People we like

Posted on Fri, 09/02/2018

We knew this was likely to happen,  and even though we know John hasn't been the winemaker at Trinity for along while now, it's still hard to imagine the winery without him. When we first opened at Somerset...>>>

Posted on Fri, 06/10/2017

We have a number of food hero's. When we started out at Somerset, our focus was pretty much influenced by Pierre Meyer, who Rick worked for at Pierres restaurant in Wellington prior to us moving up to Tauranga and opening...>>>

Posted on Tue, 28/03/2017

I'm not sure how we first got to taste Cilantro goats cheese, but I think Monica may have dropped into the restaurant one day and left us a sample. Unlike many I enjoy the barnyardy flavours in a lot of goats cheeses...>>>

Posted on Tue, 14/03/2017

Am feeling suitable chastened... on a number of levels right at the moment actually, but I'm not quite ready  to discuss the damage I did to the front of the car yesterday, when a tree didn't get out of my way...>>>

Posted on Sun, 15/01/2017

The longer I am in business, the less inclined I am to want to deal with large, faceless corporations.Instead I get a wonderful charge from listening to people who are passionate about what they do, what they make - especially...>>>

Posted on Mon, 12/09/2016

Life isn't fair! Rick and I got into bed last night after a huge and very special couple of days, feeling exhausted. We had however just dropt two gentlemen off to their respective places of abode, knowing that they had...>>>

Posted on Tue, 22/03/2016

We got back this afternoon from a quick trip to Waiheke Island. There has been a lot of time elapse since we first mentioned to Stephen and Jane from Island Coffee that we really must come and visit, until we actually got...>>>

Posted on Sat, 19/03/2016

It's been a big kind of week with one thing and another, and I'm about to get on the spinner to try and clear my head ,before planning lunch for Courteney and Rick arriving back from their bike ride...just been sorting...>>>

Posted on Mon, 16/02/2015

We had a Masterclass with Juliet Harbutt at the restaurant last night. Something we've done previously, but a number of years back now, and it was great to catch up with Juliet again on a personal level, as well as to...>>>

Posted on Wed, 08/10/2014

We're not especially busy tonight, and since we did a cookschool during the day, I've been over for the start of service, and seen the first table out and now retreated back over to the house, to sit and ruminate...>>>

Posted on Wed, 11/12/2013

We did the last cookschool in the Christmas series today. We started that series back in September so its been ongoing for awhile, and it will feel a bit strange over the next few weeks, not fronting for a class, because...>>>

Posted on Wed, 16/10/2013

Shelley and David are departing on a big adventure, having sold up all their holdings in Tauranga. They head South, for an indefinite period of time, knowing only that they have to be in Invercargill for a major birthday,...>>>

Posted on Tue, 04/01/2011

The first nite back is now gradually winding down - I've been over, but becos we're not too busy, felt redundant reasonably quickly, so retreated with a glass of wine to my desk to continue my efforts to get uptodate with...>>>

Posted on Thu, 15/01/2009

It is a warm, barmy evening and we have tables out on the deck enjoying the evening air - all in stark contrast to the torrential downpour of last nite. All tables are in, and orders are underway, and the booking that I...>>>

Posted on Tue, 29/04/2008

We have lots going on in our lives with the restaurant, the cookschools, the catering that we do, and everything else that happens in the background. A restaurant is open virtually every day and as a result things have to...>>>

Posted on Tue, 19/06/2007

One of the huge advantages of being a long established business, in a smallish town, is that we don't have to spend lots of money on advertising to push the name of the restaurant out there. It already is....>>>

Posted on Mon, 14/05/2007

For more years than I can remember Diane Ponzio has been coming to us to do a Sunday lunch concert. Trevor Braunias, who sold Rick his  Martin guitar was our original point of contact, and Trevor still very generously...>>>