All posts tagged: Taste of Auckland

10 dishes I’m dying to try…

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…at Taste of Auckland presented by Electrolux (PLUS A GIVEAWAY) Taste of Auckland  presented by Electrolux turns 10 this year and I have a double pass to give away. For entry details, scroll to the bottom of this post. So Taste. I am a long time fan girl. I’ve been to every Taste since they started way, way back pre-blog. Haven’t missed one yet. It’s my favourite food festival and the last few years, I’ve been going to multiple sessions so I can sample even more of the restaurant menu offerings. There will be cooking demonstrations, countless artisan and food stalls, bars and villages, live entertainment (including Holly Smith – Duo, Laughton Kora, Sola Rosa Sound System). If you’re interested, check out some of my previous festival review posts here, here and here. I adore Taste. It’s a casual, build your own walking feast. You mosey about and eat all the dishes that you like the sound of. Heaven. Bring a friend or two and double or triple your quota. Held over 6 sessions, this year Taste …

Taste of Auckland 2017 – food, mostly.

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This is not a sponsored post, however the folks at Taste of Auckland in partnership with Electrolux have supplied me with entry tickets. I visited the festival twice and paid my own way inside the festival. Here are my thoughts… Last week I (and thousands of others) celebrated incredible local food at Taste of Auckland. Taste is a four day festival of food and beverage at Western Springs, Auckland. A line up of 10 restaurants, a gourmet hangi, live demonstrations, cooking and master classes, hundreds of food products and samples, it is a wonderland for food lovers of all levels.   This year I was invited to the media opening with refreshments and mingling just before gates opened. A who’s who of chefs, restauranteurs, media and influencers. Disclosure, I’ve recently started freelancing in social media and I wear many hats that often look the same. Regardless, I take photos, I eat, I make content. I only hope to do the food justice! I snapped a pic of my buddy Georgie with her hero, George Calombaris …

Taste of Auckland turns 9! 

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I haven’t always been food obsessed. I “got into food” in my mid-twenties and Taste of Auckland was the first food festival I attended. A year before I started this (mostly) food blog, Mum and I bought tickets to the first ever Taste. We checked out a few cooking demonstrations and I tried beef tartare for the first time ever. I took photos for no real reason as I didn’t have social media or a blog. It was casual. Just something to do. Nine years later, as I mentally prepare myself for next week’s festivities, I realise I’m am a die-hard fan girl. I’ve attended 8 years of Taste and I’m going to Taste of Auckland this year too. Twice. It helps that it’s usually around my birthday making my birthday month a bit more wonderful. Well, basically Running four days from 16 to 19 November, the six sessions of Taste of Auckland in partnership with Electrolux is essentially a build-your-own degustation with your choice of fine wine, beer, even cocktails. There are 10 restaurants …

Taste of Auckland 2016 – the run down

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Taste of Auckland is here and last night, my fork buddies and I braved the weather to enjoy opening night. The promise of rain might have kept the crowds away and while the weather was nowhere near as horrendous as Taste 2014, we were glad we wore gumboots as it drizzled later in the night. There are 5 more sessions to go over the next 3 days and with many different areas and entertainment to keep you busy, there’s something for every shade of foodie. Even those who hate the term “foodie”. Taking photos of your food is 100% acceptable at Taste, some of the servers even made styling suggestions when I asked if I could take photos. I love how Taste is a shared communal experience and it’s totally OK to ask complete strangers about the food they’re enjoying. A stranger at Taste is a fork buddy you haven’t met yet. Once again, a well run festival, easy to navigate and meander around. No queues when we went meaning more time to enjoy the festival. Great atmosphere, delicious food, tastings and …

Taste of Auckland – Winners announcement

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Happy Friday everyone! With a big thank you to Taste of Auckland in partnership with Electrolux, I am pleased to announce the three winners to my Taste of Auckland double pass giveaway. The winners are… *drumroll please* Alice Chan, Mira Bi and Kiely Evans! Congratulations! I hope you and your friends enjoy your time at Taste of Auckland. Thanks to all who entered and if you missed out, don’t be sad,  I’m also giving away a $150 voucher for New World over here. Taste of Auckland in partnership with Electrolux is back for the eighth year in a row. Running from Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 November 2016 and once again at Western Springs, Taste of Auckland will be settling in for 6 sessions over 4 days of al fresco dining with wine and cocktails. Check out my write up about last year’s event and the year before last if you’re feeling eager and if you missed it, check out my intro post for this year’s event here. Advance tickets General admission $25, Premium $60 (includes 40 crowns), VIP $110. Concessions available. …

