December/January #19

Happy holidays, dear readers, and what a ride 2024 was. We’ve brought you this month’s issue a little late, but full of cheer, and with a lot of festive good wishes, whatever that means for you.

Christmas markets, a cinematic stage version of Fleabag, the Franklin Road lights. And our 2024 Scuttlebutt: where is Nicholas Down now? Did the Cherry Blossom people sell their property? Is a shipping container art? Some of you love scuttlebutt; some of you can take it or leave it. Sometimes we use it as a vehicle to talk about serious things around town. As this year wore on, we found ourselves doing that more and more. Well folks, there’s a local election next year folks, so before we dive in, let’s reflect on the Hamilton stories that make us us. And yes, we’ve linked to it separately so you don’t have to scroll past it to get to Adam’s gig guide.

And because we’re a town that shuts down and clears out in the summer months, we’re combining our December and January issues so we can focus on tending the barbecue, getting stuck behind camper vans over the Kaimais, dodging conversations with a crazy cousin at family Christmas events, and chasing a toddler around on the lawn.

It’s been a big year for this plucky little newsletter, and we’re going to spend some of our time off reflecting on the year past and future plans and aspirations. To help with this we are running our first ever readers survey, because we’d like to get to know you better, and we’d like to hear how we’re doing. So if you’ve got a spare moment, we’d love for you to fill it out for us. All respondents will go in the draw to win a $100 voucher at Amphora.

Wishing you all the very best as 2024 draws to a close, and we’ll see you in February. In the meantime, drop your hot tips and recommendations via hello@thewaikatodraft.com or slide into our Insty DMs.

Feature: A Year in Scuttlebutt

We look back at our favourite items from the Scuttlebutt section in what turned out to be an eventful year.

Feature: The cambridge distillery co.

We all had lockdown projects that kept us sane, but not everyone has been able to make the transition into an award-winning boutique business. But Olympic-gold-medal winning coach James Coote presumably has discipline in droves. We knocked on his distillery door to learn more about his craft.

What’s on

IRL, including Markets

It’s that time of year. This weekend, December 7th, is the Extravaganza in the Park, Elliott Park, in Hyde Ave. What was originally a one-of 10 years ago has turned into an annual Christmas staple. This year they have a banger planned with hāngi (which always sells out early), Chloe the unicorn will be taking rides; there’s bouncy castles and mini-cars, and more than 140 stalls from which to shop local for Christmas. 

There’s the Tamahere twilight market, where you can buy your dermatologist's life partner’s dog walker’s handmade soap. 

The Riverbank Lane Market is also today. 

Gourmet in the Gardens continues. 

We have quite a few readers who work at Waikato Hospital: Celeste, the Rudis foodtruck, is at the bottom car bar December 3 - 20 (a little birdie told us they had to take a few things off the menu to comply with the “heathy eating” policy of WPH, but the almond croisants are still here, so who knows.)

The museum reopens! Their summer programme includes the Astronomy Photographer of the Year: 

The Black Caps play England in the third test match on December 14-18. They’ll also be doing a signing session December 13, 3.30pm at Centreplace.

Not until February (Feb 21 to March 2 to be exact), but we got our first look at the Hamilton Arts Festival this year. It includes Nathan Haines and friends, a queer punk pirate take on Shakespeare, and lots of musical offerings in the various nooks and crannies of the Hamilton Gardens. Keep an eye out for our February issue for more coverage closer to the time. 

And don’t forget the Franklin Lights Christmas lights. 

Did you know that Hamilton still had a high school doing night school classes? Fraser high runs a large number of short (6-8 weeks) courses in a wide variety of subjects, whether you want to learn how to do small business accounting or learn to weld there will be a course for you. The cooking courses are a special treat, taught by a selection of cooks keen to share the joy of their home nations cuisine.  While other courses teach languages, photography, crafts or even bee keeping. Enrolments for term one 2025 are now open, and fill up by Christmas. Contributed by Shawn Walsh. 

Music

By Adam Fulton

December 6th Pocket Money | The Yard, Raglan | Tickets

For those that missed Pocket Money last month in Kirikiriroa (looking at almost everyone here, including myself) the band were described as "great" by one attendee, and you have another chance to experience greatness, with added travel time!

December 13th & 14th Hamtown Smakdown | Wintec Hub | Tickets

The annual meeting of some of the oldest, and youngest in New Zealand hardcore returns to Wintec, proving that they can in fact make money from the arts. Many great bands (21, to be exact) across two nights, including but not limited to my personal favourites: Carthage from Tāmaki Makaurau. Local weirdo, sludgy metalcore act Salvage and Brainwave from Poneke.

Schizophonics (USA) | Harbour View Hotel, Raglan | Tickets

Frequent visitors to these shores, San Diego 'husband-and-wife rock duo' will be performing as a trio at Raglan's old Harbour View Hotel. For fans of rock and roll, or the tension that can only arise from the unique interpersonal dynamic of touring as a married couple and a bassist.

Movies

By Jason Marshall

The silly season is nearly upon us, and what better way to escape relatives (or just the summer heat) than by stepping into a movie theatre for a couple of hours?

Te Awamutu stalwart the Regent Theatre is running special screenings of beloved holiday classics like Elf, Gremlins, The Holiday (Congrats millennials, you’re old enough to have an entry in the Christmas movie canon now), a Home Alone double feature, and of course, everyone’s favourite seasonal movie, Die Hard*. They also host a slew of special secret santa screenings on Christmas Eve, including a sing-a-long session with the Te Awamutu Brass Band.

*(There’s fierce debate online about whether this is a Christmas movie or not but if you can think of a movie that better encapsulates the spirit of the season than one where someone endures a spouse’s office work do, even though her colleagues are terrible, and goes to some length to help them out, I’d love to hear about)

It’s easy to forget that before Fleabag conquered the streaming world and the zeitgeist circa 2016 (Weren’t a lot of us a certain kind of aesthetically neurotic back then? And, here’s my theory, there just isn’t a lot of appetite for it after everybody went insane in very non-aesthetic ways for portions of the pandemic?), it was a one woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. National Theatre Live: Fleabag is a recording of the West End run of the stage version - stripped down, minimalist, but still as emotionally raw and painfully funny as the full TV adaptation. December 19 at the Lido. Trailer. Tickets.

What we put in our mouths this month (WWPIOMTM)

We managed to fit quite a lot in our mouth this month. 

We were on the road stopped at Raglan Roast where you’ll get a ginormous rectangle of pizza for $11 a slice. One weekend last month, having missed McDonald’s breakfast, we indulged in Mr Twist: the hungover half of us got the big breakfast bagel, while the fresh one got the bruschetta cream cheese. Both were happy. We were ready to try Good George again and nabbed the alcoholic lemonade. It was fine.

Alpha Street Kitchen

Serving up modern bistro classics on a sunny outdoor deck, on our first visit to Alpha Street Kitchen (sorry Richard, we’ve been meaning to swing by for ages!) we sampled the sumac spiced chicken and the burger. We’re increasingly flexatarian these days but absolutely love some of the more meat forward menu options, like a Wagyu picanha with jumbo prawns and the eye fillet with hand cut chips and crayfish butter.

Rainforest Malaysia (Rototuna)

We’re ever on the look out for independent eateries that aren’t in Hamilton East, and Rainforest Malaysia isn’t just the best Malaysian in town (with some good competition in there - our previous loyalty lay with now sadly departed Lazart, but we are big fans of Penang Street Food up the north end of Victoria Street), but is one of the best places we’ve ever eaten in this town. The Hainanese chicken rice is perfect (we’ve tried to make this at home and ended up with sad boiled chicken - a dish best left to the professionals). If you load your fork up with this, sambal and cucumber we are talking the most perfectly balance forkful of food in the city. 

Amphora

One of the highlights of our year has been a low key evening spent slowly making our way through a bottle of the new Beaujolais Nouveau drop, along with cheese and saucisson at Amphora (at Made). More recently, and because it was someone’s birthday, we started with a glass of the petit chablis ($25), transitioning thereafter to to the $13 tap rose. Both were excellent, and enjoyed on the deck with the duck liver pate in the late afternoon sun. 

Shanghai

Did you know Shanghai, the recentish arrival to the Skycity Hamilton, offers a lunchtime yum cha menu? As always, everything we ordered was at a consistently high standard, but what left us the most gobsmacked was an impossibly pillowy steamed pork bun. Soup dumplings also thoroughly recommended.

Reggie’s - is it any good?

We have been to Reggie’s probably more times than we should really admit. We sampled the prawn spaghetti with crayfish bisque, the meatballs (make sure you get some focaccia on the side to soak up that sauce!). We’ve had the lamb ragu; many of the pizzas (they’re all good but special mention to the zucchini). The squid is exquisitely tender. Our only complaint is that on one occasion we had to leave all but about 3 bites of tiramisu on the table because of the lack of non-pizza take away boxes at the time, which we understand is no longer the case. So yes, we thoroughly researched this one in the name of science and it's very, very good. 

A few hyper-local gift ideas

The Duck Island ice cream scoop. The Hayes Common t-shirt, or tote. Local artist Keirryn has immortalised many Kirikiriroa landmarks. The Found x Loryn Spicy Tote. There’s also the Pekapeka-core tshirt from Go Eco, the funds of which go to helping save and education people on our bats. We are really spoilt for choice in this town for local pottery. Lauren Wu is a favourite of ours - here, or at the Framing House. 

Keirryn Hintz, a teacher at Knighton Normal School by day, immortalises Kirikiriroa’s local buildings in her other time. Her latest print is of the Wonderhorse entrance, a certain door some of us know too well. Prints available in the Larder at Made or via Instagram.

For booze, well, may we recommend anything from the Cambridge Distillery. We walked away from our recent interview with the Knocknaveagh 1862, but for a festive vibe you could try their limoncello. 

Perfume is huge at the moment - and the more niche a producer the better. If you want a perfume made here in Kirikiriroa, here is it. 

Expleo sauces - best browsed in store either in Te Awamutu or at Made. The Rudi’s sourdough starter kit. 

And then a word about Gift certificates - there are few situations we would suggest swapping your real money for fake, expiring money. Except gifts with local, independent businesses.

And two in Hamilton spring to mind:

A gift certificate for your loved one’s hairdresser is always a good bet, but someone you know is between hairdressers can we recommend Tenielle Gillies at Flyger? She cuts a bob you could sharpen a kitchen knife with. 

If you’re after a massage or beauty treatment, may we recommend The Villa. Karina came highly recommended to us a couple of years ago, and we haven’t used anyone else since.

November #18

It’s one of those Friday evening Drafts, breezing into your mail box, carried on a spring breeze.

This month: a Hamilton East Historical Cemetery tour. Round the Bridges. The Triumphant return of Ancient Tapes. 7 Days Live comes to town. And a Japanese Drama filmed in Raglan hits Netflix.

Enjoy x

Scuttlebutt

Self-appointed man about town Richard Swainson felt bad about rough sleepers for half a second, then came home to find somebody had taken a shit on his doorstep, and he tried to make it all sound Dickensian in the Times.

For the second year in a row, Hamilton is the fastest growing city in Aotearoa, its population rising 3.1% since 2023, which equates to about 192,000 people (welcome - sign up for our newsletter!). The Waikato is the second-fastest growing region (second to Auckland). 

If you go onto the Reggie’s website, and try to make a booking, it says walk-ins from November 9 and bookings from November 11 (which it won’t let you make). A regular groupie of theirs, who's seen the space taking shape, says this can’t be right. But soon. 

The new and improved - and safer - bus depot has a proud new erection: and they couldn’t have done it without your help! (You may remember Louise Hutt and her boosted campaign for Paul Darragh's Progress Pillar - a sculpture which depicts LGBTQI+ history, originally shown as part of the Boon Street Art Festival, to purchase the artwork for the city. Longtime readers may remember we’re made this erection joke previously.) 

We love multimodal logistics hubs, they’re our favourite type of logistics hub. A proposal to build one adjacent to Hamilton Airport has been unveiled, along with plans to extend the runway to accommodate large cargo aircraft. Tamahere NIMBYs are going to be really calm and reasonable about that, we’re sure.

The Heaphy Terrace/Boundary Road roundabout is one hectic roundabout, even when you’re in a car. And it’s right across from both the Jamia Mosque, which is a place of worship for more than 40,000 Hamiltonians and next to an early childhood centre, and not that far away from Claudelands and the accessible payground - and crossing the road there is a nightmare. It was the proposed site of raised pedestrian crossings, 90% of which is being funded by central government CERF scheme, so long as it’s completed by June 2025. But the plan was challenged in council last week - despite having been floated at prior briefings to council (that were poorly attended by councillors.) But in a council meeting late last month, where it was the only item on the agenda, there was a last-minute majority vote to redesign it.

The Hamilton City Council has put an additional $6.5 million into the regional theatre.

