Stories

Fusion cuisine goes all the way back to the 14th Century in the original melting pot of Andalusia, where Jewish, Muslim and Christian influences combined with the rich soils and abundant waters of this Mediterranean territory to give the world gazpacho, calamari, chorizo and a smorgasbord of mouth-watering tapas. New Regent Street restaurateur Shafeeq Ismail (pictured) of Story fame has always been inspired by the fresh, seasonal and simple cuisine of this area of Spain and now he is sharing the love with Christchurch and its visitors, giving taste buds a zing at his new establishment, Odeon. Before coming to Ōtautahi, chef Shafeeq worked in southern Spain and the Middle East, soaking up the influences of the Mediterranean region along the way. All that is celebrated in the menu and milieu of Odeon, at the New Regent end of Gloucester Street. You can’t talk Spanish cuisine without saluting the rich history...

This Spanish Mission-style walkway may be the prettiest street in Christchurch, but its real drawcards are all the speciality destinations packed into its 120-metre span. New Regent Street was originally the location of Christchurch’s Colosseum. Our gladiators were armed with ice skates rather than swords, but it was still pretty cool. In the early 1930s, New Regent Street Limited developed the street in the Spanish Mission architecture we see today, with stylised gables and columns. It was a forerunner to modern malls, designed to group several small businesses together in a single themed development. In the ‘90s it officially became a walking street, though the space was to be shared with the tram. The street was shut down after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, but reopened in 2013 and has been going from strength to strength ever since. Dine Twenty Seven Steps and Story are the kings of cuisine on this royal...

The judges have spoken and King of Snake rules! Cityscape talks to the man behind the magic, David Warring. King of Snake had a big night at the Canterbury Hospitality Awards. How good was that? We were thrilled with the results and humbled by them. It’s been a particularly challenging time for the entire industry. We took on a lot of risk with a project of this scale in the middle of a global pandemic. The entire team has worked incredibly hard and there has been a lot of personal sacrifice, so it was fantastic to see that acknowledged. What do you think swayed the judges your way? I think a combination of things that we have been able to put together in the new premises. Obviously, the commitment from our staff both in the engine room and front of house and the standards they set. We’ve been able to create...

Australian rock legends the Hoodoo Gurus are headlining March’s Selwyn Sounds festival. Cityscape talks to co-founder Dave Faulkner about his heroes, pet hates and where music comes from. With all your awards and accolades, you've become Australian rock royalty, haven't you? Royalty? I don’t know about that. It’s a bit like that saying about prostitutes and ugly buildings getting more respectable as they get older. Are you looking out for the new ones coming through? We've never really worried about anyone around us, whether they're new, older or whatever. Obviously we have our own heroes that we were influenced by that we're very keen to acknowledge when we get the opportunity. But as far as continuing the tradition, we hope we've had people that have used us as a guide post, just as others have inspired us along the way as well. Who are some of your heroes? I was a...

Colin the lowchen cross knows what life is like for a dog in a human’s world. With a little help from Geoff at Kuri, he opens up about why he and his doggy mates don’t always want their ears rubbed or your hand stuck in their face. Have you ever wondered what it's like to live in a world of humans when you're a dog? How I feel, why I do what I do and what my amazing senses allow me to process through my eyes, nose, mouth and ears? One of the biggest myths is that all dogs are sociable all the time, or should be. Is every human sociable? No. Does that make them bad humans? Of course not. It may mean they like their own company, they like to do other things or that they're happy in their own world. For our humans, that means reading the signs...

When Ross Morrison of Mr Mod came across a clock in an antiques shop in Hawke’s Bay, he knew straight away that it was the work of famed 19th-century clockmaker Thomas Cole. The clock wasn’t working but Ross bought it anyway, vaguely hoping he might find someone who could repair it. Back in Christchurch, he put it on a shelf in his St Martins shop. That was when serendipity came to visit. Bruce Aitken, trade-qualified clockmaker of 40 years’ experience and fixer of anything, popped in during his morning walk – he only lives a few blocks away. Ross showed him the clock and Bruce also knew just how special it was. Bruce’s day job involves the restoration, repair and reconstruction of kinetic sculptures by Christchurch-born artist Len Lye. Bruce works closely with the Len Lye Foundation, which preserves and promotes the artist’s legacy. He also specialises in the restoration and...

