eat, drink and make Wellington very merry?

I won’t have time to give you the full details, but I can say I have it on authority that Monsoon Poon has been working it during Visa Wellington On A Plate with lots of bookings.  My pick for lunch tomorrow is the Twenty-five Herb and Spice Wairarapa Lamb Curry with Saffron Rice.

Back to the exercycle…..

A la prochaine,

Jennifer Looman

And why wouldn’t they? This is the perfect time to pick up with friends and I too have used the excuse to do lunch with the gals. My blog this week focuses on a couple of central city eateries where quality matches bargain price tags;  ideal for catching up with friends or spending some quiet couple time.

Visa Wellington On A Plate commenced on 14 August, and my husband and I were quickly out of the blocks. On Saturday evening we enjoyed a memorable dinner at Plum in Cuba Mall. It transforms at night into a sophisticated Wellington eatery with a menu to match.

Our choice of seared lamb and a steak may sound traditional, but the presentation and superb treatment of the meat made it something to savour; the flavours were excellent in both dishes and matched perfectly with the wine choice. With only one pinot under the belt my husband declared it the best steak he had had in years. While he was waxing lyrical, I was stealing the flavoursome jus from his plate!

The deal is a bargain with a complimentary dessert for each main course. We really only had room to share the signature Plum cheesecake which was very elegantly done, light and presented with a zingy lemon curd. Bravo to Plum on turning a daytime iconic café into a stylish evening venue with more than a touch of decadence.

Today was lunch with the girlfriends and I was determined to find the best value in town for a tasty two course meal. The hunt was on to see how far $15 would go.

Consider it nailed!

Wakefields, the West Plaza Hotel restaurant, delivered it in spades. For $15 the choices include two course of either a soup, choice of main courses and an apple tartin plus an espresso or tea.

I dug straight into the lamb burger which was presented with hand cut fries. Tasty, fresh and filling it fit the bill entirely. The dessert was splendid with great caramelisation on the apple and a treat of Kapiti vanilla ice cream to accompany it.  I even took a photo – it looked as good as it tasted!

I have dined at Wakefields before, and don’t be fooled, hotel restaurant dining is often a very pleasant surprise in Wellington.

While the menu at Wakefield’s is pitched completely differently from the dinner at Plum (although Plum also offer a well priced set menu lunch), both venues provided dining bargains for different occasions.

With the festival only just started, I have some more ‘work’ to do. I have yet to tackle a glamour luncheon at Hippopotamus and I have another working lunch with friends next week with a completely different dining theme.

I am having such a good time, there just might be a second blog about Visa Wellington On A Plate.

Bon appetit!

Jennifer Looman

The Museum Hotel provided the centrepiece of Rick Stein’s visit to Wellington with Rick hosting a 5 course dinner at Hippopotamus Restaurant on Friday 6 August, with the Food Odyssey to draw larger crowds of keen Wellington foodies.

Rick did not disappoint.  From start to finish he proved himself to be personable and hilarious;  let alone a decent chef.  The initial muddle up of Rick locating himself outside the Mermaid (next door) assuming it was a seafood restaurant was fine Wellington humour.

Mark Sainsbury, the presenter for the evening, showed he could bring the story together, ask the questions and scoff delectable morsels all night with ease.  I was indeed jealous of his proximity to the cooking pans.

Rick really ‘got’ New Zealand produce and was in awe of our fresh fish industry.  I know that he was using the freshest snapper and gurnard supplied by Yellow Brick Road on the night, so he was treated to the finest.

The journey we took from Cornwall via France, Spain and Asia took us on a return flight to New Zealand.  Favourite dishes on the night included John Dory with a light pinot sauce, seared scallops with lentils and a Provencale dressing and seafood braised in Balinese spice paste and coconut milk.

Some lucky audience members enjoyed samples passed around the theatre.  I took the Jenny Craig route and inhaled deeply all evening.

Such an event leads us nicely into Visa Wellington On A Plate.  I have high hopes of leaving Jenny Craig behind and tucking into our superbly cosmopolitan approach to food in the city.

High on my agenda is lunch at Hippopotamus Restaurant.  If you haven’t experienced Laurent Loudeac’s cooking, you simply must.  He’s French, he’s sexy (I’m allowed to say that, I am married and old) and he creates gourmand experiences.

My choice for Visa Wellington On A Plate lunch at Hippopotamus will be:

Kapiti Kikorangi tortellini with creamed leek and walnut froth as a starter followed by salmon carpaccio with shaved Wairarapa fennel and red onion salad teamed with a glass of Ata Rangi 2009 Sauvignon Blanc.