Music

By Adam Fulton

Family Band, Broadcast State, Ancient Tapes. Last Place, $15, November 9.
Family Band's show at Last Place back in May was subjectively the best show that occurred in Kirikiriroa in 2024. By some divine grace we can all relive the experience this coming Saturday. The Tāmaki trio (for fans of Shellac, Codeine, Unwound) will be joined by local post-punk outfit Broadcast State, and the triumphant return of Ancient Tapes.

Pocket Money, Last Place. November 16th. Tickets.
Tāmaki power-pop trio brutally mashing elements of Morrissey and 2010's indie rock on stage right here at Last Place.

Serpette (Aus), Katorga (Aus), Paroxys (Aus), Hoon. Mesoverse $15, November 22.
What a lineup! Three bands from Naarm crossing the musical boundaries of freak punk to crust and thrash. Joined by relative local newcomers Hoon. Early show (guaranteed to be finished by 10pm)

Spotlights (USA), Last Place, November 23, tickets. Place.
New York's doomy-shoegazers Spotlights play Last Place, joined by our own Landlords and Tauranga outfit Threat Meet Protocol.

Movies

By Jason Marshall

Your dad’s favourite DVD finally got a sequel, with Gladiator 2 arriving on November 14. Handsome lads Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal star. Trailer.

You’re trapped in a house. It’s Hugh Grant’s house. What would’ve been a 1990s dream, turns into a 2024 nightmare. Heretic releases November 28. Trailer.

The Misty Flicks Film Festival kicks off once again on November 22nd hosted by the Regent Theatre in Te Awamutu. The festival encompasses a showcase of work from local filmmakers, workshops, and networking opportunities for those in the film industry. A full programme is available here. Last year we met with Paige Larianova to talk about the Regent Theatre and the Misty Flicks Festival.

Theatre

Our theatre editor Louise Drummond is still on maternity with her gorgeous new baba, but Waikato University is doing a production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore. If, like one half of your WD editorial team, you came to unironically love Gilbert and Sullivan thanks to Sideshow Bob, this one’s for you.

Around Town

Get a group together so you can solve the queueing time/food consumed coefficient, Gourmet in the Gardens returns this month.

Stay tuned for the real opening date of Reggies.

Feeling stressed and need to break some plates about it? Hamilton has a new rage room in Te Rapa - for $40 you smash up 20 glasses, one television or microwave, or additional large items to buy separately. Our printer/scanner unit may end up here someday, if it doesn’t start behaving.

Teddy Bears Picnic at the Gardens November 9.

Round the Bridges is November 17 with kids’ distances, 6 km and 12 km courses. Participant entries are sold out, so head along and check out the race - the route spans both sides of the river, between Fairfield and Cobham bridges.

Local historian Lyn Williams is doing a tour of the Hamilton East Heritage Cemetry November 9 at 2pm, where you can learn about the graveyards “architects, artists and artisans”, including a quite few historical Hamilton figures. Hopefully a bad boy or two in there. The Times also ran a piece here.

These tamariki are already better at kapa haka than I’ve ever been at anything. Go along to tautoko at the Te Whare Haka o Tainui brings the Tainui Waka Primary Schools Kapa Haka Festival 2024 to GLOBOX Arena, Claudelands on Friday 8 November and Saturday 9 November. Koha entry.

Seven Days is filming one of their live events Get Ready to Laugh - 7 Days Live, also at Globox arena, Thursday 28 November. Tickets.

And on November 14, Japanese drama Beyond Goodbye hits Netflix, and much of it was filmed in Raglan. We can’t vouch for the show, but we do sure look beautiful in the trailer. Tip of the hat to the folks at Waikato Screen for making it happen.

What we put in our mouths this month

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Rawhiti Village, in the rapidly changing Frankton, is now home to Du Pain & Du Pain, by Belgain owner and baker Daniel. You can get the usual fresh bread selection (sourdough, a very good rye and raisin), and yesterday’s bread is 25% off if. Their croissants are also very fine [see above for the cross section], and the raisins of their pain au raisin have been soaked in rum overnight. 

We embarked upon a home-grown tomato situation this month in continual disappointment of supermarket tomatoes - and bought our seedlings from Pop Up Seedling, run by 9 year old Kirikiriroa resident and gardening prodigy Aaliyah. Well keep you posted.

We had a recent dinner-ish party and the standouts were an apple tarte tatin, an Ottolenghi butter bean salad (which I bill as “a high end version of the old KFC bean salad”).

We’re obsessed with Vietnamese coriander chili sauce, or Nuoc Mam Ngo, introduced to us during a recent visit to Rice Rice Baby - we found a good recipe here. We haven’t written about RRB very much, but we’ve always found them to be a good time.

October #17

We’re under no illusion this newsletter strikes a bougie tone a lot of the time - especially when it comes to food and eating out. But with austerity front and centre in both local and national politics, I have been thinking a lot about how we measure the value we get from spending in public services, because I think that gets lost in the conversation purely about cost cutting. For example, if you have a child or children, and you wanted to maintain a really good bookcase - that could cost you hundreds and hundred of dollars. Or, you can have a library card. Perhaps you don’t have children, but you swim. Think those are too bespoke? Do you know how much it would actually cost you to get rid of your rubbish if we didn’t all go 1/165,000ths, and individually paid a company that expected to turn a profit? (Auckland Council recently got rid of a bunch of public rubbish bins, only for social media to light up with comments along the lines of, why are our parks and streets now so filthy?) 

So, I’ve been thinking about this a lot, about how there needs to be some line-by-line coefficient or ratio for various bits of public spending - eg a dollar spent on refuse actually saves the average household, say, five bucks, and see if it would change the way we think about expenditure, and help us to think more communally again. (Or, maybe it wouldn’t.) I also think about how a little newsletter like this fits into that ecosystem - because for all the IG posts of orange wine, we also try to include family events that are free or low cost, or include stories like the new Hamilton Council Food Map (see Scuttlebutt). We get more and more submissions every month - please keep them coming to hello@thewaikatodraft.com 

We also have our first Draft baby! Our theatre editor Louise Drummond welcomed her daughter Charlotte Ella last month, and we are thrilled. And so we take a little break from our usual theatre listings, but have plenty besides.

Scuttlebutt

We have covered Andrew Bydder before, the Hamilton Councillor who in June told Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan to “get off your fat arse”, calling Waipā council staff “r******d, s*****c c***” in a public submission online. This was found to be in breach of the council’s code of conduct. This man, representing our city, doesn’t even live in Hamilton. And he will tell the public he’s “going rogue”, while telling the council that, for the record, “I am genuinely sorry for any hurt caused to the public”. There were complaints from the usual corners about the money spent on these proceedings. Seems to us that the best way to have avoided that spend was to have been for Bydder to have been collegial in the first place. Anyway, that’s enough words devoted to him.

As we mentioned above, the Hamilton Council Food Map launched this food map this month, pointing users towards free or low cost kai. Originating from the Kai Collective (a covid initiative from another era), it’s brought together more than 40 community contributors under the one umbrella. If you know of any paataka kai, food banks, community fruit trees or community gardens that aren't featured they’d love to hear from you: kaimap@hcc.govt.nz

Hayes Common crew Lisa and Brent Quarrie talked to RNZ about the difficulties facing the hospitality sector. 

Many of us had noticed the uptick in increasingly circumferential abortion protests around Waikato Hospital, really since our abortion law reform. So well done everyone who made the new extended safe zone happen.

We also have a lot of readers that work at the hospital, and as some of them wrote to us because their subsided half-priced bus fares ran out this month, and will not be renewed. (The hospital employs more than 6,500 people, more people than the population of some towns). Which is a shame, least of all for patients who are already running late due to increasingly rare appointments at cost-pressured clinics, because of parking.

And the Gardens have officially brought in their $20 cover charge for out of towners. The big push for locals to get the Garden’s Pass seems like a faff - we just want to rock up with our power bill, please. 

We got invited to a private function at Reggie’s (Mr Pickle’s new boozy pasta place upstairs at Made) in November, and they attached a menu - specifically for the event in question, and so we didn’t think it fair to include it here, but it was everything we’d hoped for.

We’re very into shoots of local regrowth, springing up where chains have failed along Grey Street. The retreat of Bird on Wire opened up a spot for local Salam Afghan food, which we’ve mentioned before and will mention again. Now with the demise of Lord of the Fries we’ve been watching with interest and are eager to try the Thai place that has risen from its ashes.

What’s on

IRL

More cross pollination within Made: Little ‘Lato and Neat are doing a five course degustation pairing gelato and spirits. October 23, tickets $75. Meanwhile Amphora x Pasta Paradiso on Monday nights continue, with a changing menu each week. 

Barbie is the School Holiday Garden Place movie this Saturday, October 5. Free, but weather dependent. Bring a blankie. Mr Twist will be open for business. 

The Hamilton Collectable Market has a bit of everything, and is happening October 19 at the Barn at Claudelands - Gate 3 Brookland Road. Bring cash - eftpos is limited. 

November 2 (just before we publish our next newsletter), is the Hamilton Urban Wine Walk - see here for the list of venues including Mr Pickles, Last Place, Madam Woos - each one representing a different wine maker. All within staggering distance of each other. 

The bilingual play Where our Shaows Meet, developed with funding form the New Zealand Sign Language Board and on tour thanks to Creative New Zealand. It’s is a mix of “physical storytelling, live instrumental music, New Zealand Sign Language, and spoken English” - pitched at d/Deaf and hearing audience members. At the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, October 26. 

The Northern end of Wi Neera Walkway in Raglan is now open. 

And then October 14, Mystery Creaks Ceramics is holding an event Craft to Chaos, an evening of “creativity and fun” outside their Made store, with “interactive making experience”. We’re not sure what that means, exactly, but there’s also food afterwards. If you’ve even seen one of their seconds’ sale (the line goes out the door and around the corner”, you’ll know they can really pull a crowd.

Halloween

For Halloween, don’t forget a trip to American candy store International Foods in Pukete. We’ve heard the odd complaint about the expiry dates: but can this stuff even go off? Where’s your sense of adventure? Exscite, at the Waikato Museum are also doing a Kooky Spooky Crafts spesh - also October 26. Their entry is now riverside, incidentally, due to construction. 

Art

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Signals! Solutions, a solo exhibition by frenetic artist Jack Hadley, opens at Laree Payne Gallery, this Saturday 

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Opening today is Kahurangiariki Smith’s exhibition, What if my best friend was a Taniwha? At the Ramp Gallery, Wintec, until October 26. The collection including video games, 3D renderings, toy dinosaurus, as Kahurangiariki explores her whakapapa to Ngati Rangiwewhi and her two taniwha - Pekehaua and Hinerua.

Gigs

By Adam Fulton

Reef Brazendale & the Backstabbers. October 11. Last Place. Tickets.

Reef Brazendale, drummer and vocalist for Ōtepoti punk outfit the Dud Uglys, is touring a selection of his own tunes alongside his backing band the Backstabbers. His Bandcamp page leads to nowhere, but I wouldn't expect a significant departure from the Dischord records inspired output of his previous bands.

Bad Taste and Ripship. October 18. Last Place. Tickets.

Bad Taste a Pōneke project, featuring rapper Young Gho$t and beatmaker Alphabethead, a slightly hazy combination of atmospheric dub and UK hip hop. Also a duo from Pōneke, Ripship play an almost disturbingly lucid brand of psych rock, quite unsettling.

Foundation Fest. October 19. the Local, Te Rapa. Tickets.

Cementing Kirikiriroa as the cultural capital of NZ Hardcore, foundation Fest brings together a slew of genuinely quite excellent hardcore and punk acts from across the country. Including but not limited to Dredge, Martial Law, Standover, Pressure and Gravel Pit.

Dougfest. October 25 & 26. Last Place. Tickets.

Two nights of music spanning that vast chasm between the eggpunk stylings of Cootie Cuties, and the melodic post-hardcore Barracks.

What We Put In Our Mouths This Month

I want to eat seasonal, but I struggle in winter. But from this month it gets so much easier around now. For those of us who love it, asparagus is here! Which also means baby potatoes, and then strawberries aren’t fair away, and then stone fruit. And corn. And really, really good tomatoes. Which always makes our household miss the farro cherry tomato pick and mix - so if someone knows a local alternative please let us know.

We have been eating a lot of herby quiche and tarts - with courgettes, asparagus, and we are lucky enough to have an old friend supplying us with fresh, free range eggs. And we have elotes corn recipes at the ready. 

We are eating a lot of goats cheese - on the above, and by itself with crackers. The Provençal soft goat cheese, a delicious soft puck of garlicky and herby goodness, by Cranky Goat of Blenheim, is available alongside a great range of cheeses from the good buggers at Expleo.

We made a six hour slow cooked pork shoulder ragu with pappardelle from Vetro. We’re really loving the fresh pasta options there and it can really elevate a dish.

We got an email from a reader singing the praises of The Crust on Collingwood Street - we’ve featured them before and we don’t mind doing a re-do. Our reader made a similar comment to the one we did: this place has no ambience, at all, but the pizza is sensational and perfect for take out.

