What makes certain wines provoke more thought is a matter up for debate.

An old story goes that the guides in the Uffizi, the fabulous Renaissance gallery in Florence, would quietly remind visitors that "it is not the paintings that are on trial here".

Roxy gets the fine dining formula just right.

Tucked away behind K Rd, a stylish wine bar provides a night to remember.

Riesling ... loved by wine buffs, misunderstood by most and loathed by those still scarred by a previous bad experience.

Isn't Mission Bay a perfect example of the urban seaside? Rangitoto smiles - or in bad weather, glowers - and the wind scoops white-tops across the harbour surface. So why is it the place that good food forgot?

A few tweaks are needed to make this eatery a fiesta of flavour.

To judge by online reviews, Californian arthouse film-maker Miranda July's movies are something you either love or hate. And it seems her writing is much the same.

An unusual combination of Italian and Iranian, in a Ponsonby eatery, gets the chilli just right.

Sales pitch: 'I want to write a book that is a sort of summary of a wilfully ambiguous science fiction movie made by a Russian director more than 30 years ago.'

Recently, while sitting in the airport lounge in Sydney waiting for a flight home, I glanced up from my hardcover book and surveyed the other travellers in my immediate vicinity.

Regular readers of my restaurant reviews have probably worked out that the Professor is not a shrinking violet.

Here are a few choices to help you decide on where to brunch with the young ones.

We came here because we’d read about the newest addition to the Surrey Cres cafe scene and are fans of Kokako’s other ventures across Auckland, so thought we’d check it out.

A restaurant with a Mediterranean twist should become a local haunt.

We came here because we were on an expedition to Devonport and decided to try this cafe away from the main thoroughfare.

A Ponsonby Thai eatery is full of fun and freshness.

We came here because it’s something of a classic.

Hearty French fare is sometimes just the ticket to ease woes.

Edmund White has spoken repeatedly of his crawling conviction as a boy and young man that being homosexual was “bad”.

In this book are a dozen short stories that will take you only a couple of hours to read but far longer to forget.

I suspect you could spend a year in New York eating nothing but pizza and never eat at the same place twice. I found my pizza heaven at Garibaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge.

The chooks are dead. I did it. In the carport. With the secateurs.

What an odd book this is.