I feel like Goldilocks. No, there aren’t three bears about to give me the fright of my  life but I am soaking in a mineral spa and then a few minutes later get up to try the jacuzzi. Finding the porridge -I mean the water too hot I get back in the mineral spa only to recline in a lounge by the pool feeling relaxed and prepped for my upcoming massage. Ahh this is juuust right. I am at Wai Ora spa whose latest awards including Best Luxury Spa Group and Best Luxury Mineral Springs Spa at the World Luxury Spa awards. They specialise in using geothermal mud from Hells Gate in Rotorua.

The 41°-43°C mineral spring bath that I have just hopped out of is filled with spring water mixed with a combination of minerals like sulfur taken from Hell’s Gate and the effect is said to be excellent for skin allergies much like the mud baths are but without using the mud. Every 10 minutes or so, Nui the spa manager checks on me to see how I’m doing and to offer me water. You see you can really only sit in the mineral spa for 20-30 minutes at a time(20 minutes for Hell’s Gate mud bath).

Prior to my treatment I have an infusion of Manuka tea leaves before my Miri-miri massage which is a massage done using traditional Maori techniques.  It’s a relaxation massage that focuses on light massage on the upper tissue layers and focuses on muscle healing in a gentle way and is ideal for pregnant women and they can have this massage until 7-8 months pregnant.

My therapist Richelle uses their house brand Alite on me and it is a range that is not perfumed and without flower essences as they found that many people are allergic to fragrances (me included). For the hour long massage she does extensive work on my upper back which is knotted from travel and also includes a facial and head massage in the process.

Before I know it, my massage is over and I sit up and the tension and knots have faded away to nothing. I get up and float down the hall and get changed. Outside waiting for me is a platter of bread, crackers, cheeses, ham, turkey and divine salmon as well as fruit, caramelised onion jam, pickle salad, green salad as well as dukkah and two flavoured oils. The salmon is my favourite and I enjoy this along with the aged cheddar, crackers and salad.

I promptly book an express pedicure-the spa is open late and there are several therapists and nine therapy rooms and with just 30 suites at the hotel there is a high ratio of spa treatment rooms per guest. This was done deliberately by owner Bryan Hughes because he has travelled the world and realised that many resort or hotel spas are small and only have one or two therapists and as a result are hard to get into (very true). And after I get changed I’m off to dinner at the multi award wining Mokoia restaurant downstairs with him tonight.

The restaurant is named after Mokoia Island which is a wildlife sanctuary that dates back to 1350AD. Bryan’s ancestry is half Maori and half Welsh and his tribe owns one quarter of this island as well as outright owning Hell’s Gate or Tikitere which is a geothermal park and mud spa. It was so named by George Bernard Shaw who saw the steam rising and thought that it was the gateway to hell! With ownership also comes “guardianship” which means looking after the land.

The menu here at Mokoia restaurant is fine dining and on every table is a sign about how they are part of a Silver Fern farms initiative and they are the exclusive restaurant for local venison, beef and lamb.  There are Maori ingredients like kawakwawa (a native peppermint), horopito pepper and New Zealand piripiri (not South African) in the dukkah. The table wine is by Tohu wine which means “The Mark” in Maori and every year they make one to honour a chief from their rich history and make a wine based on the chief’s characteristics and personality.

Open for three years now, Bryan strives to define Maori hospitality or true hosting. As Wai Ora is out of town, any guests are dropped in to and picked up from town as part of the service and if they want breakfast at 10pm they can have it then.  But back to the dinner! You can eat a la carte or they have introduced a tasting style way of eating where you can choose three of the entrees or mains and you get a sharing plate with two smaller portions of each of the dishes allowing you to try more. There is also a full vegetarian vegan menu available.

Mini loaf of gourmet rewana with whipped garlic butter $9.50

We start with breads, all baked on the premises. The rewana bread is a potato bread which I recall liking immensely the last time I had it. It comes as a mini loaf with whipped garlic butter, a home made mango and a kawa kawa melon relish. The loaf is warm and buttery and on top is a deep fried kawa kawa leaf. It’s hard to say no to a second piece.

Toasted foccacia with puri piri dukkah, pikipiko pesto and tomato oil $9.50

The focaccia is coated in herbs and comes with a piri piri dukkah as well as two oils: a tomato oil and a piko piko (edible curled fern) pesto oil  which has a flavour like a basil pesto. They get all of their native ingredients from Mokoia island which spans 760 acres. There they track nine kiwi birds-and did you know that it is the male kiwi birds that sit on the eggs for sometimes up to 100  days? Random interesting fact!