We have yet to actually catch the Amphora x Paradiso Monday night pasta. But we did cheat recently and went and got Paradiso pasta on a Friday lunchtime, and then walked down to Amphora, and ordered a glass of wine, which is not painful at all. We could drink whatever wine sommelier Kieran Clarkin serves us, and regularly do, but also recently enjoyed the Peddlers Gin from Shanghai he’s carrying in a GnT.

We also have this funny habit of catching the changing Mr Pickles menu just as it leaves? Like we go there, it’s fucking sensational, and then the next day I check IG and it’s Mr Pickles telling me the menu is changing. And mean to return the following week.

The chocolate mousse from the NYT. Literally fail safe.

September #16

Kia ora dear readers, can you believe it’s September already?

We’ve been enjoying the sunshine and warmth over the last week and a half or so, in between the bouts of torrential rain.

This month: String quartets over the landscape of Te Pahuu, a new ghost bridge, a concert and whisky tasting for the Scots about us, and we take a back seat with a flying doctor.

As usual if you want to reach out and let us know how we’re doing, or want to drop us some hot gossip, shoot us an email on hello@thewaikatodraft.com or slide into our Insty DMs.

Scuttlebutt

The council will keep its Maaori wards - which triggers a referendum on retaining them or not, at the next local body elections in 2025.

Waikato Hospital has been in the news for long waits and staff shortages - particularly at the junior doctor level. But apparently, the problem is that we’re spending too much money. Our general advice is to try to avoid getting a major illness in the short to medium term future.

We have a new bridge Te Ara Pekapeka - what a little beauty. There’s more below in the feature.

Hamilton teenager Alexandria Endres played in the World Billiard Championships. Can you imagine how many men in the audience who reckon they’d win against her?

North & South wrote a piece in the print edition, featuring Louise Hutt and Karl Martin-Bouton of The Green, with an obligatory line about people “unironically” loving Hamilton.  

Lastly, we’d noticed town is quieter town is on Friday night - this month we headed into town after the Memoir Panel at Hamilton Book Month (with panellists Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku, Emma Espiner, and Craig Hoyle - all of whom were excellent), dashed across to Last Place and then to Wonderhorse afterwards. On our way home we got picked up by local aunty and famous uber driver Shelley (with the shortbread). Aunty Shelly agrees and says the young folks are getting turnt on Saturday nights - which makes for a great date-night night without having to deal with a crowd or being confronted by your rapidly advancing age.

Features

The Flying Doctor - We take flight with doctor and British import Hannah Price, and talk about the Waikato Aero Club’s long history, and applying the lessons of aviation to medicine.

Te Ara Pekapeka Bridge - A Review - Weighing in on Kirikiriroa’s newest bridge.

What’s on

IRL

The Hamilton Civic choir wrote to tell us about their Slàinte Mhath - and we were glad they did. The entire evening raises a glass to the Scottish Diaspora at the Cambridge Town Hall September 21, starting with a choral concert, followed by a whisky tasting and a quiz (tickets to these are sold separately), and with prizes for the best dress. Ach aye, yes please.

Matamata - a Texas Pete’s pop-up is coming to you September 4- 7, at the carpark at 91 Firth Street.

Brought to you by Go Eco and Hospice Waikato, Let’s Get Thirfty is back for another year at the Meteor. September 5-7. Bringing clothes from Hamilton’s best thrift stores together to the one spot, adding to the thrill of the hunt but taking away a little of the travel admin. $20 per person, with a 5-bag maximum. Students $10.  

Convergence, the big annual shindig from the Waikato Role Playing Guild (that’s tabletop roleplay - the kind with dice, you horndogs) is running September 7-8 at the Distinction Hotel and Conference Center in Te Rapa. They welcome both old hands and fresh faces looking to try something new. 

The longest running untutored life drawing group in Hamilton happens every Friday for $20, at St Peters Cathedral.

Cambridge Record Fair at the Town Hall September 6th 4-7pm

Pirongia throws a good little party - and their annual craft day is September 29. Just remember this is when smart people start their Christmas shopping (we start on December 22nd)

Music

By Adam Fulton

NZ String Quartet. Soundlounge, Te Pahū. September 6. Tickets.

Who can honestly say they have watched the New Zealand String Quartet perform overlooking the vast pastoral landscape of Te Pahu? Nobody can, but that will all change on September 6th. 

Kirikiriroa Hardcore night. Mesoverse. September 14. Door sales.

The 2nd instalment of monthly hardcore nights organised by Crunch DIY. Martial Law, Cease and Desist and n00bies Hoon. 

Troy Kingi and the Cactus Handshake. Last Place. September 20. Tickets.

Widely recognised as Rotorua’s answer to Sufjan Stevens, Troy Kingi brings his latest band to Hamilton a for a night of “Desert Rock”. [This gig is sold out at the time of writing, so approach a scalper maybe.]

Theatre

By Louise Drummond

Firebringer: A New Stone Age Musical, Meteor Theatre, 10-14 September, 7.30pm. 

Readers familiar with Team Starkid will know everything they write is hilarious. (A Very Potter Musical is the musical parody Harry absolutely deserved.) Firebringer: A New Stone Age Musical has a great cast and to summarise really quick: a tribe of early homo sapiens who worship a duck deity, but then fire is invented and stuff gets complicated. Top notch.

Eli Matthewson: Night Terror and Kirsty Webeck: I'll Be The Judge of That, Meteor Theatre, 27 September, 7.30pm (Eli) and 9pm (Kirsty)

Actually a comedy evening, and with two separate shows from comedians at the top of their game. Eli talks about that one time his boyfriend tried to kill him in his sleep, and Kirsty talks about dating farmers and her mysterious run-in with a concert band, amongst other things. You can choose to just see one of the shows, or you can see both and even get a promo code discount if you book through The Meteor's website.

Glamilton Drag Show, Meteor Theatre, 28 September, 8pm.

Kirikiriroa's fabulous drag scene comes out for another gorgeous night of raunchy, glittery fun. I am due to be giving birth that week, but honestly, if it wasn't R18, I'd so just pop some earmuffs on the baby and bring her along because it's going to be awesome. And where is she meant to get her drag fix now queens have been run out of libraries?

Movies

By Jason Marshall

It’s a quiet-ish month for movies releases, but here’s a couple that we’re excited about.

Look at me, I’m Sandra Dee! Te Awamutu’s The Regent hosts a sing-along screening of Grease, on September 13. Trailer. Tickets.

The visually striking Disney musical deep dive into Colombian folklore, Encanto, is being re-released in Te Reo with a limited run at The Regent and Event Cinemas Chartwell. Screenings September 13 (The Regent) and September 14-15, 23 (Event Cinemas)

What we put in our mouths this month (Or, WWPIOMTM)

Firstly, we’re feeling pretty smug because we nabbed a December booking at The Green. We’re trying not to be insufferable about it, in fact. Bookings were all snapped up in the course of an hour or so, but if you missed out last time, January’s bookings open up on Monday September 23rd at 6 pm. Bring your A game on this one, and potentially rely on the skills of a younger relative who secured Eras Tour tickets.

We’ve started decanting our wine - previously I’d assumed it’d be wasted on my usual mid-low-price-point cheerful plonks. Then I was given a carafe, which I started to use for arseholey-aesthetic reasons, but now I’m hooked because I realise it can save an average drop and make it taste $20 more expensive. Cheap wine is exactly what you should be decanting, is this writer’s uninformed reckon. (Incidentally we also know of a reader who has been known to run cheap chardonnay through their Soda Stream, for DIY bubbles. We have not sampled this method.)

Our favourite Polish person made us Bigos, which is one of those if-you-know-you-know dishes. A stew of sauerkraut, meat, and veges which we’ve never seen appear on a restaurant menu here in Aotearoa.

We got some Father’s Day biltong from @Food Culture (That’s not a social media handle, they’re actually called that) which is made in house. We had a royal sampler and it was all great but the stand out was the droëwors.

The Duck Island salted pistachio is extremely good and is apparently flying off the shelves.

We attended the Mayor of Mustard pop up at Last Place and were blown away by the brisket, wings, and pulled pork. An absolute must attend next time they’re in town (or catch them in Raglan if you can’t wait)

We’ve been introduced to Tea Ceylandia in Garden Place, by a dear Sri Lankan friend, and had it twice this month via delivery. Described to us as like very authentic Sri Lankan home cooking, it is worth ordering in advance as it can take a while (but is worth the wait). The Kotthu roti (which is a national dish) is a stand out, as is the deviled chicken, the chicken fried rice, the chicken parotta and the fish rolls. We’re looking forward to dining in some time soon.

August #15

Kia ora nerds! Boy, did you love our little guest spot from Poppies bookstore. Well, August is Hamilton Book Month, so have at it. Otherwise, this month we’re talking about a local maniac who’s fled to the desert, Roundabout News seems to have been replaced with a monthly hot item in Parking-Gone-Wild news, a gripping one-woman stage show depicting a tumultuous legal career hits the stage, and the Mr-Pickles-Pasta-Place is coming soon…

As always, send us your hot tips, unprintable gossip, and rare bird sightings to hello@thewaikatodraft.com or slide into our Insty DMs.

Scuttlebutt

Robyn Gallagher asks, who exactly are these Aucklanders with Hamilton holiday homes? Look, we love this city, but c’mon.

Voter turnout in the Hamilton Kirikiriroa Māori Ward by-election has been dire, with less than 6% of eligible voters casting their ballots so far. Postal voting has now closed, but physical polling places are open until Wednesday 7 August, so get after it!

Have you kept up with that local maniac and loudmoth, Nicholas Down? The Hamilton EV owner was previously very critical of the Covid response (“woke dribble”), whose Facebook ads featuring dog whistle antivaxxer slogans were enough to get him in hot water with the Advertising Standards Authority. In January, the “EV Evangelist'' was caught on CCTV and fined for dumping a trailer-load (!) of rubbish after being denied his request of free entry to the Lincoln Street tip. But the real schadenfreude came the following month, when he filed for liquidation in February, at a time when EV sales around the country plummeted after the incoming government scrapped clean car subsidies (which is sad - they went from one in every four car sales to one in 26). Well, now his liquidators have hired a PI to track him down. Is he in Dubai? Is he driving around Frankton? Is he squating somewhere in the jungle, a Colonel Kurtz figure? Is he ruining the vibe in some nutcase anti-vax Discord server? Who knows! Also full credit to Mike Mathers for his continued reporting, and to the sub editors, for the opening line “He’s Nicholas Down, but is he out?”

In more parking news - an elderly woman is safe after reversing her car into one of Waikato University’s lakes. Reddit user Atlas_XXVIII, who dove in along with campus security to come to the driver’s aid, commented that he’s aware it was the least disgusting of all the lakes on campus, having looked at it during a first year environmental science paper.

Photo via Reddit user garfieldsfatass.

Lord of the Fries went into receivership including its recently opened Hamilton East branch, after an unsuccessful bid to push falafel out of the deep fried vegan treats market. Place your bets on what will go into the spot. In our family we like to play fantasy football with these things, so we’re spending a lot of time imagining tacos or a tiki bar.

Rumour has it that the Italian joint run by the good folks behind Mr Pickles will start setting up shop in their space at Made next week. We have no other confirmed details, but it’s certainly opening some time soon.

Tirau is a little outside our parish (although we do always enjoy grabbing a pie from The Baker if we’re passing through on our way to Over the Moon) but the region’s premier roadside comfort stop is currently divided over plans to open a Burger King and drivethrough Starbucks.

Also, we had a tip about when the Peacocke Road Bridge is opening, but apparently it’s often kept secret because you all go bananas for it, and it leads to crashes. But we’re told it’s looking like late August. The very end of August.

And we’ll leave you with the spotting of this rare white tūī. Thanks for sharing, Maciej Kisiel!

IRL

It’s Hamilton Book Month! Highlight include the fiction panel (August 2) with Emily Perkins, and the Memoir Panel, which includes friend of the pod Emma Wehipeihana (August 9), and a poetry workshop with New Zealand Poet Laureate Chris Tse (August 17). 

Irish stand-up comic and panel show bulwark Ed Byrne plays Claudelands on Saturday August 10.

Annyeong! Waikato Institute of Education is launching a Korean language course.

Waikato Museum is now closed for renovations, scheduled to reopen with a fresh new look in December - the ever delightful to kids of all ages Excite remains open throughout.

Don’t call it a Lego show, it’s the Hamilton Brickshow™ 2024! August 10-11. 

Last month we also went to the Hamilton Inline Hockey Club (on Wairere Drive) for their Friday night public skate sesh - open to all ages and abilities. It’s good clean fun - with lots of parents and kids, while young people striking out on their own making eyes at each other. Plus it’s cheap - $8 entry and $2 for skate or rollerblade hire (sizing runs out early). 