As a writer and magazine editor, Kate Preece spent 14 years sharing other people’s stories. Now she is sharing her own, having fun and winning accolades along the way. She talks to Cityscape about inspiration, celebration and her goals for 2023. Congratulations on the awards you have been winning for your writing – you must be rapt? Absolutely. One Weka Went Walking is really hitting its stride. I couldn’t be more pleased with how it has been received and love seeing it on the shelves. It’s been a real buzz winning an international short story competition too. This year has been about building up my literary CV, and being able to add awards to it is what I need to make this passion into a career. How is it different to your previous writing roles and magazine editing? It has been a huge change of pace. I’m no longer juggling the...

The set determines the structure of a play. Entrance. Exits. Where the action happens. Cityscape gets to know the unsung heroes building the sets behind every great show at The Court Theatre. The Court is the only theatre in Aotearoa with its own permanent professional set-building team. The full-time construction crew consists of three guys: Richard van den Berg (middle), Nigel Kerr (right), and Seth Edwards-Ellis (left). Richard and Nigel are both veteran artists and all-rounders, and Seth is a young-gun builder who’s lightning-fast at putting together framing and set structures. There’s also Richie Daem, who’s in his 70s now. He was the official Court metalworker for many years before retiring, but he still drops by to put his hand to a set construction from time to time. In his absence, Nigel and Seth pick up the welding gear. The two artists also sometimes do set design, and The Court has...

Those in the know already know about the cool new attractions and hidden gems of Christchurch’s reborn city centre. Our downtown has rebounded from the setbacks of the quakes and Covid-19, emerging as a modern centre of art, architecture, vibrant places and serene spaces. The centre is now abuzz with a hot combo of funky markets, bodacious boutiques, crafty brewers, moody cocktail bars, outrageous street art, acres of green space, state-of-the-art conference digs and streetscapes made for meandering. Then there are the events. Music, theatre, dance, celebrations, exhibitions. Something for everyone in a host of new venues. For the cognoscenti, then, it may come as a surprise to find out that while you know all this, some do not. Some have yet to follow your lead and return to their favourite streets, lanes and boulevards to discover all that is on offer. The Central City Business Association has joined the charge...

Looking for a good time shouldn’t turn into a bad time. Cityscape talks to Joel Faulkner, Christchurch regional manager of drug-checking service Know Your Stuff. What does Know Your Stuff do? KnowYourStuffNZ provides drug checking and drug-related harm reduction services across New Zealand. How do you do it? For drug checking we use an FTIR spectrometer and reagents. The spectrometer uses infrared light to read the chemical signature of the substance, which it then checks against food, drug and other relevant substance databases. This machine can't tell the purity of a sample but it can detect when samples have had other substances added to them. Reagents are chemicals that react to certain substances in certain ways. They produce a colour change that can be checked against a list of known reactions. One issue with reagents is that they can't detect the presence of multiple substances in a sample. This is why...

After 20 years of playing festivals here and everywhere, Fat Freddy’s have the drop on how to make the most of the occasion. Saxophonist Scott Towers shares his wisdom. What are you looking forward to this festival season? I guess it’s just having the option to go out as often as possible or as often as you want. That’s the thing I am excited about. And also getting out and supporting promoters and the industry. I’m really conscious that business has been really tough for the last couple of years. Costs have spiralled out of control and promoters can’t really pass that on so they are wearing it. If we want there to be a music and arts scene in New Zealand we need to get out and support them. Electric Avenue will be cool because I’ve never seen Lorde live and I’m really looking forward to that. It’s really different...

Event promoter and nightclub supremo Mitch Ryder has the gig of a lifetime this January – he’s getting married! And he hasn’t even worked out what he is wearing – “Haha I’m not sure, I haven’t even sorted my suit yet.” There’s no dilemma for the committed festival-goer though – he’s pre-loaded this season. “I’ve been all over the show this year. I went to Pitch Festival in Melbourne, ADE in Amsterdam...”Pitch Music & Arts Festival transforms a quiet patch of Victorian countryside into a haven of house, techno, disco and more. ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event) features over 1000 events and 2500 artists over five days in 200 clubs and venues in the Netherlands capital. Now it’s all work and wedding prep for Mitch. With Sam Smith, his partner in promoter Cream Events, he’s in full swing organising the Hidden Lakes festival in Hagley Park as well as its sister event,...

