Metro Magazine NZ

27/11/2023

“Initially, we were looking at doing a few lunches during the week, but we decided against it. Sundays gave us an opportunity to explore that a little bit. In the Pacific, Sunday lunch is a big thing. It’s a day for rest, but normally we go to church on Sunday and we celebrate afterwards with what we call Toana’i, which is a long lunch, a feast. We wanted to translate into the concept of what Metita is. It’s a set menu format. We’re still pulling from the main menu but eventually it’ll be a good way for us to introduce new dishes, especially the main dishes. And the menu is made to be shared — that’s how we eat in the Pacific — and the whole idea is to change it regularly. We’re trying to bring that Sunday feel a relaxing atmosphere — a family-style shared meal where you can come and celebrate.”

A few words with Michael Meredith about Toana’i on Sundays at Metita online now.

Metro x Sky City

07/09/2023

Stella Artois and Metro present
The return of the reigning ramen ruler of Wellington,
Townhouse Ramen!

Saturday September 16
Ozone Coffee Roasters
1/18 Westmoreland St W, Grey Lynn
5pm, 6pm, 7pm and 8pm!

Townhouse Ramen, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the Wellington ramen scene returns to Auckland for one night only. Yep, we're bringing Kevin back, who serves up a very good bowl of ramen (we can personally attest!): soothing, hearty, tasty, and laser-targeted to blow the edges off your winter seasonal affective disorder and vitamin D deficiency (maybe).

Tickets are split over four sittings and strictly limited. They will be quickly snapped up, so grab yours now at the Metro store for $35

Kevin will be preparing Miso Ramen in chicken and vegetarian options — please specify which one you'd like in the notes for your order!

https://subscribe.metromagazine.co.nz/

05/09/2023

Robin Tait was a New Zealand sporting Icon. A Commonwealth record holder getting his gold medal from Princess Anne. An athlete with everything going for him. Robin was massive. A giant on the field. And a party goer and an outrageous extrovert — a legend of bad behaviour. Tait’s other life was dark, depressing and drug fuelled. A walking medicine cabinet that would slowly start bringing his life to a horrific end.

Robin Tait had everything going for him. Friends, fame and outrageous popularity with fans and media alike. This country’s love affair with Tait was unfailing. A gentle giant with prolific addictions that no-one seemed to be able to control.

Robyn Langwell, a Metro staff writer who would go on to be the founding editor of North & South, followed the dark and torturous trail through New Zealand’s sporting elite to track down the horror story that unfolded in the search for the real Robin Tait. A graphic and confronting piece of superb journalism from June 1984

Bob Harvey
The Archivist

A story about the dark side of high performance sport. From Metro N°36, June 1984.

28/08/2023

The first in a series of archival resuscitations by newly instated Metro archivist Sir Bob Harvey is Trish Gribbin's 1981 review of Foreskin's Lament.

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When Greg McGee’s stunningly original play Foreskin’s Lament — set in a suburban rugby changing room — opened the Circa Theatre in Wellington in 1981, it sent shockwaves through the country. Its brutal crisp raw dialogue, its nakedness, and its truth resonated with New Zealand theatre goers and it quickly was earmarked as a milestone for its observation of who we are and what we do and think. It attacked and revealed our true identity and would become a must see and for schools and universities a textbook reference for years to come.

It echoed the Springbok tour which had torn New Zealand apart dividing and separating who we are. It changed the face of rugby and masculinity in New Zealand forever. In October 1981, Metro talked to the young playwright Greg McGee an All Black triallist about his work and the outrage it had caused, the opening and its future. I think that neither realised how successful and important it would be on the New Zealand landscape.

Bob Harvey, The Archivist

Here it is: Our Play. Greg McGee & Foreskin's Lament. From Metro N°5, October 1981.

08/04/2023

"Art has always been inextricably bound to the resources of its society, and perhaps a true equity can never be achieved. The Alan Gibbs of this world would certainly like us to think so, and when it comes to the state, they take a dim view, believing the whims of private capital to be the higher path. Still, that state offers something that transcends the locked gate and vision of art as private property: an intuitive sense that creativity belongs to us, to the ideas and people that travel through it and called it into being in the first place."

