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Try something new and different this American Express Restaurant Month

Press release
Thursday 5 Jul 2018

American Express Restaurant Month returns this August for 31 delicious days with a busy calendar of diverse events to entice a wide range of food lovers.  From Indian-style feasts and sake tasting, 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 the city centre.

Viv Beck, CEO of Heart of the City, says the new and different events generate lots of interest and enthusiasm from diners each year.

“We’re excited about the mix of restaurants and new events on offer. There really is no better time of the year to try something new and different. From foraging to cycling for your food, and with tastes from places as far flung as New Orleans, Tokyo and Marlborough, diners will be spoilt for choice!”

If you have an appetite for adventure, head along to a novel and 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 and earthy proteins (a smattering of bugs and cactus!) matched with wine and 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 enticing craft beer (and a drop of sake), join Ebisu Restaurant and Behemoth Brewery as they create a 5-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 worldwide), this will be an evening of carefully paired flavours with refreshing and intriguing drink matches to create an evening of delicate deliciousness.

Biru Ebisu – 28 August. Tickets are $150 per person for a 7-course dinner with matching craft beers and sake.

The options to partake in foodie paradise do not stop there. Mark these in your diary:

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’. Legend has it that the seventh daughter of the Heavens, a weaver fairy, fell so deeply in love with a human boy, the cowherd, that they neglected their heavenly and worldly duties and were forced to be apart. 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 #Foodography Dinner at the New Zealand School of Food & Wine shares the secrets to snapping food and drink pics, whilst styling (and eating) your own six-course dinner.

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 cycle ways and discover flavours from a fresh perspective with a progressive three-course dinner – on wheels.

For the full line-up and the latest up to date information head to www.heartofthecity.co.nz

-ENDS-

For more information or to arrange an interview with Heart of the City, please contact:

Rebecca Smith | Eleven PR

E:  rebecca.smith@elevenpr.co.nz

M: 021 632 671

Notes to editor:

Heart of the City is Auckland’s city centre business association, which champions a successful centre for businesses and a vibrant place to live, work and visit.

Lemongrass Productions Limited is the Official Event Managers of American Express Restaurant Month.

The event is proudly supported by headline sponsor American Express plus S. Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, Negociants NZ, and Church Road.