While all cafes are community hubs to some extent, this Karangahape Rd coffee spot embodies the moniker to the fullest.

It is midnight in Antarctica, and the sky is the foamy yellow-blue of a summer afternoon. I’m in the front seat of a helicopter, its doors and windows flung open to the icy air, four pairs of eyes ...

It’s Saturday night in central Auckland and trouble is brewing. In a deserted food court, four teens take over an abandoned ice-cream shop. Egging each other on, they jump over countertops, kick ...

I have a confession to make: I was once in love with Lenin. I grew up in a house with my grandfather, who was an avowed communist. He’d been in the 1932 Queen St riots, seen blood on the streets, ...

Hearts were broken and mournful Instagram posts were published when Acho’s closed its doors in St Kevins Arcade last year. After months in the wilderness, however, it’s back, taking over the old ...

We find ourselves in a deeply unimaginative time in cinema. Then there’s Fast X. What a strange place the Fast & Furious series holds in the modern blockbuster sphere. It’s hard to imagine anyone, ...

A small seaside town is dead. Was it the victim of greedy developers, warring tycoons, or a road that no longer runs through it? Can it ever be brought back to life? If Waiwera residents needed any ...

A deceptively simple dessert, Hugo’s semifreddo is smooth and silky; dreamy and indulgent, with lashings of quality olive oil that make you want to bathe in the stuff. The sprinkling of sea salt lifts ...

I am a fan of almost every culture’s take on roast pork, and Italy’s porchetta is a prime example of why. The thought of those trucks in Italy that roast suckling pigs, then carve and stuff the meat ...

When the Guardian Essential poll released its first New Zealand results in August, there were few surprises, bar one: National (at 44%) was murdering Labour (23%) in Auckland. Even adding in the Green ...

When I was growing up in the pre-deregulated 1980s, it seemed like the only restaurants Auckland had to offer were Chinese or Italian; every suburb had one of each. Up the road from my house was ...