A perfect long read for a long Easter Day by Emil Scheffmann about the parlous state of art philanthropy in Auckland from Metro N°438, in stores now and online at metromagazine.co.nz thanks to NZ on Air and the Public Interest Journalism Fund.

Illustrations by Natasha Vermeulen.

In the first of a series on the ways arts are funded in Aotearoa, we journey into the world of philanthropy and ask: does money still flow from the mansion on the hill?

05/04/2023

"Like John Key’s in 2016, Ardern’s judgement of her party’s prospects under new management proved correct, and nobody should be surprised. If there is anything on which the most swivel-eyed Jacindamaniac and the most deranged Groundswell misogynist agree, it is that Ardern, like Key, is world-class at reading the public mood. Both have exponentially greater self-awareness and emotional intelligence than their party hacks. At least so far, Ardern has done even better than Key at disappearing into the background and allowing her successor to shine. Meanwhile, Luxon comes across as a second-rate Key — a brand Key himself judged had run its course six years ago."

Matthew Hooton writes on Labour's sunny summer in Metro N°438 - out now wherever good magazines are sold and online at metromagazine.co.nz

Illustration by Electra Sinclair

The political left had a sunny summer.

05/04/2023

"Underneath the straightforward exterior, though, is an iron political will. Within Hipkins’ first fortnight, the Cabinet was reshuffled, policies were dropped and rhetoric shifted from comforting notions of kindness to ‘bread and butter issues’. In a way it was ruthless — dropping Minister of Finance Grant Robertson’s legacy child (income insurance), and reshuffling Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta out of her passion portfolio (local government) and publicly signalling that the prime minister expects her to spend more time overseas. It takes an impressive degree of steel to drop the legacy project of the second-most-important person in government (Robertson) and communicate to the second-longest-serving Labour MP (Mahuta) that she is a liability."

Morgan Godfery contemplates the early days of Chris Hipkins' reign in Metro N°438 - out now wherever good magazines are sold and online at metromagazine.co.nz

Illustration by Electra Sinclair.

What happens if you say ‘co-governance’ three times in the mirror?

29/03/2023

"The importance, too, of a broadcaster that uses te reo rangatira by default can’t be overstated. Language is the water that nourishes and keeps culture alive. As pioneering Māori broadcaster Dr Sir Haare Williams puts it: “We are a culture with a reverence for the finest art of all in the spoken word. The spoken word is sacred, as it defines mana.”"

Shane Te Pou looked at the past, present and future of Whakaata Māori on the eve of its twentieth birthday.

From Metro N°438, available now where good magazines are sold, and up now at metromagazine.co.nz with thanks to New Zealand on Air's Public Interest Journalism Fund.

They called it racist. But 20 years on, Whakaata Māori is thriving.

23/03/2023

Inside —

We file a special report on our impending cultural crisis, looking at the state of celebrities, music, film, theatre and art: Emil Scheffmann stares into the private arts funding abyss; Henry Oliver asks where all the celebrities have gone; Kate Prior talks to Silo Theatre about its cancelled 2023 season, and more.

Plus: we introduce Metro Best Dishes, presented in association with Stella Artois; celebrate the Top 50 Wines of 2023 in our annual survey; chat to local MPs Chlöe Swarbrick and David Seymour ahead of the 2023 election season; look into Mitchell Tan’s closet; sit down with meme artist Pavlova; taste test 31 olive oils; look to the future of Whakaata Māori ahead of its 20th anniversary; profile the new head of Elam, Fiona Jack; and, as always, art and restaurant reviews.

Cover illustration by Midjourney jockey, Oliver Sealy.

Our Autumn issue is out now!

05/03/2023

"One evening in March 2021 at Neck of the Woods on Karangahape Rd, a group of around three hundred party-goers assembled in the venue’s dimly lit downstairs venue. A DJ named Half Queen was stationed at the decks, her face adorned in pink and blue makeup, arms covered in blue fingerless gloves to match an outfit which was, at that stage, still covered by a black ‘Free West Papua’ t-shirt."