Gigs

Adam Fulton, our music guy extraordinaire, is taking a break this month. We’re aware many of you read purely for his picks but don’t worry, he’ll be back next month! Our relatively uninformed reckons: Makeshift Parachutes are playing at Last Place August 16 (tickets). If you’ve got an infinite well of darkness, August 10 is Goth Night Hamilton at Last Place with Wellington post punk duo Breaches as well as DJ sets from Passion Crypt, Gravedigger, and Black Wax.

Movies

By Jason Marshall

M. Night Shyamalan seems completely impervious to box office failures (it’s probably somewhat helpful as a commercial artist if one of your parents is a billionaire), and he’s back yet again with another intriguing premise that he likely won’t stick the landing on - what if a daddy-daughter pop concert night is a entirely a law enforcement sting to catch a serial killer? And daddy is the serial killer? Trap sees another outing from once upon a time heartthrob Josh Hartnett, who’s been having a bit of a moment lately after killer appearances in Oppenheimer and Black Mirror. Trailer. Releases 1 August.

It’s once again time for Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival, kicking off at the Lido on August 21. Our picks for the festival:

• Alien Weaponry: Kua Tupu Te Ara. Profiling Te Reo heavy metal pioneers Alien Weaponry, this documentary follows them on the road at home and abroad. August 24. Tickets.

• Paris, Texas. The 1984 Wim Wenders classic neo-Western existential crisis road trip, family alienation, amnesia saga has had a 4K restoration. August 28 and September 1. Trailer. Tickets.

• Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person. Sensitive boys inherently love dangerous women. Described as “Amelie for goth girls,” this quirky romantic comedy is already becoming a cult favourite. August 30 and September 3. Trailer. Tickets.

Studio Ghibli heads rejoice! A slew of Hayao Miyazaki classics are seeing a theatrical re-release this month, with My Neighbour Totoro, Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and The Wind Rises set to screen at The Regent on the weekend of August 24 and 25. Tickets.

Theatre

By Louise Drummond

Prima Facie, Meteor Theatre, 1-3 August, 8pm. I've seen this fabulous play performed at the Hamilton Gardens Festival earlier this year and raved about it, and I'm looking forward to catching this iteration. It's a powerful piece of solo theatre and I've heard nothing but good things about Cassandra Woodhouse's interpretation of it. Recommended for ages 15+, content warnings.

Hunchback of Notre Dame, Clarence St Theatre. 1 - 10 August, times vary. As plugged last month, the Hunchback is still happening in August. It's getting fabulous reviews and it sounds like Hamilton Operatic have outdone themselves again. I can't wait to see it next week.

The Coven on Grey Street, Riverlea Theatre. 22-23 August, 7.30pm. Carving in Ice Theatre is presenting a staged reading of James Cain's play, loosely inspired by the witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth. It's a smart and funny script set right here in Hamilton, and the Carving in Ice actors will no doubt do a fabulous job bringing this to life. Rehearsed readings differ from full performances because the actors still have the scripts, but by about 5 minutes in you don't even notice. Carving in Ice have a long history of bringing really interesting pieces to Hamilton as rehearsed readings, so it's lovely to see them perform something from a homegrown Kirikiriroa playwright.

Be More Chill, Meteor Theatre. 23-31 August, times vary. Bold Theatre strikes again with another smart musical, this one is a sci-fi tale set in high school that focuses on one lonely outcast and his tiny AI supercomputer. Bold Theatre always produces high quality shows and this one should be sharp as heck - and funny too. 

What We Put In Our Mouths This Month (WWPIOMTM)

God, we hope we’re using Neat right - we’ve now been there much much more as a retail destination than as a bar. We always seem to be always blustering past sophisticated drinkers on my way to the fridge, in my work clothes with an ugly tote bag. Most recently we’ve had the Liberty Divine Wind lager (a Japanese style lager), a dry crisp drop that paired excellently with fried fish. It’s also worth noting their wine selection covers a range of price points (starting around $20), and as always we’re very devoted to Le Tribute olive lemonade.

Merci beaucoup to Amphora who brought a continental offering to the Made food court with some excellent raclette for Bastille Day. 

And while we’re talking Made eateries - everyone talks about pretzels when it comes to Mr Twist, but their breakfast sandwich absolutely bangs. The sausage patty, egg, and cheese combination will defeat a mild to moderate hangover.

**

After having watched too many episodes of The Bear last month, we made beef short ribs from Expleo. We’re also big fans of the Tamarind Chilli & Lime spatchcock chicken, $23 this month.

**

And then one half of your editorial team (40F), who’s always been very good at eating but never enjoyed cooking much, has been obsessed with Nara Smith. I think if you realise it’s just as much not real as much as anything else on social media, it clears the path to enjoy her Tiktok as the cooking channel it essentially is, with her dulcet tones and incredible styling. Like, did you even know you could make your own Fanta? And so I found myself, inspired, once a week or so, making that chicken stock with carcasses I’ve had in the freezer for 6 months, and then making the risotto of my dreams the following night. Or turning the office citrus pile into zesty spicy cordial. I know that striving for completely “pure” unprocessed food becomes the restriction, but I do enjoy that her content never, ever, mentions any caloric limitation whatsoever  - fats, carbs, whatever. None of the building blocks of food are ever vilified. I love that so much.

And if anyone can help me find a local version with the vibes of the Gustaf Westman plates, I will love you forever. 

July #14

The Founders Theatre is coming down, coming down, coming down.

Jane Goodall, naughty councillors who’ve watched too much Succession, another new hotel and apartment block. Gigs, including the end of the Yot Club in Raglan. The cat show - with lots of weird cats! We went to Sage. (That’s Sage, not Thyme, as we’ve found ourselves explaining to people.) And Poppies Bookstore gives us their top 5 winter reads, including for kids on school break, and the emergence of a genre we’re going to dub ‘evidence-based self help’.

As always send us your top tips, brunch intel, feedback and suggestions to hello@thewaikatodraft.com or slide into our Insty DMs.

Scuttlebutt

The actual, real life, Jane Goodall was here in Kirikiriroa. At the zoo! Which makes sense. There wasn’t that much about her visit publicly available ahead of time, which was a shame - we would have bought tickets to anything she was speaking at, which seems a missed opportunity for fundraising for something important. 

In March, a new riverside, high end hotel was announced for the CBD, by the Templeton Group. Last month, a $100m, 191-bedded Pullman was announced for the Mistry Centre on Ward Street. As readers will know we try and support local and independent whenever we can. But we’re also here for a battle of the hotel bars, especially if they deliver good views of the river. And please let one of them have a) a good pool with b) service drinks poolside. 

Before we leave real estate; we’re as guilty as anyone of not giving Tainui news the prominence it deserves. They’ve just got consent to build an apartment block on the corner of Victoria and Ward St. Although I’ll miss the stats on the temporary fence.

Sometimes scuttlebutt writes itself - see: “Hamilton city councillor writes expletive-laden rant to neighbouring council”, from RNZ. Andrew Bydder now has a total of 24 code of conduct complaints against him. As we’ve reported before, these complaints cost the ratepayers a lot of money, which is ironic as they’re instigated by a guy who loves banging on about council overspending.

Lastly, a 92 year old reversed his car into Elizabeth Georg Hair Design in Dinsdale, and everyone was okay. Within hours, Zibido Hair had offered them their unattended salon space that weekend so they could still see clients. We love to see it.

What’s on

IRL

Amphora are doing complimentary aperitivo with their pours between 4 and 6pm weekdays, which sounds like the perfect after work wind down to us. They are also doing a Raclette for Bastille Day (weekend) from July 12 - 14th, details. 

Speaking of Bastille Day, Alliance Française hosts a party on July 13 at Sky City, promising live music, a French buffet and a cancan show. Bonne fête nationale, everyone! Tickets.

It’s the last-chance-to-see for a few exhibitions at the museum: a selection of modern art from the Chartwell collection, the six extinctions museum for kids (and adult dinosaur lovers). They’re also doing a number of movie screenings alongside entry for the latter - notably Night at the Museum (PG), July 16. 

Go see some weird cats somewhere other than the internet, with the Hamilton Cat Club annual 2024 show, this weekend July 7 at the Tamahere Community Center. 

Film

By Jason Marshall

Is it a sequel? Is it a reboot? We don’t know, and honestly it sounds like a film studio robot put it all together: Let’s do a new version of the beloved 90s storm chaser road flick, Twister, but put current reigning hunk Glenn Powell in it and get Oscar nominated director Lee Isaac Chung (of the soulful, heartbreaking A24 drama, and love letter to immigrant parents everywhere, Minari) on board. What we do know is Twisters is sure to contain bad weather and some sort of gadget flow into a tornado as it rampages through a town in the midwest. July 11. Trailer.

Director Yorgos Lanthimos (of last year’s excellent Poor Things, and purveyor of profoundly unsettling films like Dogtooth, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer) returns with Kinds of Kindness, an absurdist black comedy anthology. Emma Stone, Willem Defoe, and Jesse Plemmons star. July 11. Trailer.

Echoing 90s crime thrillers with horror aesthetics like Silence of the Lambs and Se7en, Longlegs sees a rookie FBI agent detailed to the case of an on the loose serial killer with an interest in the occult. July 18. Trailer.

Music

By Adam Fulton

Yot Club Farewell show. Yot Club (Raglan), July 6. Tickets. 

Possibly the most fitting band to send off the Yot Club the DHDFDs, who will be joined by Hermordroid, Illicit Wah Wahz and Hoick Stunt Clown.

Take Hold. Mesoverse (All ages), July 6. Tickets.

The second and final Kirikiriroa EP release show for Tāmaki Makaurau melodic hardcore outfit Take Hold. Joined by Qualms & Cease and Desist.

Paige Julia. July 6. Last Place. TIckets.

Possibly the first ever jungle show at Last Place.

Synthesis of Self. Mesoverse (All ages), July 13. Tickets. 

A night of slightly theatrical metalcore and less theatrical hardcore. Synthesis of Self, Cease and Desist, Nuclear Blunt.

Vagina Dry. Nivara Lounge. July 19. Tickets.

Tied with Kirikiriroa's own Dog Cock for least poster-friendly band name, fuzzy punk trio Vagina Dry (Ōtepoti) play Nivara Lounge.

Menzies. The Yard (Raglan). July 27. Link.

Menzies only have two singles out and they are both radically different, but also both quite good in a meander-y and very "kiwi" way. Featuring a bunch of well established and talented Pōneke musicians. Worth the risk and the drive out to Raglan.

Theatre

By Louise Drummond

Nurse Georgie Carroll: Sista Flo 2.0. Clarence St Theatre, 6 July, 7.30pm. Tickets.

A one night only comedy show from a touring star of Britain's Got Talent 2023. Nothing is darker than medical humour, and nurses are honestly the darkest (okay, I'm basing that on my sister, but I'm sure it applies across the board).

Kingdom of Night. Meteor Theatre, 9 - 19 July, times vary. Tickets. 

It's school holiday time again, and with that comes the children's theatre shows. This one is locally written, which I love, by Courteney Mayall and Scott Granville. It tells the story of two adventurers needing to defeat an evil wizard. Recommended for ages 5-13 years.

Badjelly the Witch. Clarence St Theatre, 11 July, 11am. Tickets.

Spike Lee's Badjelly is an absolute classic and always a good time. This one has a bit of a twist, with Glow Show adding puppetry and science to the mix, so even if you've seen a Badjelly show before there should still be something new in the mix this time. Perfect school holiday option.

Whiti. Meteor Theatre, 20 July, 6pm. Tickets. 

Part of the Matariki ki Waikato Festival, this is a one night only event celebrating the talent of local rangatahi, both established and up-and-comers. If you feel like listening to some beautiful voices, then this is definitely worth your time.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Clarence St Theatre, 27 July - 10 August, times vary. Tickets.

Hamilton Operatic's major show for this year is the classic Victor Hugo tale. It's based on the music from the Disney animated film, but the plot differs from the movie and is closer to the original book, so it's not appropriate for little ones. Should be an amazing night full of powerhouse talent, and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

What We Put in our Mouths this Month

As one-time Aucklanders, we love an Asian supermarket. We headed to Garden Fresh in Rototuna and found a great selection of fresh (and cheap) fruit and veg, seasonings and sauces, weird and wonderful snacks, and frozen dumplings and noodles. For our money, it’s Hamilton’s best Asian grocer.

We celebrated Matariki with some dear friends over a long and relaxed breakfast of migas tacos, served with chorizo, black beans, guacamole, and bucketloads of pour over coffee. This video by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez is a great primer on breakfast tacos and how to make flour tortillas.

We’re late to the party, but finally had a chance to eat at Sage. We’ve stopped in there for a drink before, and found the ambiance in the bar area somewhat lacking - we couldn’t put our finger on it exactly, maybe it was the lighting or lack of music, but it felt like a bit of a dead space. Thankfully that vibe didn’t carry over to the dining area, which looks out over the leafy oaks of Steele Park, like a high end treehouse. As we’ve written about previously, we’re big fans of chef’s choice menus and putting restaurants in the driver’s seat for the evening, so we went for the ‘Eat Wisely’ ($82 pp) menu option; it was all excellent, but were especially taken by the soy cured salmon (with spring onion fraiche and bagel crumb) and the duck breast with red cabbage and almond cream. We added on oysters to start, as well as dessert from the dessert cart, and of course drinks. We love love love that they cycle out plates with every course. We love oysters, but we don’t want their juice over the rest of the meal.

