tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70541153226392878102024-02-21T20:41:20.793+13:00Auckland Food BlogThe muck stops hereJesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-3236840463700158222015-08-08T14:39:00.003+12:002015-08-08T14:39:58.533+12:00Best of Wellington 2015
One last hurrah from me: Alexander Bisley, my regular Wellington correspondent, has put together this list of the best of the city as at July 2015 - a great set of notes to put in the back pocket ahead of a weekend trip to the capital ...
Wellington remains a really good place to eat, though it could do with a high quality joint to
watch the rugby at. Ortega Fish Shack and Bar is still Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-34596731090094436562015-04-29T08:00:00.000+12:002015-04-29T08:00:01.720+12:00Good Night, and Good LuckAppropriately enough at this Anzac-y time of year, this is my final post.
I started writing here five years ago as a way of sharing my eating experiences with friends and family but also, if I'm honest, auditioning for a job as a paid restaurant reviewer. That happened soon enough and I'm so grateful to Simon Wilson, the editor of Metro for giving me a shot.
While I was writing monthlyJesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-63573323180367104042014-12-17T22:11:00.003+13:002014-12-18T13:13:01.766+13:00Incredible New Ramen Restaurant in Mt Eden
It’s easy for cheap restaurants to get a strong following quickly in Auckland, because people who use Instagram can afford to eat there. While fine dining power hitters like the French Café, The Grove and Sidart need one or two years and one or two awards before a buzz develops around them, somewhere like Peasant on Dominion Road can open up and within a couple of weeks most of Auckland has Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-87519330190062564442014-09-21T22:08:00.000+12:002014-09-22T10:25:34.689+12:00The Election Special
For lunch on Friday I decided to eat the full tasting menu at The French Café, to celebrate all the MC and copywriting work I’ve been getting through my new website jessemulligan.co.nz. Actually, I haven’t had a single enquiry through my new website yet due to not enough potential clients flicking through 13 pages of Google results to find it when they search my name, but my tech guy tells me Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-60102361931648660112014-08-28T14:43:00.000+12:002014-09-03T15:29:34.520+12:00Some of the best food in Auckland is in the last place you'd expect
I worked in radio for ten years, not many of which I enjoyed except for the theoretical enjoyment you get from being paid each week to entertain people. Bear in mind this theoretical enjoyment also applies to cheerleaders, buskers and people who dress up as mascots at sports events. It’s not enough to overcome the dread you get each evening about going into work the next day.
There is a lot Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-23218390448764526222014-07-23T21:05:00.002+12:002014-07-23T21:05:38.226+12:00The Food Event of the Year
I have two feel-good things to share with you tonight. One will make you feel good in a worthy, making-the-world better sort of way. The other will make you feel good in a hedonistic, get-in-my-belly sort of way.
So to the second, first: on 23 August some of the best chefs in New Zealand will be working together to create an incredible menu for you to eat. Depot’s Al Brown, Masu’s Nic Watt, Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-64558404690208357592014-07-17T21:11:00.002+12:002014-09-03T15:30:07.007+12:00The Egg Trick
I just came back from a week of mostly good eating in Los Angeles, a city whose name alone can make any sentence glamorous. And with good reason: I stumbled upon both Jeff Goldblum and Glenn Close in different places on the same day.
“This is like a Big Chill reunion!” I almost said, temporarily forgetting that I wasn’t actually in the Big Chill, I just watched it with my dad on his V8 video Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-22128128631310415192014-06-30T21:04:00.002+12:002014-09-03T15:30:23.846+12:00Paying for Lunch
It’s ironic given the subject matter of this blog that I’ve lately been starving it of content. I blame TV – House of Cards, Breaking Bad, Game of Actually I Haven’t Watched That One. Every spare hour is devoted to watching another 60 minutes from some other fictional world, while the fictional world in which I regularly create content for this website becomes less believable by the day.
I Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-87598149691257902142014-06-23T13:14:00.001+12:002014-06-23T13:14:17.629+12:00Win tickets to The Capital pop up city
Wellington is a very fun place to visit for a couple of days or even less, as I discovered a couple of weeks ago. I’ve written up a sort of Top 20 of Wellington dishes here for the Metro Eats blog, and the good news is that for those unable to fly due to parenting responsibilities/MH370-based anxiety/don’t-know-where-the-airport-is, this week Wellington is coming to you.
Yes, he says, Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-43708309047682797202014-01-19T20:32:00.001+13:002014-09-03T15:30:37.752+12:00Gambling on dinner
I was talking to my new cohost Mike Hosking about eating out this week, and he told me that he and Katie (am I allowed to call her ‘Katie’? He’s so sweet about her that it almost feels like a term of endearment, like calling another man’s wife ‘Honeybuns’) mostly only eat at one restaurant, because they don’t want to be disappointed.
That restaurant is Cibo, in Parnell. I love it Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-8034919986242811922013-10-01T09:24:00.000+13:002013-10-01T18:38:18.916+13:00Where to eat on Sunday and Monday nights
If we’re to believe our TV theme tunes, Sunday and Monday are happy days. But the people who sang that song (a 70s duo called Pratt and McLain, as long as you’re asking) might not have been quite so chipper if they’d ever found themselves wandering Ponsonby Road on a Sunday night, looking for a half decent steak.
Most restaurants close on a Saturday night and reopen again on a Tuesday, Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-30571331998115740252013-08-18T14:13:00.002+12:002014-09-03T15:31:00.648+12:00Best eating in LA
Heading to Los Angeles, or want to be thanked by someone who is? Reprinted courtesy of Kia Ora magazine, here's my definitive list of the best places to eat and drink:
Where to begin
True, LA isn’t the world’s most walkable city, but if you’re based in the right place, you’ll find plenty to eat on foot. We stayed at The Orlando (theorlando.com), a wonderful boutique hotel in West Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-71097253858511791052013-07-15T10:19:00.000+12:002014-09-03T15:31:13.621+12:00A Guide to Auckland's Farmers' Markets
Weekend markets are such an ingrained part of my cheese-sampling, poodle-patting, busker-tipping lifestyle that I’m always surprised when I meet Aucklanders who don’t spend their Saturdays traipsing across town to buy spray-free cucumbers. But these people exist, in far greater numbers than those of us with harissa-stained car upholstery, so with them in mind here are some of my favourite superJesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-84821250172101003432013-06-16T21:54:00.003+12:002013-06-28T17:33:49.394+12:00Capital Eating 2013
Hearty thanks to Alexander "Slim" Bisley, who for the third year running has put together this comprehensive guide to eating well in Wellington. I can't personally vouch for the restaurants, but I can personally vouch for Alexander, who approaches food recommendations like he approaches all of his writing - with intelligence, charm and some good hard yards in the field. So, over to him:
Cafe Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-63417698273618920402013-06-02T22:57:00.000+12:002014-09-03T15:31:29.931+12:00The greatest meal in Auckland
I ate what I think was the best meal of my life on Wednesday, at an Auckland restaurant which has always been great, and has recently been incredible, and last week transcended incredible – became a jaw dropping, palate smashing, knee trembling trip through ten of the greatest dishes I’ve ever eaten.
There are only five seats available each night. Five! Six if you want to squeeze, which reallyJesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-20426643317881024052013-04-14T21:52:00.000+12:002013-04-14T21:52:10.426+12:00Showbiz life
Another Saturday night, another comedy gig for the Pukekohe Vegetable Growers’ Association. On paper it was probably my strangest corporate engagement since being enlisted as the host/judge of Urologist’s Got Talent, a variety show performed by the major players of the sexual health and faulty urinary tract industry.
The winner of that competition was a man who used shadow puppets to tell the Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-73587660520445712722013-01-24T16:40:00.003+13:002013-01-24T16:40:48.650+13:00The Worst Restaurant in Auckland
The worst restaurant in Auckland opens soon. I don’t know anything about it, and I suppose I shouldn’t review it before it opens, but I read a couple of things in the Herald AND I’ve seen their logo on a letterhead. What more is there to know?