Tendai Mutambu's piece on the great Half Queen from the latest Metro (one week left in stores, tops) is now available for online consumption at metromagazine.co.nz.

Tendai's time at Metro was made possible by Creative New Zealand. Thanks CNZ!

Photography by Scott Hardy

Long Live The HALF QUEEN

01/03/2023

"Now we get to the point where I had been planning to berate the wider New Zealand wine industry for being slow to embrace organics. However, a recent tasting was a pleasant reminder that, while many large-scale wineries have yet to embrace organics to a meaningful degree, it is now almost de rigueur in quality wine production here. Name almost any top-flight producer of pinot noir in New Zealand and they are, if not completely organic (and biodynamic), then the majority of their production is. Organics has become practically synonymous with quality. Perhaps the best indicator of this is to look at the wineries that aren’t organic: their marketing still uses phrases like ‘striving towards’ organics or ‘increasing our focus’ on organics. That speaks volumes."

Oliver Styles goes in to bat for organic winemaking in Aotearoa, with a helpful list of ten great organic wines to try! — from the latest Metro (only juuuuust still in stores) and online at metro magazine.co.nz

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Why the New Zealand wine industry should do more to embrace organics.

28/02/2023

"A few months after our meal at Peach Pit, we catch wind that it is closing. I hear and feel the same plaintive sentiment echoing around me: but where will we go now? There is nothing else like it."

Ophelia Harradine Bayly eulogised Peach Pitt in the latest Metro (still in stores, but only just) and it's now freely accessible online too at metromagazine.co.nz

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2013 — 2022

27/02/2023

Dips are ‘simple’. Dips are ‘easy’. They’re the culinary equivalent of a salty, ocean-air breeze — light, but not uninteresting. Refreshing, even. Lay them out on the table next to mounds of chips, crudités and crackers, and you’ll look like you have your s**t together, even if all you did was blend some ingredients up, plop them into a jagged-edged ceramic bowl and drizzle some chilli oil on top in the shape of a spiral. And yet, making them delicious is a tricky balancing act, the difficulty of which once caused me to tip an entire container’s worth of dip into the sink, frustrated because I couldn’t figure out how to make it taste good (lemon wasn’t working; salt wasn’t working; life wasn’t working).

Jean Teng presents three dip recipes from Karl Bayly and Ophelia Harradine Bayly of Roses Dining Room. In the latest Metro and online now at metromagazine.co.nz

Photography by Olivia Harradine Bayly.

Should we all just be eating bread and dips this summer?

23/02/2023

Jean Teng does Ice Cream.

From the latest Metro (in stores for another week or so!) and online now at metromagazine.co.nz

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Like making sourdough, but the summer edition. Plus, a taste test of the vanilla variety.

20/02/2023

Oscar Mardell takes an unsettlingly thorough look at the contemporary ceramics scene — up now on metromagazine.co.nz and in the latest Metro — in stores now.

A recent exhibition, WONDERLUMP, prompts a look at ceramics in Aotearoa — from their early earthy humility to the playful imperfections of the ‘millennial aesthetic’.

19/02/2023

Bob Harvey talks to the great Lee Tamahori ahead of the release of his new film The Convert.

From the latest Metro (in stores now) and available online as a pdf at metromagazine.co.nz

Photography by Kirsty Griffin

BOB HARVEY talks to LEE TAMAHORI about sci-fi, Hollywood and his new film, The Convert.

13/02/2023

"Oreo is a seven-kilogram, black-and-white mutt — part bichon frisé, part shih tzu — that my parents bought for $300 from a couple who, three weeks earlier, picked him out from a backyard breeder they found on Trade Me. They claimed they were moving out of Auckland on short notice. I’ve come to believe they had seen the beginnings of Oreo’s objectively s**tty behaviour — which I, subjectively, have grown to love — and the many signs that he would turn out to be an annoying brat. They probably went out and bought a golden retriever as we drove away."