Top 5: Winter Book Club

We asked Alison Southby from beloved local bookstore Poppies, in Casabella Lane, what’s flying off the shelves at the moment: from self help and neutrodiversity, to Stella Greg’s latest young adult fiction set in Ngāruawāhia.

1. Lioness, by Emily Perkins. Winner of this year's Jan Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the Ockham NZ Book Awards.

2. A Life Less Punishing: 13 Ways To Love the Life You've Got, by Matt Heath. Experts from neuroscience, philosophy, biology and psychology helping you deal with gnarly emotions such as anger, loneness and stress.

3. The Missing Piece: A Woman's Guide to Understanding, Diagnosing and Living with ADHD, by Julie Legg (who lives in Ohaupo), who was diagnosed at age 52 and dovetails her own experience with the latest research.

4. Nine Girls, by Stacey Gregg, a young adult adventure; a treasure hunt set in Ngāruawāhia and featuring the Waikato Awa.

5. And another one for the kids - Astrochimp, by David Williams, where chump the chimp is thrust into a space-opera with the 6 - 10 year old reader in mind.

June #13

Kia ora! Our apologies for being 24 hours late this month (our first time in 13 issues), but we got waylaid by some family stuff. We are enjoying the Friday evening vibe, though.

Sure, Fieldays. But Matariki! A gift registry for the Meteor! French cine-mwah. Excitingly, Hamilton gets a new comedy club.

I was reminiscing about the Matariki Dish challenge recently - in particular 2018 this eel dish from the excellent (and dearly missed) Dough Bros on Victoria Street, which sadly closed the following year. The event has been picked up by other regions, but started in Hamilton well before Matariki celebrations were “mainstream”. Run by Waikato Food Inc, it disappeared from view when they folded peri-covid, and just as it became an actual public holiday. I can imagine some arguments against it, but I always think of it as being a little before its time, introducing many to the idea of Matariki, food and harvest as being intricately interlinked. (Please do write in with your thoughts, hello@thewaikatodraft.com)

We hope you’re eating well for Matariki, readers. Perhaps from your garden? Happy new year folks x

Scuttlebutt

More council shenanigans. The big story in the last week has been the attempt from 5 councillors (Tim Macindoe, Geoff Taylor, Ewan Wilson, Mark Donavan, Andrew Bydder and Kesh Naidoo-Rauf) to shrink the council, by merging the two wards into one and by having 10 councillors instead of 14 (currently six per ward and two Maaori ward councillors). The pay of councillors comes from a static pool, so reducing the number of councillors doesn’t save money, it merely increases the salary of each councillor. While that’s obviously not the motivation for the move, if anything, dear reader, you should be asking for more councillors to get a better return on your investment. (Also, bold of Cr Taylor, given his attendance record.) The review to consider all this would cost $100,000, and may change nothing.

Te Huia kept its funding and will complete its 5 year trial as originally intended. Their numbers bounce around a little bit - but their April numbers saw a bump to 9, 200-odd, proving there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

We have been following the Cherry Festival/Stuff/Gary Farrow defamation saga with quiet enthrallment, for fear of saying… the wrong thing? Now it’s over, and Stuff and journalist Gary Farrow were awarded $54,970 in costs from Waikato Cherry Tree Festival organisers and couple Cherry Anne Cao and Paul Oulton, who incidentally are selling the property that formerly hosted the festival and have posted a video that suggests that you (yes, you!) could buy it from them, which they explain while pivoting in a circle and looking like Dr Who villains.

Waikato/Bay of Plenty Architecture awards were held last month, and the University of Waikato building The Paa (Arichtectus, Jasmax and Design Tribe) was an absolute standout. Undergrad Waikato University sources tell us that they have non-functional or spotty wifi on campus at best but they are glad there’s a pretty building on site.

Last month we included a story about the removal of the glasshouse gardens at the top of the garden - and the story said they were being removed as they were underused and inefficient. One of our dear and loyal readers Shawn wrote in to say that there was a little revisionist history going on here - the glass houses were shuttered in favour of a new road layout and – because every Hamilton story is eventually a parking story – carparks. 

Today’s Waikato Times’ main headline: free parking in the CBD to continue (car bros, we’re so back!)

The bus depot is getting a refresh. 

What’s on

Gigs

By Adam Fulton

June 13th HŌhĀ, Half/Time, Crime Hospital. Last Place. Tickets. Two acts from Õtepoti, art-rock duo HŌhĀ (Night Lunch's Liam Clune and Riot Gull's Madison Kelly) alongside Clune's exploration of "music" in Crime Hospital.

June 15th Zinefest Afterparty. Mesoverse. A night of poetic stylings from Martial Law and non-musical poet David Merrit.

June 16th Discovery (Daft Punk tribute band). Yot Club, Raglan. Tickets. Possibly the only tribute show that will feature in this gig guide, but there is a very very tiny possibility that a Daft Punk tribute band could actually be the real Daft Punk and it is worth considering.

June 22nd Take Hold ep release show. Last Place. Tickets. The first of two (2) EP release shows in Kirikiriroa for the Tāmaki Makaurau post-hardcore outfit Take Hold. Joined by ColdXWar (Pōneke), Two Skinner and No Reason.

IRL

Food

• Mr Pickles have their new menu up and running: the surf and turf that immediately caught our eye. In terms of upcoming events, their dicey x mr pickles night June 26 looks like a banger, showcasing wines from the two Otago dudes who comprise Dicey. 5 wines with sensible pours for $75, or $140 for “more wine than is appropriate”. Get a matched feed for $150. No dietary requirements will be accommodated, the bookings brag. Tickets.

• Local food rag Nourish is moving and they’re having having a second-hand cook book sale June 16.

Matariki

Image by Jo Bryce who will be at this year’s Zinefest.

• Hamilton Gardens are holding a market, June 22.

• The central library is holding an origami workshop June 23, from 1pm. 

• The Fairfield Project hosts a Hauptau Dawn Event on June 28.

• June 28th the Hamilton Astronomical Society are holding a lecture on the history and astronomy of Matariki from 7.30pm. Tickets.

• A full listing of what’s on offer is at Matariki Waikato, and you can register your own event.

Other stuff

• There’s been a lot of upheaval in the publishing industry lately - but the Kirikiriroa Zine festival turns 10 this month! Running Saturday June 15 - check out their facebook page, which might just be the last bastion of sanity on that zombie website. Stalwarts Bryce Galloway (Incredibly Hot Sex With Hideous People) and David Merritt will be there, and we’re excited about Rimu Bhooi. The festival’s workshops leading up the Saturday market day are always a highlight - a kids one with Wyatt Dawson June 13 (Thursday) from 3.30 to 4.30pm. (Kids that are under 14 must be with a grown up). 

• As always, the Zinefest afterparty. This year it’s at Mesoverse 7-11pm. Martial Law will be playing, plus some band known as TBC. (See Gigs section).

• I think of Fieldays like a grown up rural science fair with some food. It runs June 12 - 15. Precincts are out and “hubs” are in.

• Oui! Oui! It’s the Aotearoa French Film festival, and the Hamilton programme can be found here (see our film section for our pick).

Theatre

by Louise Drummond

June is an often quiet time for theatrical events. So we take a break from our usual listings to draw your attention to the Meteor’s 10th birthday gift registry. This piece originally made reference to the absolute shafting of both the Meteor and the Clarence Street Theatre originally got in a recent round of council funding - only for their funding to get reenstated today (based in part on community feedback), which is fantastic news. But times are still very difficult for the arts. Their registry has everything from fancy $5k lights to gaffer tape and audio pins for less than $20. You could even buy them a month's supply of toilet paper or a bucket of dishwashing liquid. It's all here.

If we want our fair city to have any kind of artistic expression then we have to support it at the grassroots. Let's not let another of Hamilton's absolute gems go the same way as our beloved Ernest bar.

Movies

By Jason Marshall

The French Film Festival Aotearoa 2024 kicks off nationwide on June 5, with Hamilton screenings of a wide range of French films taking place at the Lido throughout the month until June 25th. Our pick of the festival, The Sitting Duck, sees the first lady of French cinema, Isabelle Huppert, portraying whistleblower Maureen Kearney - a union organiser at the French state nuclear energy company, who goes public after stumbling upon a wide ranging web of shady backroom dealings, with terrifying and brutal consequences for her and her family. Tickets. Trailer.

How many movies can you stretch out of a single reggae song? Four, as it turns out. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return in Bad Boys: Ride or Die. Guaranteed to have car chases and gunfights. Although, let’s be honest - probably nothing quite as good as the final set piece from Bad Boys II. The real tragedy of it all? If they’d refrained from calling the previous entry Bad Boys for Life, this could’ve been released under the much catchier Bad Boys 4 Life. Missed opportunities abound. Trailer.

The thinking persons’ heart-throb, Mads Mikkelsen, returns in a period drama that’s part-palace intrigue epic and part-Western from The Promised Land from director Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair). When a retired soldier receives a royal warrant to build a settlement on a piece of swampland in 1750s Denmark, he knows a ticket to high society will surely follow - if he succeeds. “As a portrait of human will, the engulfing depredations of nature, and sheer terror and retribution, The Promised Land stakes its claim with admirable gravitas and visual finesse,” writes Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post. Trailer.

Lol, there’s a new Comedy Club

There’s a discourse that starts when something new opens up in this town. It goes something like, is Hamilton ready for an [x]? Well, the night we dropped into Last Laugh, which just opened on Victoria street, the cozy new comedy club on Victoria Street, it was a Friday just as the Chiefs were kicking off against the Hurricanes. It was full. We do a Q and A with owner and comedian Tom Lucus, here.

What we put in our mouths this month

(or, because that’s such a mouthful, WWPIOMTM)

We been to Neat, twice. It’s takes the expertise and experience of Wonder Horse and launches it into the retail space. It’s very pretty.

From Vetro: we’re very charmed by these sardine-themed chocolates.

We made a whipped feta.

We have a complicated relationship with Winner Winner (one of our editorial team was denied salt there once, with a bit of a scoff, and has never forgiven them). But their recent banoffee pie was excellent and starting to approach Sweet Mother’s Kitchen vibes (iykyk). More pie cabinets in the city please.

We had the Chicken 65 from Royale Indian Road on Cameron Road. (Add it on to their lunch special.)

We had a pretzel and a pretzel dog from Mr Twist, and endorse both. They had a child working the register on King’s Birthday and she did a great job.

We’re very enamoured with the, honestly adorable, portable banchan that came with our takeaway order from Minsokchon on Ward Street.

May #12

Welcome to the oh fuck, it’s May already issue of the Draft.

It’s actually our first birthday this month, and dear reader, it is also something of a slow news month. We’ve always said the Draft should be discerning and that means it’s as long as it needs to be; sometimes that also means the Draft is as short as it needs to be.

But whether you’re an old faithful or one of our newer readers, we’re sure are glad to have you, and love all your feedback. And tell your friends - we’d love to have them too.

For another month, we’re working on a working lunch spesh spesh - Where are you going now up the north end of Victoria Street, now Lazat has closed? What do you do when Nancy’s Dumplings closes early? Where’s the best mid-week lunch time curry? Best cheeky pie? All suggestions will be vetted by the team as usual. And while spots in the CBD and Hamilton East are of course valued, extra pixie points for those tucked away in suburbs that don’t usually get a lot of coverage. So send us your favourite weekday lunch spots via hello@thewaikatodraft.com, or in our Insty DMs.

Scuttlebutt

Gluten revival

Our favourite type of scuttlebutt is hospo scuttlebutt (the nice, exciting kind), and we had a tip a few months ago about the Mr Pickles crew applying for a liquor licence for the Made complex. We were delighted further when we heard it was going to be Italian. Or, Italian-ish.  

“I guess we're still figuring out what it is,” Mat Pedley wrote to us via email. By “we” he means his teams (across Mr Pickles, Last Place and Everyday Eatery), as well as those behind Wonder Horse and Neat*. But in a nutshell, they are promising, “Gluten heavy dining, grape heavy drinking. So - dope pizza, house made pasta, boozy cocktails, delicious wines.”

And at the risk of sounding like their press release, for all the coeliacs there will be gluten free options, and a substantial focus on takeaways as well as the bar and restaurant side of the business. Opening date: “Soon-ish?” he says. 

*Annoyingly for us, but inconsequential to the venture itself, cocktail godfather Alex Hudson announced Neat mere hours after we’d hit send on our March issue. Which then seemed too old for inclusion by the time April rolled around. But examine our July 2023 issue and you’ll see we included the unsubstantiated, unverified early rumours about Alex’s takeaway cocktail venture in Made. As I say, we love our hospo Scuttlebutt. 