Taste of Auckland 2016 is coming and a giveaway

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Happy Friday everyone! We’re about halfway through October already and I am loving day light savings time. Longer evenings and we’re actually getting more sunny days than rainy days. November is my favourite month and not just because it’s my birthday (although that certainly helps). November means that my favourite festival of delicious proportions, Taste of Auckland is back for the eighth year in a row. Thanks to Taste of Auckland in partnership with Electrolux, I have three double passes to give away to three lucky readers (Total value $150). To enter, fill in the entry form at the bottom of this post including a skill question: Adriano Zumbo will be demonstrating at Electrolux Taste Theatre on which 2 days? The answer can be found here. Running from Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 November 2016 and once again at Western Springs, Taste of Auckland will be settling in for 6 sessions over 4 days of al fresco dining with wine and cocktails. If I gush a bit in this post, please understand I am a Taste fan girl. I …

Taste of Auckland 2015 – the verdict

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This year, I wined and dined at Taste of Auckland. Twice. Going twice is some next level shit because if you’re like me, there’s no way you get even CLOSE to trying all the dishes you want in one session. This year was blue skies and summer glory and festival veterans will be positively basking in the sunshine. The reason being that the weather was horrible at last year. It rained so much, the grounds were chocolate mousse and gumboots were on trend. This year at Taste, sunglasses, summer dresses and a slight sunburn were high fashion. Things to see Fisher and Paykel’s Social Kitchen was thoroughly educational and entertaining. I caught the SUMMER OF YUM ice pop session with Our Kitchen (F&P cooking blog) and Dr Feelgood. Hosted by Kelly Gibney from the food blog Bonnie Delicious, I learned some handy tips about ice pops. For example, to stop ice crystals forming, you need to freeze the ice pops as quickly as possible so that ice crystals don’t have enough time to form. This can …

What to eat and see at Taste of Auckland 2015

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Taste of Auckland starts on this Thursday! Running Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 November 2015, this will be their second year at the new location of Western Springs. A haven for foodies, this festival is now in it’s 7th year. Consider it a walking, living, breathing, build-your-own degustation. Tickets are available online or if you prefer to wait and see what the weather is doing, there are also door sales. I haven’t missed a single Taste festival yet. Yup. You could say I’m a fan. Gourmet Hangi For the first time at Taste, there will be a gourmet hangi. Each session a different chef or restaurant team will be offering a gourmet take on the Māori hangi. Be in quick, portions are limited and on first in first serve basis. I grew up in Rotorua where hangi feasts were fairly common but since moving to Auckland 20+ years ago, there’s been a distinct absence of hangi from my life. You can bet I’ll be trying as much gourmet hangi as I can! The Gourmet Hangi will be …

Taste of Auckland double pass: winner

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With special thanks to Taste of Auckland, I am pleased to announce the winner for the double pass for this spectacular foodie festival next month. Drawn by Random.org the winner is…**drum roll please!** Will Coady Congratulations Will and thanks to all who entered. Early bird tickets for Taste of Auckland are available for this week only so get them before the price bumps up to full price. For more information about Taste of Auckland, or to buy tickets, visit Taste of Auckland website here or their Facebook page here or their Twitter feed here. There is still one giveaway to draw next week, a chocolate and cheese prize courtesy of Whitestone Cheese and Wellington Chocolate Factory, make sure you enter here. To keep up with announcements including giveaways, make sure you follow me on Bloglovin’ or Facebook.

Bunny Eats Design turns 5 – Taste of Auckland giveaway

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Taste of Auckland is my favourite, favourite, favourite foodie event. Taste is 7 years old this year and I have been attending religiously every year since inception, including the bonus Taste at The Cloud during RWC year. Obsessed much? Taste of Auckland is coming up in November and tickets are on sale now. With special thanks to Lemongrass Productions, I have two tickets to give away to one lucky reader. To enter, just visit my Instagram account and name one dish I have posted to Instagram recently. Entry form at the bottom of this post. The main drawcard of Taste are the restaurants, each serving up a small menu of tasty morsels. This year there will also be Brew Street, a craft beer special with 10 minute meet the makers talks. The Social Kitchen by Fisher and Paykel is always popular with the festival goers. Nothing quite like an interactive, edible exhibit. You can also look forward to a gourmet hangi. A first in Taste history. Bloggers, reviewers and food pornographers will be happy to learn that Canon will be running a Food Photography workshop during the festival. Tickets: $50 per person including your …

Taste menu announced

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Taste of Auckland have announced their menus for the festival which starts next Thursday. There are 38 dishes to try this year including 5 limited edition icon dishes. I’ve had a quick squiz and it’s a little overwhelming, especially since it’s almost 2pm here and I haven’t eaten my lunch (yikes!) but here’s my first thoughts on what I might like to eat at the festival…