Jean Teng feeds her dog health food in the latest Metro, and now online at metromagazine.co.nz

Illustration by Robert Wallace.

Can a dog be paleo?

08/02/2023

The Auckland Arts Festival starts in ONE MONTH. If you have not already, peruse the catalogue and book some tickets to things. If you are unsure of where to start we have some recommendations up now on the Metro website.

Must sees at the 2023 Auckland Arts Festival

02/02/2023

In this week's Metro Eats! — Jean watches The Makanae, places you can help out with the floods, What's good and What's new in Auckland eating — with thanks to our friends at Tuatara!

In the city's finest inboxes and online now at metromagazine.co.nz

Wet.

01/02/2023

"The momentary thrill of the new is a specific benefit of Auckland’s club night culture. It seems almost impossible to make sustainable businesses out of niche scenes, par- ticularly when those running them don’t have bazillionaire parents happy to subsidise the rent. Variety, then, is something we’re good at. Sustainability, not so much."

Charlotte B ponders the lack of permanence in Auckland nightlife, from Metro N°437 (in stores now!) and online at metromagazine.co.nz

Illustration by Matthew Fitzgerald

Why Auckland’s nightlife is dominated by the temporary and the ephemeral.

25/01/2023

"Penny Hulse is getting more pained as she listens to the case for demolishing local democracy. The former Auckland and Waitākere deputy mayor is one of five people appointed by the government to a ‘Future for Local Government’ review panel, which is scheduled to report back next year. She acknowledges Tauranga’s success has thrown the shortcomings of the current system into stark relief. “If we’d put up rates 30% or whatever Tolley and her team have done, we’d have been strung up. And yet people go, ‘We love them, they’re getting on and doing things’,” she says. “It shows people are tired of the current democratic process, which is only 200 years old, and is pretty bloody rudimentary. It needs to change. It’s fundamentally broken.”

From Metro N°436, Hayden Donnell looked at last years local elections and wondered, why?. Now freely available on metromagazine.co.nz.

Is it time to overhaul councils, or even do away with them entirely?

22/01/2023

"Clinic of Phantasms offers a collection of Intra’s writings spanning eight years — the final years — which saw the artist giddily leave parochial Auckland for Los Angeles, a city to match his hunger and ambition. “Everything you read about Los Angeles is true”, Intra explains, in a statement that could comfortably be applied to the artist himself, as he joyously courted his own reputation. In a city of dream-chasers, Intra was going to make it. A dedicated lover of art whose passion couldn’t be contained, Intra held almost every conceivable role within the art world through his career. In the last decade of life, writing became a key focus of Intra’s output, with the artist reviewing for Artforum and Flash Art, and working as the West Coast editor of Art and Text. These review texts are the core of Clinic of Phantasms and document the literary journey of a person who lived and thought through art."

Emil Scheffmann reads Giovanni Intra: Clinics of Phantasms: Writings 1994-2002. From last Spring's Metro and online now at metromagazine.co.nz

A review of Giovanni Intra: Clinics of Phantasms: Writings 1994-2002

19/01/2023

In this week's Metro Eats! — Jean returns to her keyboard and the supermarket, some tips for celebrating the Year of the Rabbit, a little recommended reading, some new openings, some recommendations and a restaurant review!

In inboxes everywhere and online now at metromagazine.co.nz.

With thanks to the support of our friends at Tuatara.

Happy New Year x2! With thanks to Tuatara!

18/01/2023

We self-regulate to make the world better, yet maybe it makes our art worse. What’s the creative payoff for a safer society?

In a classic newly-turned-30, recently-left-the-country move, ex-Metro arts editor and new years honouree, Lana Lopesi MNZM thinks back to her day and, with the help of UK reality TV show Love Island, considers why art has lately become more boring.

From Metro N°436 and freely readable now at metromagazine.co.nz.

Illustration by Natasha Vermeulen.

Lana Lopesi thinks back to her day and, with the help of UK reality TV show Love Island, considers why art has lately become more boring.