Don’t get mad, get even

Support queer art with Councillor Louise Hutt’s boosted campaign to buy the Progress Pillar in Garden Place. Originally commissioned as part of the 2024 Boon Sculpture trail, making it a permanent fixture feels like the right thing to do in an Aotearoa where drag queens are getting harassed out of public libraries by Destiny Church weirdos and incel morons.

We’re not the only ones who have noticed the increased presence of anti-abortion protestors (exclusively men, funnily enough!) outside Waikato Hospital recently, especially since the safe area amendment to recent abortion reform. So a big thank you to @prochoice_frontline for organising a weekly Wednesday counter-protest.

We’ve also been hearing whisperings for a while about Auckland-to-Hamilton commuter train Te Huia’s endangered status, with one inside source saying they’d be astounded if it is still in existence by the end of the year. Recall: It’s always exceeded its passenger targets, and has added extra services with demand. The Waka Kotahi NTZA board is reviewing the service this month as part of a planned two-year review, and many are worried it won’t be allowed to finish the five-year trial period as planned. If you’d like to support the service you can email transport minister Hon Simeon Brown, local MPs Tama Potaka and Ryan Hamilton; and there is a public meeting Saturday May 4th at the Ramada at 2.30pm.

The rest…

I’ve always really appreciated the greenhouses at the top of the gardens, but they’re going as they’re expensive, inefficient, and don’t pull. 

Sunair have announced the return of their services out of Hamilton - their six-seater twin-engine Piper Aztec can whisk you away to Gisborne, Napier and Whangārei during the week.

In Fast Food Franchise News: The sleuths at the Hamilton subreddit have revealed the future location for Louisiana fried chicken giant Popeyes (It’s going to The Base). A Pita Pit looks set to open sometime soon on Grey Street, for people who turn down Subway on the grounds that they’d like something bland-er.

What’s On

IRL

Scottish-born Kiwi artist Craig McClure is showing his show Thought Crimes at Wintec’s The Ramp gallery 2 May –25 May.

Film

By Jason Marshall

May the Fourth be with you! Star Wars Episodes IV, V, VI and I, II, III are playing in marathon fashion at a number of cinemas this Saturday and Sunday respectively. So if you’re a Star Wars fan, a disillusioned Millennial who wants to give the prequel trilogy another shake, or just want to get a loved one out of the house for as many as six (and possibly more) hours, check it out. Hoyts Metro, Hoyts Te Awa, and the fine folk at Draft favourite The Regent are all taking part with varying screening times over the two days.

Theatre

By Louise Drummond

Cosmic F*ckery, Meteor Theatre. 8-11th May, 7.30pm. Tickets.

Another piece from local writer Melaine Allison, this was shortlisted for the B425 playwriting award. The concept revolves around a world just like ours, with one exception: magic is real. So when you mix drugs, witchcraft and the chaotic gods of ancient Greece, you get a lot of havoc.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Riverlea Theatre. 11-25th May, times vary. Tickets.

Hamilton Musical Theatre tackles Sondheim's gory classic. Extremely fun and extremely ridiculous story, and some very catchy songs to boot. Don't follow it up with a pie.

Dirty Work, Clarence St Theatre. 16-18 May, 7.30pm. Tickets.

Acclaimed theatre group Indian Ink is back with their biggest show ever - this one featuring a cast of almost 30. Focused around an office cleaner and the rest of the office employees, the story is a bit of a mystery but apparently features some great songs. Indian Ink has a history of really impressive and beautiful work; this show will continue that tradition.

The Rug, Meteor Theatre. 17 - 25th May, 7.30pm. Tickets.

Basically, imagine Stone Age cavemen getting jealous of another Stone Age caveman's rug and trying to keep up with the Joneses by getting an even better rug. Ridiculous. I love it. I'm in. Plus there's original songs!

We Have Boys At Home, Meteor Theatre. 29 May - 1 June, 7pm. Tickets.

Worth it for the title alone, which really tickles my funny bone, this play is the latest piece from local writer/director Conor Maxwell. The whole concept involves a play-within-a-play and what can go wrong when you're writing autobiographical pieces. Hijinks will ensue.

Music

By Adam Fulton

May 10th Brainwave and Lucre. Last Place. May 10. Tickets.

Wellington hardcore bands Brainwave and Lucre will be making a stop in Hamilton, alongside youth group Cease and Desist, Drop Off Point and Last Place house band for 2024, Martial Law.

Family Band. Last Place. May 11. Tickets. Tickets.

New Tāmaki Makaurau post-punk trio Family Band play Last Place. FFO Shellac, Arcwelder, Rodan

That's it! The arts clearly already suffering cost cutting measures.

The Mother’s Day Plug

This is one of those local businesses we’ve always loved and spent our own money with (a reminder, we don’t do advertorial), and someone asked me recently for an independent spa/massage/beauty place in Hamilton. So Mother’s Day felt as good a reason as any to include Karina’s Firth Street spa, The Villa Room, and this is one of the few occasions we’ll advocate swapping real money for a gift certificate. 

What we put in our mouths this month

Crack Chicken, of course, brings the heat with their fried chicken. But they’re no slouch on other offerings. On a whim we ordered their Bulgogi Cheeseburger, which blends a pair of Korean seasoned smashed patties, a sweet and sticky barbecue sauce, on an impossibly pillowy bun. A new favourite for the burger tournament bracket.

La Rosa Latin Pastries has become a bit of a Saturday morning ritual for us, and we literally can’t get enough empanadas. It’s a very difficult Sophie’s Choice decision to pick a favourite, but after much reflection we think we like the chorizo one the most.

We finally made it to Tongkun for a quiet mid-week lunch, after finding the place fully booked every evening we tried to visit (we’re thrilled for them!). We were equally delighted by the honest-to-goodness real bucket of charcoal recessed into the table, the fried chicken buffet, and the beef rib fillet. Manager John told us their meats marinate for 72 hours in a marinade brought in from Korea. Do take note that a Korean barbecue lunch makes for a wholly unproductive afternoon, where you’re happily ensconced in the sort of food coma that only grilled meats, beer, and rice can bring on.

April #11

This month we talk shipping containers (or is it art?), kava cafes, Charlie Chaplin, an end of Ramadan feast, and local stalwart Mr Pickles.

As always, send us your tips, gossip, and local discoveries to hello@thewaikatodraft.com or slide into our Insty DMs.

ScuttlebutT

Matt Stark says our footpaths suck. And he’s right. But just wait until he hears about the state of our everything else [insert your pet hate public infrastructure issue here].

We’ve been transfixed and perplexed by the ongoing saga of David and Barbara Yzendoorn’s shipping container installation piece. Is it art? The Environment Court ruled that it is. And now they want to install a public toilet. After neighbours objected to their application to build a multistorey duplex, the Yzendoorns installed the piece (or, shipping container, if you prefer) last year to symbolise their frustrations with the resource consent process. As you can imagine, opinions in the neighbourhood are mixed. Is this a triumph of lawfare over NIMBYism? Is it just IRL trolling? I started this paragraph thinking it wasn’t art, but now I kind of feel like it is - art provokes, after all.

Waikato Times’ reporter Sarah Morcom has a last hurrah with the Founders Theatre. 

There’s a new Kava cafe in Huntly, opened by professional wrestler Tok Fale - the TuiTui Voa Kava Cafe, modelled off similar establishments he’s seen in Hawai’i.

We’re in for a fancy new hotel; we’re crossing our fingers and toes for a genuinely good hotel restaurant, maybe even a spa, and a pool overlooking the river, with drinks served poolside. 

River Riders now offers accessibility-friendly e-trikes for hire.

Councillor Andrew Bydder bragged at a recent council meeting that he and Geoff Taylor are having a contest to see who can wrack up the most code of conduct complaints. (Each complain costs a minimum of $700 to invitation, and then costs rate payers $5,000 to mediated, if required. We note that Cr Bydder splits his time between banging on about ratepayer money being spent frivolously and launching into profanity heavy tirades to council staff.)

While on the topic of the council - this year is one where the council revises its 10-year-plan. If you like or dislike the way this city is headed don’t forget to submit - feedback closes 12 April. 

You might’ve caught Jesse Mulligan’s rave review of Mr Pickles, declaring that it isn’t just good by Hamilton standards, but would easily make a top 50 listing of Auckland restaurants. More on Mr Pickles, and our recent great night there, below.

Keep an eye out for a crowdfunding campaign to keep Paul Darrah’s Progress Pillar, which was just one of many impressive erections you may have seen around the city as part of the Boon Sculpture Trail, in March. 

What’s On

IRL

Women’s sport continues to ascend - Seddon Park hosts two ODIs as the White Ferns take on England on 4 April (the day we’re sending this out - you might still make it!) and 7 April. Tickets.

Our top pick of April events has to be Eid al Fitr (which finishes on either Thursday or Friday - it depends on the moon) on Saturday April 13, from 11am to 5pm, at the Claudelands Showgrounds. It will feature food stalls representing more than 35 cuisines from the various ethnicities that make up the Hamilton Muslim community. 

Poet Nadia Freeman is performing her work The Girmit at the Waikato Museum, 21 April 2024 (from 4 - 5 pm) - a missive told through poetry and electronic music, she tells the story of her ancestors and indentured labour from India to Fiji. You can read a little background, here, from RNZ. Tickets.

If you’re loving the current bright and slightly wild floral trends at the moment - pick your own flowers with Tomtit Farm, on Saturdays from 9am - 1pm. Rush and you’ll catch the dahlias. Follow the sign on Webster Road, Matangi. 

ANZAC Day commemorations take place at the Cenotaph in Memorial Park at 6 am and 10 am on the 25th.

Music

By Adam Fulton

Heavy Easter. April 5. Last Place. Tickets.

A night of proggy psych, featuring Psygon, Static, Du Trois and Shotgun the Couch

Repairs album release. April 19. Last Place. Tickets.

Longstanding Tāmaki Makaurau noise-rock trio Repairs celebrate their album release, alongside Empress and Halcyon Birds

Home Brew. April 20. The Factory. Tickets.

One of Aotearoa's most cherished contemporary hip hop acts grace the stage of the Factory as part of their nationwide tour

Dartz. April 20. Last Place. Tickets.

Possibly the best known of Last Place house bands Dartz celebrate their LP launch, alongside Martial Law and Speed Dating

Another Fucking Problem. April 26. Last Place.

New Tāmaki Makaurau hardcore band AFP (featuring members of Dial, Exit Fear, Human Resource) play their debut Hamilton show. Alongside Kirikiriroa's only stadium crust act Easy Off and newcomers Martial Law.

Theatre 

By Louise Drummond

The Borrowers, Riverlea Theatre. 6-20th April, times vary. Tickets.

You may have seen the live-action film, or you may have seen the Ghibli film Arrietty, or you may have read the book as a kid. Either way, most will know that the Borrowers is about a group of tiny people who live under the floorboards of a human house. It's a great story that I'm sure the kids will love, and I personally love seeing the creativity of the set design and props crew with concepts like this.

Madagascar the Musical, Clarence St Theatre. 12-14th April, times vary. Tickets.

If you've seen the Dreamworks movie, you'll know the plot and you'll know it's a good laugh. This will be a great show to take the kids to as a celebration of surviving Term 1. Just make sure you can handle repeated renditions of your kids’ "I like to move it, move it" afterwards.

Chaplin the Musical, Meteor Theatre. 13-20th April, 7.30pm. Tickets.

As you may have guessed from the title, this is the story of Charlie Chaplin in musical form. The cast and crew behind this show are fabulous; a great option if you want something a bit more grown up after the school holiday shows.

The Sun and the Wind, Meteor Theatre. 24-26th April, times vary.  Tickets.

This play, written by Tainui Tukiwaho, was shortlisted for the Adam NZ Play award in 2022, and has received excellent reviews for its run in Auckland’s Q Theatre, described as "an ode to whaanau and connection".

Helios, Meteor Theatre. 27th April, 8-9pm. Tickets.

A contemporary retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Helios – the sun – and the fall of Phaeton. This is a performance from the UK award-winning group Wright&Grainger, who have won all sorts of awards from Fringe Festivals worldwide, so it's great to have them perform in Kirikiriroa.

Movies

By Jason Marshall

Anyone else feel old whenever a Skins alum headlines a major movie? Just me? Dev Patel makes his directorial debut and stars in Monkey Man, a gritty underworld crime thriller whose tumultuous production sounds almost as precarious as anything seen on screen. “Possibly the most ferocious mainstream action movie since The Raid,” writes Phil de Semlyen in Time Out. Trailer. April 4.

Writer-director Alex Garland (of the mind-bending Ex Machina and the profoundly underwhelming, nonsense-strewn Netflix-released Natalie Portman vehicle Annihilation) returns with the frighteningly plausible Civil War, depicting an America where social divisions have escalated all the way to sedition and armed conflict. Kristen Dunst, Wagner Moura and Jesse Plemens’ always unnerving face star. Trailer. April 11.

