Chef Monique Fiso of Hiakai on the art of food, Gordon Ramsay and not being afraid to fail Words Rosie Herdman | PHOTOS Amber-Jayne Bain and Manja Wachsmuth | 8 Jan 2021
Monique Fiso is putting New Zealand’s indigenous cuisine and techniques on the world map. One of the most formidable talents in our culinary industry, she has worked all over the globe and trained at top Michelin-star kitchens in New York including The Musket Room, Public Restaurant and Avoce.
After returning to our shores and organising a series of sell-out pop-ups in 2015, Fiso opened her acclaimed Wellington restaurant Hiakai in 2018, specialising in Māori fine-dining cuisine. Fiso, who is of Māori and Samoan descent, is now considered one of the country’s most important chefs, bringing a new genre of cuisine to the fore that both honours and expands on Aotearoa’s food story.
Lonely Planet singles out Kiwi restaurant in 2021 best of list
22 Dec, 2020 05:54 PM
4 minutes to read
Thomas Bywater is a writer and digital producer for Herald Travelthomas.bywater@nzherald.co.nz@ThomasBywater
It s that time of the year when publishers are compiling their best of lists for international travel – but how does that process look in a year when few people have been anywhere at all?
The Lonely Planet s
Best in Travel is normally all about places they ve been and experiences that readers will be wanting to see for themselves in the year ahead. However in light of the Covid crisis, their picks for 2021 has seen a bit of a shakeup.
Slice of Heaven
5 minutes to read
This land of ours is distinct in a multitude of ways. This summer make the time to seek out a world famous in New Zealand moment all for yourself.
The singsong of a tui, a burst of pohutukawa red, the carved maihi (arms) of a marae s wharenui (meeting house) – there are some moments you could be nowhere else in the world but Aotearoa. We ve scoured the country to showcase some more quintessential Kiwi-ness to revel in for a uniquely New Zealand summer.
Kaitoke Hot Springs - Great Barrier Island. Image / Supplied.
NATURAL HOT POOLS ON GREAT BARRIER
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending 10 December
Bestseller chart
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.
AUCKLAND
Counterpoint: go spend 20 minutes in Westfield St Lukes. Actually any Westfield.
2 Shuggie Bain by Stuart Douglas (Picador, $38)
Winner, all by itself, of the 2020 Booker Prize.
3 Trio by William Boyd (Viking, $37)
“William Boyd is one of those authors I always mean to read more of, but when I check my reading spreadsheets (yes, I have them) there are never as many of his novels there as I expect. So in an attempt to rectify that, I jumped on Trio shortly after release” – Sam Still Reading, on Goodreads