Remember RISE, the epic 2013 street art exhibition at Canterbury Museum that heralded the beginning of Christchurch’s reputation as an urban art capital? If you never got a chance to see it, hold onto your hats, because an even bigger, more epic collaborative exhibition is coming to Canterbury Museum in 2023. SHIFT: Urban Art Takeover will feature art from some of the most prolific street artists in Ōtautahi, New Zealand and around the world, painted directly on the internal walls, floors and ceiling of the almost-empty museum ahead of its closure for redevelopment. It will be staged across five floors and over 35 spaces inside the museum – including storerooms, corridors, offices, even the basement – that aren’t normally accessible to the public. Visitors will take a winding, two-hour journey through the museum, surrounded by urban art on all sides. All proceeds from the exhibition will go towards the museum’s $205...

Returning favourites Laser Kiwi, Pedro Tochas, Fraser Hooper, Kozo Kaos, Sport Suzie, Paul Klass and 55 times Guinness World Record holder Space Cowboy feature in the 2023 Bread & Circus World Buskers Festival, which takes to the streets and stages of Ōtautahi from 13 to 29 January, 2023. The festival will celebrate its 30th birthday with a programme of breath-taking busking and special events. Newcomers include modern clown duo The Twins Trip; award-winning and action-packed spy-fi comedy show Her Majesty’s Secret Service; and Jason Maher, street magician. As well as the much-loved street performances, special events in 2023 include the famous Festival Galas at the Isaac Theatre Royal. The fizzy Bread & Circus Brewery Tour returns, as does free street event the New Regent Street Spectacular. Headlining the 2023 festival is The Purple Rabbit. A perfect storm of world-class misfits will entertain in a ticketed evening of mischief, magic and mind-blowing...

An elegant, sprawling six-bedroom home in Fendalton has cleaned up at the Registered Master Builders House of the Year awards, taking away not only the grand National Supreme House of the Year prize in the over $1m category but nine regional awards as well, including the Regional Kitchen Excellence, Regional Outdoor Living and Regional Interior Design awards. In addition to its six bedrooms, the 924sqm estate boasts four bathrooms, three living areas, a bar, games room, eight-car garage and a swimming pool complete with changing rooms. Something as large as this must be carefully designed to sit in harmony with its surroundings and that goal has certainly been achieved here. Built by Metzger Builders and designed by O'Neil Architecture, the exterior of this home is clad in dark, contemporary tones, with low-slung rooflines and large cantilevered overhangs. The whole house reclines unobtrusively on its 3000sqm site. The interior is opulent but...

Three Boys Brewery recently took home the big Champion Exhibitor award, as well as 12 medals and a trophy at the New Zealand Beer Awards. Cityscape caught up with boss man Ralph Bungard. How did it feel to be awarded champion? It felt amazing! The Brewers’ Guild Beer Awards is a really big deal in our NZ industry. It’s the only awards where you really get to put yourself up for comparison to all the brewers in Aotearoa. To win anything on the night is an honour and something that brewers in New Zealand really look to judge where they are at in terms of beer quality. On the night we were just so excited about all the medals that we had received for the beers that we entered in the competition that we weren’t really concentrating when it came to the big one at the end of the night. To...

Craig ‘Shawsy’ Shaw doesn’t do half measures. His celebration schedule of festivals and concerts over the next few months is busier than some of the acts that will be playing there. “I’m going to the wine festival, the beer festival, Electric Avenue, Rufus du Sol in Auckland, Groove Armada in Auckland, Fat Boy Slim in Christchurch, Billy Joel in Auckland and Elton John in Christchurch.” Nothing definite yet but the keen festival punter and promoter might also be breaking out his DJ skills at a gig or three over the summer. FOMO is behind the gruelling list. “One thing I have learned over the last few years is to not put something off and take for granted that it will still be there later. The risk is too high that it won’t.” So Craig is seizing the days. “The list is a bit longer than usual because there’s so much available....

Christchurch artist Mim Jensen is fizzing about her summer. After gigging their way around the local live scene, Mim and her band are now on the festival circuit, playing the South Island Wine and Food Festival in December and Nostalgia in February. “These gigs will be the first festivals I’ve played so it feels like reaching an awesome milestone for me! They are really cool festivals too!” Mim is looking forward to reaching new fans, hanging out with other bands and creating new memories. “I’ve only been to a couple of small festivals in the past so it will be cool to have that new experience as an up-and-coming artist.” Following the festival gigs, it’s looking like a banger 2023 for Mim and her band. “We are opening for Great Gable for their whole New Zealand tour in February, which is super exciting! “I’m also releasing my debut album next year,...