Late night TV always seemed like a difficult gig to me, doubly so when you’re broadcasting live. So it must really throw a spanner into the works when your show gets hijacked by the literal devil and he wants to talk about how the host got famous. Late Night with the Devil is a spooky-looking found footage horror tale that seems to have nailed the look and feel of 1970s TV, and poses the question we’ve all wondered: What if Johnny Carson had to fight satan? Trailer. April 11.

You’re a tennis prodigy and the hottest girl in the world. Your career comes to an abrupt halt due to injury. You end up taking a coaching role, but fall in love with both of your students. At least, I think that’s what’s happening. Zendaya stars in Challengers, from director Luca Guadagnino (of the sumptuous Call Me By Your Name). Can it dethrone Match Point to become the champion of the sexy tennis love triangle subgenre? Trailer. April 18. (Sneak peak Ladies Night screening at the Regent on April 17, tix $30 inclusive of a drink and an ice cream.)

What we put in our mouths this month

You don’t really need a newsletter like ours to tell you about Mr Pickles, who’ve been slinging great food and cocktails with a river view, since 2018. It’s one of those places where everything’s so consistently good, that it’s hard to know what to order. So we opted for the tasting menu ($75 per person, or $90 pp with dessert), and our expert server brought us everything we’d been eyeing up, alongside some pleasant surprises. We’re total control freaks, but here’s a vote for putting the professionals in the driver’s seat.

March #10

Roll up for March! We’ve got: Dolly Parton for Women’s Day. Drag, tutus. The hot air balloon festival turns 25! Heritage locomotives. A sushi train. New Korean barbecue and some vegan banana pancakes! We’ve got Swiss kraut rock, and Sydney Sweeney as a pregnant nun.

Our theatre editor Louise Drummond was on RNZ last month to talk Hamilton Arts Festival - Toi Ora ki Kirikiriroa and cool goings on in Hamilton generally.

Welcome, new readers! And congrats to our ticket winners for the festival; we hope you had fun at your respective shows.

As always, send us your tips, gossip, and local discoveries to hello@thewaikatodraft.com or slide into our Insty DMs.

Scuttlebutt

We’re going to have to structure this month’s Scuttlebutt as a bit of a compliment sandwich, so we’ll start with the fun stuff first. 

Former Hamiltonian, now one of those people secretly running Auckland, Richard Betts wrote for The Listener on how we are cool now. 

If you missed Prima Facie at the festival, you might enjoy our own local compelling legal drama – posted without additional comment. 

Made is open Tuesdays now. We hope that someday soon the mess hall will stay open later so we can badger the Amphora crew for wine recs into the wee small hours (or at least until 11 or something).

Now, the more serious bit: We felt compelled to say something about the absolute lack of good candidates in last month’s Hamilton East byelection. The voter turnout was an abysmal 18.6%, and even amongst our generally political engaged circles, many chose not to vote due to the candidates on offer, which is a real shame, but understandable. One thing that was striking to us browsing the booklet of candidates - how many sounded like they really fucking hate local government, but then emphatically pitched for your vote. Other than that being silly and depressing, well, we wonder if that’s sensible? Given tightened central purse strings, do we really want to help them shrink the role of local government, which affords a little autonomy and agency over our own projects and priorities, and where the dollars get spent in real proximity to the voter?

(Also, running for council, and then running for central government shortly afterwards, thus vacating your seat and forcing a byelection seems kinda wasteful of everyone’s time and money, but hey, what’s the famous quote about getting the government you deserve?)

Local government is confusing and often mundane - most councillors would likely agree with that. But it’s important stuff and affects us all on a daily basis. Opting to shrink the power you do have is not the same thing as being prudent. Hamilton in recent years has felt like it's flourishing - one of the things that inspired this newsletter, and we hope that continues. But all of us may have to work on that together.

While we’re still on this filling - Councillor Louise Hutt has detailed, articulate account of some of the abuse – both online and real world – she has sustained on the job. It was picked up by the Herald as part of a wider story on the same themes. 

The Spinoff wrote about the Lambton ward by-election, which could be a copy + paste tale of the dynamics playing out in many Aotearoa New Zealand cities currently, including ours, where a clash in the motivations and values between two amorphous groups conceptualised in the piece as Old Town and New City, are shaping local politics.

Now, if you’ll excuse the continued sandwich metaphor, to the top bun: We’re very excited at the opening of Tongkun, a new Korean barbecue place on southern Victoria, and we’ve heard great things about it. The split level building seems to have been a bit of an elephant graveyard over the years when it comes to restaurants, especially upstairs, which Tongkun now occupies. With the consistently excellent Tatsuta downstairs (For our money, Hamilton’s best Japanese restaurant), we hope this marks a bit of stability and prosperity for the beleaguered old complex. (Can anyone confirm if that karaoke bar downstairs is still running? We are uncertain.)

What’s on

IRL

The Hamilton half-marathon takes place on March 17 (undoubtedly ruining St Paddy’s Day for somebody out there) with the starter pistol at 0800 hours - it’s not too late to enter, including their 10km and 5km races which leave a little later. The five bridges swim on the same day, from 10am! It’s in its 85th year! With the current, that’s about a 3km swim. They both leave from the Gardens, so forget about getting a park there on that day. We did a back of the envelope calculation, and you’d need to run the former with 5 minute 27 second splits per kilometre to do both races. Go on, that’s only 11 kilometres per hour.

The main game in town this March is Balloons over Waikato, running from March 19 to the 23. Innes Common has see something like 130,000 visitors over the 5 days in years prior. It’s the current iteration’s 25th birthday. Spotting some balloons aloft on weekday mornings is always a highlight of our March madness commutes.

And then that weekend, because of the Nightglow, the Hamilton farmers’ market will be at Innes Common rather than the usual Claudelands barn.

At Laree Payne Gallery, Sarah Smuts-Kennedy’s solo exhibition Rhythmical Relations is running until March 16th, displaying pieces from her work over the last eight years. 

Image: Sarah Smuts-Kennedy, The Listening, 2020-2024, Oil and pigment on aluminium, brass. 600mm H x 400mm W x 152mm D. Image courtesy of the artist.

All aboard!

Contributed by Malcolm Giles

Train enthusiasts! Or, if that’s too strong for you, the train adjacent and train curious! On March 10 you can ride a lovingly restored steam locomotive riverside to Ngaruawahia and back, out of Frankton station. (You can also join the service at Rotokauri station opposite Te Awa The Base.) Originally built in 1915, steam locomotive WW644 will be pulling heritage coaches, chug-chug-chugging along the riverside journey we so quickly forgot since the State Highway 1 expressway went in.

Tips for the modern traveller and uninitiated: travel on a steam locomotive is slow, so you’ll have plenty of time on the afternoon trip to socialise and enjoy the view. Bring snacks. Travel on a steam locomotive is also noisy - the little engine will be working hard on this trip, with several railway and road crossings, so prepare for an auditory trip back in time to when steam locomotives filled the air around Hamilton with chuffing and whistling.

Theatre

By Louise Drummond

Hope you all got to see a show or several at the Hamilton Arts Festival Toi Ora Ki Kirikiriroa. I saw a bunch and they were absolutely fabulous. My three year old son got to experience his first sunset symphony, and at the end of one piece he jumped up, clapping, and yelled, Tthat was awesome!" I don't know how anyone could receive higher praise than that. Artists inspiring our future artists.

Anyway, here's my picks for the rest of March.

Sirens of the Silver Screen, Meteor Theatre. 6-7th March, 7.30pm. Tickets. The drag scene in Hamilton is excellent, and this show combines the art of drag with some powerhouse musical performances from classic movies like Hocus Pocus, Sister Act, Titanic, and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Personally, my favourite part is hearing the queen names - Miss Manage, Miss Givings and Miss Demeanour tickle my punny bone immensely.

Tutus on Tour, Clarence St Theatre. 14-16th March, times vary. Tickets. If you like ballet but social media has killed your attention span, then this is like a highlights reel. This year, the Royal NZ Ballet are touring the full-length Swan Lake in May; Tutus on Tour performs teaser excerpts. You get all the most famous pieces from the ballet, including my favourite parts: the Cygnets quartet, which is beautiful to watch and the tune is catchy as heck, and the Black Swan pas de deux, which is peak athleticism and I accept no debate. You try doing that many fouettés.

One Way Out, Meteor Theatre. March 15-16th, 7pm. Tickets. The Meteor is known for its dedicated support for local writers and artists, and here's another great example. Local playwright Emily Costello has written a two-person play about relationships, friendships, love and grief, and it's directed by another local playwright, Melanie Allison. I'm sure it'll be a gem.

Music

By Adam Fulton

Blue Divers (Australia). Last Place. March 7. Free show.

Wondrous ambient noodly instrumental group from Wollongong play a free/koha show at Last Place. Reminiscent of The Dirty Three's Mick Turner and American primitivist Mason Lindahl.

Shonen Knife (Japan). Yot Club, Raglan. March 8. Tickets.

Possibly the longest running power-pop trio from Osaka will grace the immaculate stage of the Yot Club with their presence.

Scorched Earth Music Festival. The Local, Te Rapa. March 8. Tickets.

A comically cheap ($8 presales!) metal fest in Te Rapa, featuring 6 bands with suspiciously legible logos: Monolith, Chasing Titans, Unwanted Subject, InTheirImage, Afterlight, and Act Of Vengeance.

Hyperculte (Switzerland). Last Place. March 22. Tickets.

Swirling, hypnotic, krauty art-rock from Switzerland sitting somewhere between OOIOO, Boredoms and Animal Collective. Joined by Glass Shards and Late for Life Drawing.

Film

By Jason Marshall

Winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes last year, the directorial debut for Molly Manning Walker, How to Have Sex follows a trio of young woman on a party-filled trip to Crete for what should be the summer of their lives. Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent writes, “Described by its director as loosely autobiographical, How to Have Sex is built around a subtle but devastating rug-pull that exposes the culture of sex and consent in the same way F Scott Fitzgerald put the Jazz Age on blast in The Great Gatsby.” Trailer. Releases Thursday March 7.

To celebrate International Women’s Day, the Regent have two screenings (6:45 pm and 7:00 pm) of the 1980 classic comedy 9 to 5, which tackled sexism in the office and the gender pay gap in a way that its contemporaries seldom did. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote in his 2018 retrospective, “Thirty-eight years on, this tale of misogyny, kidnap and rattling typewriters is a boldly progressive piece of film-making.” Trailer. Tickets. Friday March 8.

For all of you looking to resolve some Catholic school trauma (I’m not totally sure that this is the way to achieve that), It girl and audience favourite Sydney Sweeney is back in theatres again with Immaculate, a spooky-looking psychological thriller about a pregnant nun at a convent where things aren’t quite what they seem. Fellow White Lotus-er Simona Tabasco also stars. Trailer. Releases Thursday March 21.

What we Put in our mouths this month

Auckland import and purveyor of rotisserie chickens Bird on a Wire has closed their Grey Street location, which was a surprise, but excitingly local original Salam Afghan Food has sprouted up in its place. We have ordered takeaway and dined in – it’s all excellent, and we particularly recommend the charcoal grilled whole chicken, the mixed kebab platter, and the spinach and leek stuffed Bolani bread.

Sometimes we tell you all the basic bitch things. For all their fancy flavours, we’re returned to the Duck Island vanilla ice cream recently, especially with all the amazing fruit in season. We have, for example, a neighbour’s passionfruit vine that’s practically jumped the fence and made a run for ours - and we’ve been practically cracking it on top of a bowl like an egg. Over summer we had some very ripe strawberries and made a like a sauce - together they served like really high end, elevated McDonalds sundae and it was fucking amazing. 

God we love a good cafe co-located with an attraction. I’ve been meaning to go to Everyday Eatery (run by the fine folk behind Cream) for yonks, but going to the zoo is not an everyday occurrence for us, and we have not. The breakfast sandwich for lunch is a solid option, there’s a decent range of gin (and beer and wine).

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We usually think of CBD favourite Anne Fern on Knox Street as a weekday lunchtime kind of place, offering excellent coffee and cabinet food, but don’t forget that they’re open Saturdays too from 8 am to 1 pm - and are now slinging weekend vegan banana pancakes, which are $12 a plate.

We kinda missed the sushi train on Worley Place - the owners of Sushi Chew Chew told us they’re been there a year. A year! We were a bit disappointed with some of the fried items from the menu, but loved the sushi on offer, especially the range of tuna options.

Expleo are doing casserole packs again this winter, through both Te Awamutu and the Made location.

Hayes Common were well and truly due a menu refresh - and it’s here. We miss them in the evenings, but their Neighbourhood Eats are still a thing, and Thursday March 21 they are doing a Latin theme. $95, or $130 with drinks pairing. 

Lastly, regular readers will know Ernest has been one of our favourite spots in the city; we were very sad to hear that, in its current form at least, has shut its doors after going into liquidation. We hope they reopen soon and look forward to supporting them.