Mon dieu!

With food at the top of the list this month in Wellington our hearts and stomachs will confirm that la vie est belle.

All Whites team members on the parade float

Is it too daring to suggest that the All Whites have come ‘home’ to Wellington?  It certainly felt like it on Wednesday as we hit the streets to welcome home the All Whites.

The parade scheduled this week was said to cost the city a ‘modest’ sum, and in was indeed lesser in size but replete in spirit. The crowds needed to have that all-important parade delay, the whirling lights of the cop cars and the music factor to get us in the mood. Thanks to our latest city visitors, the Boca Junior team, South American was the flavour of the day with the band, followed closely by tango dancers. Goodness, there was even a dashing Indian gentleman stepping out to the tango. He’d be a catch!

The Boca Juniors team were next up and riding high on the coat tails of All White glory. Good old Wellington throwing a parade for our visitors.

Then our boys the All Whites passed before us – and don’t we feel they are ours?  If you have been a follower of football in Wellington, and attended every Phoenix game since you can’t remember when, then these are OUR boys.  Wellington has responded to the beautiful game for a long time now and we are home for many of our nation’s football stars. Much of this can be attributed to Terry Serepisos who was resplendent in the parade aloft on the Phoenix float and looking like he was ready to float.

The parade was all over far too fast and while it retreated down the Quay, our national pride only swelled in size. On reflection I had the feeling that if any of the All Whites knocked on your door at home, they would be more than welcome to a cuppa. What interesting company they would be too. The rise to great heights (and 20 spots higher on the world table) comes with hard work and a touch of magic. These boys can speak of the hard work, but the magic will remain silent; silent of course for another four years until the lion roars again.

To see a little magic for yourself, experience the Phoenix in action on Friday 23 July at 7.30pm at the Westpac Stadium. The ‘friendly’ against the Boca Juniors will be a proud Wellington moment to perhaps rejoice in the All White’s outstanding effort in the FIFA World Cup while cheering on the ever more potent Phoenix to success.

My pick? 3-0 to the Phoenix.

Kia kaha

Jennifer Looman

Quite a lot actually.

It all started on Saturday with the opening of Boxes at Capital E, a perfectly crafted piece of puppetry brought to life by puppeteers Annie Forbes and Tim Denton.  While the production targets 2+ years, my 9 & 11 year old both enjoyed the magic of visual intrigue on stage and a cute story.  As for me, I was transfixed and found the soundtrack as compelling as Bernie and Elton’s puppet antics.  Great theatre at a great price!  5-17 July at 10am and 11.30am.  More details at www.capitale.org.nz.

Wellington is hopping with quality events for kids;  it must be the weather that brings out the creativity.

Our next stop will be the Museum of City and Sea.  We are booked to see some very special people like writers Margaret Mahy and Tessa Duder and illustrator David Elliot.  The sessions are very smart.  They are short and take on themes perfect for kids wanting a taste of everything.  My artistic Scarlett is very keen to find out more about the art of illustration with David Elliot;  who knows what spark will be ignited?

Of course there is plenty of scope for adults.  Sunday live music includes the toe-tapping Paddy Burgin and a host of musical melanges stretching right into August.  There are also talks, workshops on zines, literature and poetry vying for space in the timetable.  I urge you to take a squiz at the Museum website.

Te Papa beckons with everything from Monopoly’s 75th anniversary, Rustling up a Rain Stick, stars of bro’Town, Scratch Up a Native Bird Badge and Preparing a Perplexing Thaumatrope to name a few events.  What I like about Te Papa’s events are the low cost and the capacity to entertain a large number of young guests at a time.  Visit www.tepapa.govt.nz for the full story.

Finally, here’s one for the adults.  On Saturday 17 July at 3pm The Malthouse is hosting the 3rd Annual West Coast Challenge.  By definition – Epic and Hallertau go Head to Head and Hop to Hop in the 2010 Challenge of Armageddon and Maximus.

If you understand the last sentence above, you need to be there.  If not, you need to experience a Wild About Wellington Boutique Beer Tour!

Enjoy!

Jennifer

Te Radar in Eating The Dog

Anyone who springs onto a stage carrying a bottle of Emerson’s Pilsner is going to attract my attention quickly.  Te Radar announces that the 500ml version of the beer is a good compromise – “part Once Were Warriors but a bit metrosexual”.  Having met Richard Emerson, the brewer of the fine drop, he would smile at the metrosexual bit.  He is more like the good Kiwi bloke that Te Radar dedicates the next two hours to.