Deep Fried Duck and wanky dumplings

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Please excuse me. I am fresh from an evening of fine booze and delicious, oh so delicious food. Quote of the night: When did we become so wanky?  Seriously. Between the “That’s not jam, that’s couli.” or trying to identify the six flavours of the Fisher & Paykel experience — which by the way, I tasted barley, marjoram, maple syrup, black garlic, coriander and black olive — it was sure as hell wanky but so much fun. I saw a few “World famous in New Zealand” food bloggers and food personalities walking about too. Taste of Auckland is like Disneyland for foodies. My friends Coco and Livvy, two fine foodies came with me on opening night (again) and we shared a bunch of dishes (again). I could visit Taste of Auckland every day (mentally, not economically). I’d go back or seconds, thirds even. The weather was divine, sunny, even warm at times and the 5.30pm to 9.30pm session a good amount of time to eat and drink your way through various restaurants, vineyards, liqueurs and food producers. …

Lovely little plates of yum

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Taste of Auckland is tomorrow! If I possessed a foodie calendar, Taste of Auckland would be the highlight of it. I have blogged about here and here and it’s a chance to enjoy lovely little plates of yum by many of Auckland’s best chefs. Taste is a global franchise and next year there will be eighteen Taste events worldwide. It is possible I am a little bias. I haven’t missed a Taste event yet. With that track record, they must be doing something very, VERY right. Call me an earnest fangirl. As part of Bunny Eats Design’s 3rd year anniversary celebrations I was delighted to give away 2 double passes to Taste of Auckland next week. But if you missed out, GA tickets are $25 but don’t forget to allocate some spending money too. Expect to spend between $30 and $60 depending on how much you like to eat and drink. The Menu Click to enlarge     I recommend 3 to 4 dishes per person, depending on how many free samples you try (and how much you drink). Take a foodie …

GIVEAWAY 5: TASTE OF AUCKLAND – DOUBLE PASSES

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Today’s giveaway is open to NZ residents only. The highlight of my foodie calendar has got to be Taste of Auckland in November. I have blogged about here and here and it’s a chance for every day people to have a taste of very lovely plates of food by many of Auckland’s best chefs. Pictured in the montage above are some of the dishes I’ve had the pleasure of trying at past editions of Taste. Taste is now in it’s 5th year, you can look forward to delicious offerings from: The Commons Fish Depot Everybody’s Izakaya Toto’ The Grove Bracu Baduzzi ….plus food and wine producers and much, much more. I am happy to announce as part of Bunny Eats Design’s 3rd year anniversary celebrations, two lucky readers will win a double pass each to Taste of Auckland courtesy of the festival. Prize can be redeemed at any session. Taste of Auckland 14-17 November 2013 Victoria Park, Auckland city http://www.tasteofauckland.co.nz To enter, please fill in the form below including a prize question. THE SMALL PRINT …

Everything is too delicious – Taste 2012

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It’s my birthday week and I’ll go to a bunch of awesome foodie events if I want to. I love this shiz. Food, wine, good music and the best company. Yes please! My friends Coco and Livvy went with me to opening night tonight. Taste of Auckland started today at Victoria Park, Auckland City and boy what a treat. Coco is a seasoned Taste veteran like me and it was Livvy’s first time. We are all pretty adventurous eaters so it was fun to share our dishes. We arrived keen as beans, just after 5.30pm and stayed until the 9.30pm closing. I would recommend the full 4 hours to get a well paced walk through and a class or two of your choice. The weather was perfect with only a the tiniest hint of drizzle later in the evening. Not enough for us to head to shelter or pull out umbrellas. From the 11 restaurants represented, we tried 9 dishes from 9 restaurants. Not bad, maybe with an extra person we could have made it to …

Taste of Auckland is almost here

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Taste of Auckland at Victoria kicks off tomorrow and runs through until Sunday. Last year it coincided with the Rugby World Cup with an additional Taste at The Cloud event and was renamed Taste of New Zealand, but this year it is back to it’s original name. I look forward to this every year because it’s just another excuse to be a glutton. Seriously though, the food at Taste is stunning to look at a even better to eat. It’s different to The Food Show as it is more fine dining and gourmet products. I think of The Food Show as the supermarket expo and Taste as the fine dining and gourmet expo. What’s on There are various masterclasses: whiskey, coffee and cocktails as well as chef cooking demonstrations on stage. This year, 11 restaurants will be featuring 3 dishes each at about $8-12 a plate. Gourmet food, wine and booze producers will also be out in full force and Taste is always a great opportunity to taste new things and grab bargains. The Menu The awesome thing about …