February #09

It’s February and it’s still hot and lazy, and the city is still waking up; but on the other hand, there’s this local by-election, there’s an arts festival, and finally you can get a good cup of coffee again as hospitality opens up again. 

In particular, make sure you check out our theatre editor Louise Drummond’s picks of the Hamilton Arts Festival: this kind of stuff is one of the reasons we started this newsletter.  Because you can pick up a programme anywhere, but if you want recommendations on what’s likely to be very good, then read on, Macduff. 

Otherwise! We have the first in a short series reviewing this city’s best bars in their quieter moments. It’s outdoor cinema season at Seddon Park, as well as our picks at the movies for those in search of aircon and shade. Celebrate Waitangi Day at the museum, and a new Filipino supermarket in Cambridge.

Also it’s a leap year! Enjoy your extra day of February darling readers and we’ll see you in March.

Scuttlebutt

We manifested this. In roundabout news! (Please send us any and all roundabout news and opinions that you come across.) 

We’ve lovingly made fun of the city’s penchant (read: overuse) of the word precinct before… so the invitation of the month has to be for the opening of the Hamilton Gardens Visitor Entry Precinct. (It’s an information booth, essentially.) 

Hamilton zoo Sumatran tiger Kirana welcomes two baby girl cubs.  

Oh err…just look at the new station at the Auckland end of Te Huia. With the service up for review in June 2024, it’s use-it-or-lose-it-time, people.

An inner city bus stop is being moved for $700,000. The most frequently reported aspect of this story is that it is outside a Peaches and Cream sex store. But it also should be mentioned that the new location will have some decent seating, which actually seems more important. An earlier version of this newsletter mistakenly said the price had increased from $500,000 - the price was always going to be $700,000.

Kowtow fabs rejoice! They’re now being carried at Found.

Voting is underway in the Hamilton East by-election, with polls closing at noon on Saturday the 17th of February. Learn about the candidates here. 

Not particular to Hamilton, but relevant everywhere, the New York Times considers why we don’t think rationally about inflation. 

Bus services are increasing! From February 5, across the city, there are 102 new services.

There’s a change in curbside recycling coming (and on, there’s no bigger red bin, nor a weekly pick up). In line with a nationwide change, radically, only the locally recyclable plastics can go into your bin. Which is types 1, 2 and 5 - so start checking your plastics. Even better, check them at the supermarket, and reduce your waste at the other end of the equation.

People are still bursting their aneurysms about in-lane bus stops, like that being built on Hukanui Road. (Funnily enough it’s also the same people upset about the previously aforementioned roundabout.) But be skeptical of any local body candidate that links them to council waste, or tries to conflate it with the upcoming rate rise - it’s mostly funded by central government. For bonus non-sequitur points, try link it to the fixing of pot holes, too.

The Transport Choices Programme, a pot of about $300m dollars from Waka Kotahi, was designed to fund infrastructure that encouraged alternative modes of transport like walking, cycling, and public transport, with money coming from the Climate Emergency Response Fund (CERF). Hamilton City Council’s share of that pie was about $37m, which was to contribute 90% of the funding for 28 projects, leaving the council footing the remaining 10% - a bargain for badly needed infrastructure that makes our city much more inhabitable, including (yes), for cars too. 

In September last year, councils were asked by Waka Kotahi to find 10% savings across their projects, which now seems fairly quaint. In October, Waka Kotahi put all this funding on hold pending some direction from the new incoming government. Now, that funding has been cancelled. At the street level this translates to the cancellation of projects across the city that either established new cycleways or linked up existing ones, with each other and to places like the railway station. The Hayes Paddock reconfiguration is gone, as is the Killarney Road separated two-way cycle lane.

You can read the full list of projects going head, and those scrapped, here. 

And finally, this seems a no brainer, but a lot of people this year were asking if in these parts, we should still be calling it “Auckland” anniversary weekend.

What’s on

Theatre (namely the Hamilton Arts Festival Toi Ora ki kirikiriroa)

By Louise Drummond

There are well over 30 shows happening at the Hamilton Arts Festival Toi Ora ki Kirikiriroa in late Feb/early March - music, theatre, dance, comedy, cabaret, films, food, escape rooms, and a bunch of family-friendly acts to boot. Some shows, like the annual Sunset Symphony, are free or koha. There's too many great shows to list here, so I've limited this piece to my six top picks for theatre. To check out the many other awesome shows and to book tickets, go here and see what grabs your attention.

Cheehoo! Jandals To Jazzhands. Rhododendron Lawn, Hamilton Gardens. Friday 23 February, 8–10pm. A mix of musical theatre and traditional Pasifika culture, this piece stars local talents Jessica Ruck-Nu’u and Iosia Tofilau, who have recently returned from an international tour of Shrek: The Musical. These two are absolutely worth a watch, especially when directed by Benny Marama, who is absolutely killing it with his cultivation of young talent in Kirikiriroa. BYO low seat or rug, coz it's on the lawn and you want to be comfy.

Merry Wives of Windsor. Festival Hub, Hamilton Gardens. Sunday 25 February 5pm, Saturday 2 March 5pm, Sunday 3 March 5am. The Summer Shakespeare tradition continues with another clever comedy. This is always an absolute highlight of the festival (I say this having been involved with several in the past), and the 5am (yes, you read that right) dawn performance is a surprisingly popular and oddly beautiful shared experience. It's koha, so just show up with a few dollars to drop in the bucket at the end and you're good to go.

The Tempestuous. Medici Court, Hamilton Gardens. Wednesday 28 - Thursday 29 February, 6.30pm. After touring her awesome Jane Austen and Charles Dickens-inspired shows worldwide, Penny Ashton is back with a Shakespeare-inspired solo musical. If it's anywhere near as funny as her previous shows, you'll be guaranteed a fantastic time.

Songs For A New World. Modernist Garden, Hamilton Gardens. Wed 28 February - Friday 1 March, starting times vary each day. Local legends Bold Theatre Company are bringing us another powerful musical. Their previous shows, especially That Bloody Woman and Assassins, have been outstanding, so I'm pretty confident that this one is also going to hit it out of the park.

Prima Facie. Clarence St Theatre. Thurs 29 February - Saturday 2nd March, starting times vary each day. A one-woman show about a lawyer who finds herself at the mercy of the legal system after one horrible night. The script for this show is absolutely incredible (it won the 2023 Olivier Award for Best Play), and I'm really looking forward to seeing this performed. (CW: themes of assault.)

Beautiful People. Mansfield Garden, Hamilton Gardens. Friday 1 March, 5.30pm and Saturday 2 March, 7pm. The NZ premiere of an award-winning play that tells the story of two elderly people facing ageing and death. That sounds super depressing, but it's actually a dark comedy, and the reviews are insanely positive, even the one from the Evening Standard that says the show is "like being kissed and hit with a fish in rapid succession." Consider my interest extremely piqued.

Film

By Jason Marshall

There’s no better place to find respite from the dog days of summer than inside a movie theatre. It’s a quiet month of releases, but there’s a few movies that we’re really excited about.

Nobody crafts tales of the lonely, alienating, horny, terrifying passage from girlhood to womanhood quite like Sofia Coppola. Or so women have told me. Priscilla is an adaptation of Priscilla Presley’s memoir, Elvis and Me depicting their first encounter and subsequent life together, and apart. The King’s estate wouldn’t licence any of his music for the film, so you know it’s not going to pull any punches. Releases 1 February. Trailer.

Nobody puts Baby in the corner! But maybe they should, she’s only 16 years old. The Regent are doing a one-off screening of everyone’s favourite Swayze joint, Dirty Dancing, on February 16th. Tickets.

Master of alienation Jonathan Glazer returns with 2023 Cannes Grand Prix winner The Zone of Interest, a Holocaust drama unlike any other that contemplates the Arendtian concept of the banality of evil. “Glazer has achieved something much greater than just making the monstrous mundane — by rendering such extreme inhumanity ordinary he reawakens us to its true horror,” writes Raphael Abraham in the Financial Times. Releases 22 February. Trailer.

I can’t hand on heart say that I really understood what Dune was actually all about, but it was captivating and visually breathtaking. Delayed by last year’s SAG-AFTRA strikes, Dune: Part Two finally lands this month and seems sure to bring the blend of Frank Herbert weirdness and Denis Villeneuve fastidiousness that made the first film such a banger. A rogues’ gallery of very cool actors including Charlotte Rampling, Léa Seydoux, Florence Pugh, and Christopher Walken join the already absolutely stacked cast. Releases 29 February. Trailer.

Sunset Cinema returns to Seddon Park on February 29th, with a screening of beloved 90s golf comedy classic Happy Gilmore on the stadium big screen. Food trucks, a bar, and cheap tickets are promised but you’ll have to BYO chair or picnic blanket. Tickets.

Events

Kawhia hosts the Move Your Tinana Music Movement and Kai Festival, on Saturday February 3rd.

Keen to see some sick manus? The Hamilton qualifier leg of the Z Manu World Championship takes place on February 3rd and 4th at Waterworld.

Waikato Museum - Te Whare Taonga o Waikato hosts a Waitangi Day Festival with a full day of events on February 6. Details.

British stand up and Mock the Week regular Russell Howard performs at Globox Arena on  February 8th. Tickets.

The first run of the year at the Hamilton Model Engineers, February 10th, has a Valentine's Day theme, from 5 - 9pm.

The 2024 Paeroa Highland Games and Tattoo takes place on February 10th, and promises massed pipe bands, Highland dancing, something called the Axeman Carnival, and Steampunk Tartan. Tickets. 

Kabayan Asian Store, a Filipino run Asian supermarket in Cambridge, celebrates its opening on February 10th.

The Black Caps face South Africa at Seddon Park for the second test, from February 13 to the 17th. Tickets.

The Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter holds an open day on February 18th.

What we put in our mouths over summer

With everything shut over the break and forced to fend for ourselves over summer (and before you write to us, we thoroughly endorse hospitality getting a break), we reverted to simple, uniform, largely deli-based eating.

When it’s hot and I want a sandwich, I always think about the jambon fromage at La Voie Francais in Auckland, that used to be a 20m walk from my front door when our family lived in Mt Roskill. There’s nothing revolutionary about it - it’s the same jambon fromage you could get in a billion places across France. I’m not ashamed to tell you that there’s a sort-of-fancy baguette that’s new at Countdown (sorry, Woolworths) that’s not bad. Look – we always try and plug the little guy, but ultimately we all go to the supermarket. Vetro, thank god, was open (although their baker did get a break). And so the uniform eating became the previously mentioned baguette with cheese (Ventro’s provolone gets an especially special mention), and various combinations of fresh tomato, left over Christmas ham, cracked pepper. Sometimes mustard. But never all of those things at once.

We also sampled Vetro’s frozen pizza dough - two balls for around the $5 mark, which are excellent, and also pair well with summer laziness.

We’re also mad on the “chilly red” and started putting selected red wines in the fridge - see our profile of local sommelier Kieran Clarkin (who runs Amphora) for better advice than we can give about how to chose what tipples to do this with. 

High Bakery & Cafe, of Silverdale, do a barbecue brisket and cheese pie that we absolutely loved. 

Also cheese wise - Expleo butchery in Made carries Over The Moon cheese to Hamilton East, saving us a trip to Putaruru. We’re making our way through some saggy camembert that would do you well on a picnic to any of the upcoming festival events.

And can Hamilton East support another bakery? Let’s find out! Viands of Kihikihi is coming to Grey Street.

We also remain some of the only people who haven’t tried Sage yet, but we are hearing good things. We’ll report back in March.

FeatureTTES

Modern Manners: Hamilton Gardens entry fees

In a significant departure, our world-class attraction that is the Hamilton Gardens is bringing in an entry fee for out-of-towners, with the view to fund new and future expansions. In some ways, in the neoliberal world, it seems astounding it has been free for so long, especially given busloads of tourists are frequently charged by touring companies to stop there. In other ways, it’s always been nice to take visiting friends from out of town down there, waltz in and out, and being able to do so unimpeded feels so accessible, noncommercial, and democratic.

Still, be sure to hear grumbling about the price, and whether it’s worth $20 anyway, from locals to whom the fee doesn’t apply. But what can you do for $20 these days? Nothing. Have you been to a garden centre lately? Plants are expensive, which is also to say nothing about the expertise that must run that place.

Hopefully their expansion plans include more public transport options and pedestrian access across the fiendishly busy Cobham Drive, and much more disability friendly access.

The profile: Kieran Clarkin, Sommelier of amphora

Somellier Kieran Clarkin, who grew up in Kirikiriroa, has moved back home from Melbourne to open wine bar Amphora. Situated at the entry point of the mess hall in Made, you’ll see him loving pouring his ever evolving selection (Greek wines are his specialty), and expertly redirecting all those that want beer to Hapi down the end. Q and A, here.

An empty Earnest

In the first in a short series, we muck around in this city’s hottest spots when they’re luxurious quiet and empty.