So, Eating the Dog.  Not brunch recipes I assure you.  For a history fan who likes exploring the eccentricities of human nature, this show was tailor-made for me.  Te Radar introduces us to a rich and hilarious history of some of our greatest idealists, inventors and great Kiwi blokes.

Take Thomas Brunner’s exploration of the South Island.  A colourful vignette was delivered of Brunner’s endless diet of seaweed and fern roots, which no doubt features on top Wellington menus these days.

Consider notorious New Zealand criminals.  We met the oddly facial featured Burgess gang and the Taranaki Highwayman;  prior to Taranaki having a highway.

The great Uranium Rush of 1955 was a doozy with two likely blokes, Mr Jacobson and Mr Cassim declaring the second largest uranium deposit in the world on their West Coast doorstep.  West Coast marketers of the day saw fit to create uranium flavoured ice cream.

This well researched and visually documented potted history of New Zealand’s characters instilled pride, and reinforced what it really means to be a New Zealander.  Of course Te Radar isn’t Te Radar without the odd segway into real life.  His description of him pig hunting for his series “Off the Radar” was a visual thinker’s feast.

His delivery on stage was a shaggy haired strut coupled with staccato storytelling;  non-stop, hilarious and some damn fine history.  A must for every proud New Zealander.

Te Radar’s Eating The Dog – 29 June to 10 July at Downstage.

Jennifer

P.S.  No dogs get harmed in this show.

This is a red flag alert to Wellingtonians to take note of the 16 or so regional representatives who will be out and about in the city.  Why not celebrate the moment in style with a ticket or two to the dinner and show to be hosted by the Duxton Hotel on Saturday 5 June?

Details can be found here.

Why my excitement?

It probably isn’t that we snatched it from the clasp of Horowhenua, last year’s hosts, but because of the diversity it brings to the city.  In our heart of hearts, we perhaps perceive ourselves as the lofty preserve of high culture;  home to the prestigious New Zealand Festival of the Arts, as an example.

For me, a real taste of feet-on-the-ground slice of life is refreshing.  As a child of the 60s I was raised on the annual celebration of beauty and charm Aotearoa style of the Miss New Zealand shows, proudly beamed into our lounges.  When young I was in awe of what big rollers and hairspray could do for a woman’s allure.

Life has moved along.  This weekend we can expect to see a small showcase of New Zealand fashion designers at work.  Last week I unwittingly stumbled across one of Wellington’s top fashion designers, Viviana Pannell of Basquesse, fitting the fabulously glamorous Miss Museum Hotel (go Kirsty!) for her evening gown for the event.

I say, let Wellington get behind it and support a national event.  Anyway, with Jack Yan as judge, it will be more than worth attending – our man Jack comes permanently equipped with a dazzle!

Miss Universe NZ 2009 contestants

Take three guys, musical and creative, and let them loose with electronics, musical instruments, cameras, lasers, fire and more, and Gadgets is the beautiful child.

Gadgets at Downstage is part of the Comedy Festival and it certainly wins in that genre.  It is very funny thanks to Joel Salom’s rubber body, rubber face and his able assistants Marko Simec and Jim Dunlop who know more than a thing or two about music meeting comic timing.

We went as a family, and it is intended as that, a family comedy show (beware the 9pm sessions though, they are adults only).   Fast paced action, visual intrigue and the best juggling around.  There were plenty of hot favourites, from shaker balls juggled in syncopation with the band to meeting Eric the Dog, the best sort of dog a planet could have;  he was out to save it, or destroy it, depending on his mood.

The show presented two extraordinary feats, the electronic musical juggling set to a laser beam show and Joel Salom’s incredible fire juggling.  Awesome.  We loved it, this is physical comedy at its best.

If you choose one show to soak up Wellington’s Comedy Festival, then Joel Salom’s Gadgets is it.

Gadgets is on:

11-15 May 7pm (very child friendly hour) or 15 May matinee at 4pm

13-14 May 9pm (adults only)

Tickets:  $35 – $25 from Downstage, phone 801 6946

Jack has a yearning to become our next mayor and lead Wellington into a creative and technologically astute future.  What do we know of Jack?  Let’s find out more about the man set to spice up the mayoral race.

Five mins with Jack Yan

1.    Jack, where were you born and what was a memorable childhood memory?
Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong. I have one of those freaky memories that goes back to when I was around nine months old, but there was an awesome fair at Mum’s work when I was around three that proved to be a wonderful day out. The fire department were lifting kids up in the Simon Snorkel engine. On the same day, I also saw the first Fiat X1/9 in the city, at the local showroom. Somehow, Dad found a Corgi scale model of the same car by that evening. (I asked him last year how he managed that feat, but he doesn’t remember.) He also found a toy ERF fire engine on the same day, but that Fiat was the business.