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Hello Readers! I’m off to visit another country today and of course the first step to a visit is to get on a plane. Speaking of, have you ever wondered what a First Class airline lounge looks like? I have always wanted to know what a $20,000 airline ticket buys you access to. So when we were travelling to New Zealand with Relais & Chateaux to visit some of their best lodges the country had to offer and we learned that we were flying Qantas Business Class and were offered a chance to check out the First Class lounge we jumped at it.

Designed by Marc Newson it is nothing like I what I expected. I had expected something along the lines of Donald Trump’s Trump Tower (without the crazy man with the birth certificate issues). All gold and I think an episode of The Simpsons imprinted a fountain and a swan in my mind somewhere. The Newson designed lounge is all sleek lines in pattern reflecting the airline wings. There are luxurious touches though and they come via little surprises such as the leather tiles in the library which are said to wear our so easily that they need to be replaced every three years.

The spa treatment area is a first class lounge only perk and passengers get a one hour treatment per person from the menu. They are contacted the day before they fly to be offered this and the spa is so busy that passengers can’t walk in for a treatment. Although for $20,000 a ticket, I would want more than an hour’s treatment! They couldn’t pry me out to there…

We sit down for breakfast and try the food on offer. Designed by Neil Perry there is a buffet of items to choose from but breakfast is table service. There are four very good champagnes on offer which we start with as well as a freshly squeezed orange juice. The breakfast offerings are similar to what you might find at a cafe and all eggs are organic there are items such as egg white omelettes as well as eggs benedict, porridge etc.

Organic oat porridge with banana, seeds, nuts and white clover honey

Although I usually go for eggs for breakfast and have to be in the mood to have porridge (Winter usually does the trick) this porridge is definitely one of the picks for breakfast. Nubbly with seeds and nuts the porridge is as Goldilocks would say “juuust right” in terms of sweetness.

Egg white omelette with vine ripened tomato, ricotta and chives

The egg white omelette ordered out of curiosity and to save some calories is excellent with the right amount of flavour and seasoning. I sometimes find egg white omelettes can be bland but this has plenty of flavour from the tomato, ricotta and chives.

A side plate of smoked salmon and Schulz’s bacon is ordered to go with the egg white omelette (low carb eating and all!) and the smoked salmon is particularly good. Note no brown bits on the salmon so it is premium quality.

Scrambled organic eggs with field mushrooms and Schulz’s bacon

We watch the view of the aircraft that we are to take and we test out their first class service. When you check into the lounge they take your boarding pass and they are supposed to alert you when your flight is ready to board you. We sit there waiting nervously seeing the time tick by wondering if they will let us know. It gets frighteningly close to take off time so we move ourselves just as they approach us and make a bit of a mad dash to the gate which is frustratingly close by but we have to walk down quite a few gates to get there from the lounge. Those in our group flying business class aren’t getting paged but the economy passengers are which is interesting! I guess you fly business not to be bothered!

For the short flight to New Zealand, there is no first class service and business is the highest grade available. I get a seat in the first row and when they close the curtain I am reminded of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry flies in First class and Elaine in Economy.

We’re offered champagne or juice while we settle in for take off and I opt for something soft (I know, shame on me!). The entertainment kicks in and I pop on my noise cancelling headphones and drift off calmly. The thing about business class is that they leave you alone. I find that with economy you get bothered by all sorts of things, people getting in and out and just other things but here they leave you alone. I suppose they think that you might be a busy business traveller who needs to think of important businessey things like global takeovers etc.

Smoked ocean trout with herbed orzo salad and caper dressing

This was my sort of entree. I do think that for business and first class they need to make the meals distinct and serving them on proper plates instead of the rectangular trays is one good way and the little tablecloth is another (although putting a tray on top of the tablecloth doesn’t seem necessary. The very generous portion of smoked salmon is excellent quality and the herby orzo salad has a lovely crunch in it from the lightly blanched vegetables. Oh and before I forget, the cutlery and cups are designed by Marc Newson too and the cutlery is made by Alessi.

Beef fillet with mushroom sauce, rosemary and thyme butter, potato puree and broccolini

I know I shouldn’t have ordered the steak as that is often the hardest thing for an airline to do but I was hoping that they would rise to the occasion. Presentation wise this would have been nicer on a proper plate and not a rectangular tray. My high from the entree is deflated as I cut through the steak to find it totally cooked through and quite difficult to cut and the mushroom sauce gives it an unappetising grey shade. And although I love butter there is just too much of it on the broccolini-you can probably see it on the left hand side. I should have gone with the non steak option but you know me, I live in hope! I should note that my travelling companions in economy were quite happy with their food although I didn’t further the Jerry Elaine Seinfeld experience by going back there and seeing what it was like.

