American Express Restaurant Month returns this August for 31 delicious days with a range of diverse events to entice food lovers. From Indian-style feasts and sake tastings to fine dining from top New Zealand and international chefs, to a progressive dinner by bike, urban foraging and food and wine workshops, there has never been a better time to enjoy the extraordinary dining on offer in Auckland.
If you have an appetite for adventure, why not head along to a sustainable 4-course Mexican feast designed especially for the occasion and featuring a selection of somewhat unusual ingredients. Join the team at Besos Latinos and Chef Luis Cabrera as they host Feed Me Loco. The special one-off menu features some of nature’s finest sustainable and sometimes crazy-sounding ingredients (a smattering of bugs and cactus!) matched with tequila for a guaranteed fun and loco night out.
Feed Me Loco – 13 & 14 August. Tickets are $140 per person for a 4-course-dinner including canapés and wine matches.
If you love Japanese food and you have a fondness for craft beer (and a drop of sake), join Ebisu Restaurant and Behemoth Brewery as they create a 7-course dinner of carefully thought out combinations that will appeal to both food and beer lovers. With the expertise of head chef Fred Wong and certified sake sommelier and self-proclaimed beer lover, Wayne Shennan (one of just 129 Advanced Sake Professionals in the world), this will be an evening delicate deliciousness.
Biru Ebisu – 28 August. Tickets are $150 per person for a 7-course dinner with matching craft beers and sake.
15 August – Head to Kampai! – For Sake tasting at Tanuki Sushi and Sake Bar. Tanuki’s head chef has devised five great dishes to complement five different sakes. Listen and learn as their sake expert shares knowledge about the history, brewing process, etiquette and a few anecdotes about this traditional Japanese drop.
17 August – Vegan Chinese Valentine’s Day at Green Time celebrates ‘The Night of Sevens’. This night calls for appreciating time with loved ones and enjoying incredible vegan food.
18 August – Urban Forage will have you tagging along with Maori TV chef Rewi Spraggon and Park Ranger Riki Bennett on a guided walk filled with traditional edible delicacies and a Foodography Dinner at the New Zealand School of Food & Wine.
25 August – Bollywood Night at I Village guarantees more than a little fun; feast on a delicious three-course meal and enjoy Indian (Bhangra) dancing and its energetic music.
7, 14, 21 & 28 August – Dinner by Bike. Explore Auckland’s streets and cycleways and discover flavours from a fresh perspective with a progressive three-course dinner on wheels.