2.    Did you have a teacher who influenced you?
They all did, though Mrs Myra Graham, my Standard Two teacher at St Mark’s Church School, probably stood out, cooking us up Greek food when we were studying Greece and giving me a Hertz rental car brochure from her family’s time in the US. Doesn’t take much to please kids.

3.    What was your first job?
I was a calligrapher working for myself during my high school days. Calligraphy turned in to typeface design, which branched out to other things, including brand consulting and publishing.

4.    You are keen on languages, how many do you speak?
Cantonese, Taishanese, English, French, and a tiny bit of Swedish. Probably like a lot of Kiwis, I can understand Italian when I am in Italy but cannot speak it. I usually say three and a bit. Cantonese and Taishanese are so closely related that I doubt they count as two, especially when you work out that the t sound in the former is an h in the latter, etc.

5.    What is your current business?
I run Jack Yan & Associates, which includes Lucire, the fashion magazine, and a successful font software business. We also consult on brands. I sit on the board at the Medinge Group, a think-tank specializing in humanistic branding, and we give out the Brands with a Conscience Awards annually. I sometimes write books and articles.

6.    How does your business acumen translate into mayoral potential?
In all my businesses, I have had to be years ahead of mainstream thought (who else was harping on about the internet’s possibilities for publishing in 1993, or the need to make the green movement more fashionable in 2003?) and I can see what’s next for Wellington. I don’t look in rear-view mirrors, which seems to be what some of my opponents are doing.  I’ve made the contacts that Wellington needs to get itself in to the 2010s, and have travelled enough to realize how far we’ve dropped behind technologically during the last decade. Most of the time I have succeeded in my work. If I say Wellington can be the most creative place on the planet and be envied as a world-class city, then I’ll do what it takes to get us there, and I’ll do it responsibly. And I’ve more than a few things already under way to realize that.

7.    Where is your favourite place in Wellington and why?
There’s no single favourite for me. Watching Evans Bay from my office. Walking around Newtown, where I once lived. Sitting around with my friends on Oriental Bay. Wontons at Johnsonville Mall. Dining out on Featherston Street. It all depends on company and what I’m after. I am convinced, and this is not a politician’s answer, that this is the finest city in the world to live in, so I avail myself of everything it offers.

8.    Imagine unlimited funds, what would you create in the city?
Hypothetically, a free energy programme for Wellington. The power companies might hate me for that, but we spend enough each month on our bills. So let’s get alternatives up and running for every home. Let’s use those funds to generate new businesses to we can all have jobs. Free internet for everyone. How about a sustainable space-port so Sir Richard Branson has somewhere to land his spaceships? (Hey, you did say unlimited.) Subsidize every school in the city so they can have everything they need to teach our kids.

9.    Being Chinese, an advantage, a disadvantage or not relevant in the mayoral race?
I don’t think it’s relevant. I’ll admit that my family values play a huge part in who I am, but good Chinese family values are, surprise, surprise, identical at the core to good Maori and Pacific family values, or good south Asian family values, or good occidental family values.

10.    What was the last concert you went to in the city?
A very good friend of mine runs Avidiva, which is a girl group, so it would have been them last year at the Town Hall.

11.    Who is a Wellingtonian you greatly admire and why?
Former mayor Sir Frank Kitts, though he was born in Waimate, was an old family friend, who really helped us settle in to Wellington and sorted out my Mum’s pay at Wellington Hospital when there were some irregularities. He showed that public service was fulfilling and sometimes, you need the top bloke to nudge things in the right direction. In terms of Wellingtonians who were born here, Lady Weinberg (a.k.a. Anouska Hempel) would rate very highly in my book for her sense of design (ever stay at a Blake’s hotel?), her style and entrepreneurship, even though these days she lives overseas.

12.    What is your favourite food when eating with the family?
Won ton soup. I remember when my mother and maternal grandmother were alive, we would make enough for the family. Perhaps as a sign of how Chinese immigrants integrate, they would be mixed with Maggi chicken noodle soup. Even when I get the ready-made won tons, since I don’t have time to wrap them individually these days, they take me right back.

13.    Describe Jack Yan in five years from now.
I don’t like counting chickens but hopefully serving as this city’s duly elected mayor in my second term, after having done a bloody good job in my first. I’ll see that Wellington has had massive job growth and a cemented reputation as the most creative city in the world.