Maggie Beer ice cream and almond bread

I do love this trend that airlines have for giving ice cream for dessert instead of the mystery panna cotta/bavarois/cake square that they usually serve. We were served the famous and divine Maggie Beer burnt fig, honeycomb and caramel ice cream along with an almond biscotti.

I amuse myself with the entertainment system and my iPad and before we know it, we’ve touched down in Auckland and on the way lost a couple of hours so it’s late in the afternoon. Our driver collects us from the airport and we take the drive to our accommodation.

I’m feeling dramatic. Allow me to explain why and why my feeling dramatic is more likely to take the form of accidentally flinging food (see prawn cutlet incident) than breaking out in song. We’ve checked in to Mollies, a luxurious hotel in Auckland and there’s an opera singer singing his talented heart out in front of me in what they call musical h’ors deauvres. There are some 250 candles lit, flame swaying and glowing and around us surround thick curtains, enormous vases, long, slender art deco champagne glasses and sweeping flower arrangements that I would swear would rival Elton John’s florist’s bill. I expect a diva to join bass baritone Moses Mackay any minute now.

I’m touring around New Zealand’s top properties as a guest of Relais & Chateaux which is an association of hoteliers much like the Michelin guide is to food, Relais & Chateaux is to hotels. They’re not that widely known in Australia yet and a part of that is because there are only very few properties that are part of the Relais & Chateaux group. The standards are strict and the membership terms include details such as room size, ideal temperature for the room between 19-24C, a turndown service, being offered refreshment upon arrival, down to minor details such as “Elegant toothbrush glasses (if possible made of glass)” and placement of power sockets!

In fact Beyonce and Jay Z recently booked out the entire of Mollies and stayed in the room next to mine. Each of the 13 suites at Mollies is decorated differently. And I know, that raises some concerns with me as sometimes some rooms don’t get as nice a treatment as others but when we’re shown room after room any concerns about drawing the short straw are rendered invalid.

It’s all the doing of one of Mollie’s owners Frances, daughter of the original owner Mollie who back then called this the Harbour Bridge Guest House and formerly the residence of Auckland’s first mayor. She’s the musical link and provider of drama via deft decoration and we go from room to room carressing surfaces and oohing and aahing over details.

It is all decorated by Frances – half using existing items and half using things that she liked to collect over the years from when she was a teenager living in London to later in Europe and New York. Plus there is that stunning view of Auckland Harbour which is not too shabby at all.

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It’s usually a bit of a battle to get Mr NQN to go along to a cooking class. He’s innately resistant to the idea of cooking but the lure of a cooking class at Peter Gordon’s restaurant Dine was hard for him to resist as he considers the meal cooked by him at Longrain among his favourites.  Peter Gordon is one of NZ’s most successful chefs and  one of most famous chef that they’ve exported. He does a mixture of Asian fusion cuisine and owns The Providores in London as well as being the former owner of the Sugar Club.

His restaurant Dine by Peter Gordon sits in the SkyCity Grand Hotel where we’re staying. It’s an early start this Sunday morning at 8:30am and the class is to conclude at 2:30pm after a spot of lunch-that we cook ourselves!

Sous Chef Nancye Pirini

We’re greeted by the offer of a cup of coffee or tea by Gregory, the maitre’d.  He hands us a striped apron and invites us into the kitchen where Nanyce and Giann introduce themselves. Nancye is the sous chef here and Giann works with her and they have a great rapport between them. She tells us that the kitchen itself is like a Fishtank so they are constantly being watched (which also spurs them to call each other names from Finding Nemo). Do they ever get people knocking on the window? All the time apparently including the host of Whose Line is It Anyway Wayne Brady who was staying at the hotel.

They show us the mise en place with the ingredients that we are to use today. Most of them are familiar albeit in a slightly different context than we’re used to. The first item is the plantain for which Nancye shows us two varieties, a long one and a short one the size of a sugar banana. The larger one has a more potato like taste to it whereas the smaller one has more flavour to it.

She shows us the tamarind paste that she makes up by mixing it with boiling water and allowing it to break then and then purees and sieves it. This can last for a long time in the fridge if the very top is covered with cling wrap. There are also wood ear mushrooms which have been rehydrated as well as gai larn.

Wood ear mushrooms

Rehydrated!

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