The food is so good it diverts attention from the live coverage of the kitchen.

If you've ever lamented the closing of the Open Late Cafe in Ponsonby (oh those giant vessels of hot chocolate!)...

It has always puzzled me that Devonport is so short of decent places to eat.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's complex other half remains a mystery, writes Nicky Pellegrino.

Some things never change and it would appear that the Strand Tavern is among that number.

It was bound to happen sooner or later and, frankly, it's come sooner than I would have predicted. New sauvignon blanc at $80 a bottle.

There can be little argument that customers at Harbourside enjoy one of the best settings in Auckland.

We came here because we wanted to see what all the fuss was about at Ponsonby Central, the new artisan market housing several good eateries.

A new novel imagines the shimmering yet ill-fated life of Zelda Fitzgerald, writes Rebecca Barry Hill.

Change is afoot at this adventurous institution specialising in wild game.

The Stamford Plaza was the last word in sophistication when it opened, as the Regent, in the 1980s. Smug yuppies and teenage sharebrokers flocked to parties laden with wannabe celebrities.

Despite moments of beauty, no one escapes the horror in Nadeem Aslam’s fourth novel.

It can be a struggle to find a book that's truly uplifting.

Famines, disasters, turmoil and poverty have driven millions of Chinese people from their homes to foreign lands for centuries. Now the grand-daughters and grandsons of the original “sons of the yellow emperor” are returning home; history has turned full

There I was, minding my own business at a rather lovely wine tasting at Vivace on High St, when my wandering eye roved out the window and caught sight of a tiny bar in a little lane opposite.

Most wines can be made by following the textbook, a bit like following a recipe when you bake a cake.

A trip to South America fails to live up to expectations.

In the shadowed and sepulchral Florence of the 1690s, with the Medici dynasty in steep decline and the city cowed by the puritanical regime of Cosimo III, a sculptor in wax receives a commission from the Grand Duke himself.

Would you pay $80 for a bottle of Marlborough sauvignon blanc? Or, indeed, should you?

Investing in a new, fashionable brand pays dividends for an established Remuera eatery

Immigrants from African countries, in particular from the Horn of Africa, have proliferated in Auckland's inner southwest in recent years.

The premise of Richard C. Morais' Buddhaland Brooklyn is that an apparent fish-out-of-water can eventually find, and adjust to, its new pond. Morais takes rather a long time to get there, but he makes it.

Nicky Pellegrino finds the tale of a diary washed ashore intriguing and compelling.

C.K. Stead’s remarkable new collection of poems, The Yellow Buoy: Poems 2007-2012, was completed in his 80th year.

It's been a tough life for the poor old Birdcage.

Revelry, the brain-child of restaurant designer Jason Rosen and bar manager Benjamin Taylor, rests somewhat uneasily beneath the International Food Hall on the corner of Ponsonby Rd and Pollen St.

How long this summer continues is anyone’s guess. In the meantime, the grapes look fully ripened in my neck of the woods and could be harvested much earlier than usual.

We came here because this venerable old Ponsonby institution bagged a thumbs-up from global hipsterdom's fountainhead Tyler Brule, who, in an open love letter to Auckland published on the Financial Times' website

Crime writer Harlan Coben still enjoys confusing his readers, writes Stephen Jewell