The restaurant is called Seven, on the corner of Hobson and Victoria Streets in the city. It used to be Escolup, which should never have been shut downJesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-2301615583987957342012-12-31T15:46:00.000+13:002012-12-31T15:46:00.096+13:00How to eat a city: Brisbane
I’m getting pretty good at finding the best food in a new city. Here’s what you do: ask everybody you meet where the best food is, and then secretly rank their answer based on how much you respect their opinion. You might think that you could circumvent this approach by only asking for help from people whose opinion you trust, but you’d be wrong.
It’s from the ignorant masses that you hear theJesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-42479625126007347932012-10-30T21:58:00.000+13:002012-10-30T21:58:18.510+13:00October eating round up
I've eaten a lot recently, and some good stuff too. But I'm running behind on telling you about it so here's a catch up - 25 interesting things about Auckland food you might not know:
1. What is open Monday? Not much - it's when chef's holiday and fish goes on special. But if you're looking to eat on Monday there are still some good options in Auckland: The Grove, where I got amongst the Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-40607941926603184302012-09-11T21:58:00.002+12:002012-09-11T21:58:48.153+12:00Secret, amazing, cool new restaurant
Bloggers. They’re quite annoying. No sooner has a new café/restaurant opened its doors than it’s flooded with curious, mousey-looking boys and girls, hovering over the food with their second-tier smartphone cameras and asking the owner for her ‘story’ while a queue of real people wait at the till trying to give said owner some money so that she can open her doors next week as well.
It’s not Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-81060065490304943492012-08-21T12:46:00.002+12:002012-08-21T12:46:52.757+12:00Thinking inside the box
A few years into writing comedy for a living I discovered something amazing. The more restrictions you have on what you can write, the more creative you become. Forget blue sky thinking, the best way to write a great joke is to be told it has to be about a llama, and can’t use the letter E, and has to rhyme, and can’t mention any aspect of the llama.
Great vegetarian food is a bit like that.Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-86736609909803290642012-08-18T22:08:00.000+12:002012-08-18T22:08:00.255+12:00Back to the Intercontinental
I used to work in an office, in Wellington, with a boss who’d read one too many yet one too few self help books about how to be a great manager. The office was going to hell in a handcart but he’d been appointed recently and was convinced he could turn things around. One day he held an internal competition where you had to come up with the best idea for improving the business. He told us he Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-39307917651112042832012-08-13T12:15:00.000+12:002012-08-13T12:30:11.920+12:00Guest blogger Ben Hurley visits Tauranga
I'm delighted to introduce Ben Hurley as guest blogger this week. He's a bloody good cook and as a touring comedian eats very widely, not just the stuff that gets trapped in his beard over the course of the day. Enjoy his thoughts on the dining out scene in Tauranga:
Tauranga is an odd town. Not bad odd, I’ve just never been able to work it out. Other towns are easy to sum up; Hamilton has Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-10464977967826268982012-07-26T20:53:00.003+12:002012-07-26T20:54:27.886+12:00Best place for date night
Cocoro, do you know it? It's a perfect little modern-Japanese restaurant, tucked into suburban Ponsonby-or-is-it-Grey-Lynn, where the staff are charming and the food is flawless and the wine is rare and interesting. It's my current number one recommend for a date night. I left the gf at home on Friday and went there with a good mate, but I swear to god the place is so romantic that if he'd hadJesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054115322639287810.post-4231189538799762182012-06-19T08:50:00.000+12:002012-06-19T08:50:57.116+12:00Visa Wellington On A Plate
I've been in my old home Wellington this weekend, previewing some of the highlights of Visa Wellington on a Plate, an annual festival where local restaurants offer special, accessibly priced menus and all sorts of food-themed events take place. If you have a soft spot for the capital (and what sort of monster doesn't?), make sure you book a visit between August 10th and August 26th. Here's Jesse Mulliganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12619807050260887033noreply@blogger.com