Stafford Road Wine Bar - Northcote Point

Stafford Road Wine Bar is easy to miss if you aren't looking for it. Tucked away in quiet Northcote adjacent to its sister store, Point Wines. Even the name is unassuming. A wine bar, after all, does not conjure up mental images of culinary excellence or a dinner destination. They are usually places that you stop off at en route to or from somewhere else. Nevertheless, Stafford Road Wine Bar has proven to be one of the best (if not the best) finds of the year.

Afternoon Tea at the Langham - Auckland City

Suffering from a strong case of the Winter Blues and with Labour Weekend and Spring too far away to contemplate, Eva and I were in desperate need of a bit of luxury to soothe a week of work related stress away. Our search for an afternoon of indulgence led us to the Langham Hotel in Auckland City for Afternoon Tea at The Winery.

The creation of Afternoon Tea is credited to Anna Maria Russell, Duchess of Bedford who purportedly invented the meal to fill the long gap between lunch and dinner. Some say she had this meal of tea, cakes and sandwiches delivered to her chambers in secret for fear of being ridiculed. However when she was discovered, the concept well received and caught on swiftly amongst the English middle and upper class. Whatever the origins, we owe her a debt of gratitude as I for one am always in favour of the creation of new meals.