Kitchen Day Podcast

There are roughly 420 Masters of Wine in the world, and Wellington has one of them. This week on The Kitchen Day Podcast, I sit down with Stephen Wong MW, a Master of Wine, wine educator, consultant, and judge. If you’ve ever wondered what it actually takes to become a Master of Wine, this conversation breaks it down, from the famously difficult MW exam to the years of blind tasting, study, and repetition behind it (spoiler: it’s absurdly hard).

Stephen’s path into wine and hospitality started in New Zealand hospo almost by accident and evolved into an international career in wine education, wine judging, and restaurant wine list consultancy. We talk about the realities of working in hospitality, how professional wine tasting actually works, what wine judges look for in global wine competitions, and how New Zealand wine culture and wine service have changed over the past two decades.

We also get into blind wine tasting technique, building a palate, the difference between tasting like a sommelier vs tasting like a “detective”, and what makes a great wine list in restaurants.

Inspired by the Three Fates episode on the Not Serious Wine Chats podcast, we finish with a live tasting of Domaine Vincent Dauvissat Chablis 2019, putting Master of Wine-level sensory analysis into practice in real time. Pour yourself a glass of something tasty and join us for this deep dive into wine education, hospitality, and the Master of Wine journey.

The Kitchen Day podcast is proudly supported by Droppah - the go-to rostering software for hospitality. A huge thank you to the team at Coffee Supreme and Craggy Range for their continued support of our show.

If you enjoyed this chat, leave us a comment below, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

Ismo Koski - or Mo, as he’s known in hospo circles -  is one of Aotearoa’s most respected front-of-house operators. He came up through the city's most influential fine-dining rooms, including The Grove, Sidart, and the French Café under Simon Wright and Creghan Molloy-Wright, before opening the iconic Apéro on K'Road with his partner, chef Leslie Hottiaux.

Twelve years on, Apéro is the restaurant every restaurateur wishes was theirs. A brick-walled wine bar behind a small door on Karangahape Road, built on 90k and a vision board scrawled in Mo's dad's garage.

Mo and Les have realised a long-held dream together, and they've done it entirely on their own terms. In this conversation, Mo shares how Apéro came to be, what he learned in fine dining that still shapes how he runs a casual room, and the decision that changed everything for his family. We talk about hiring, service, online reviews, Michelin, and what it actually feels like to own a beloved restaurant after more than a decade.

Kitchen Day is proudly supported by Droppah, our season sponsor. Thanks also to Coffee Supreme and Craggy Range for their ongoing support of the show and the wider hospitality industry. This episode was filmed at San Ray on Ponsonby Road, Auckland, and our Auckland recording trip was supported by the team at Hotel Indigo.

I’m delighted to bring you this conversation with none other than Hannah Wells, the charming owner of Wellington’s beloved hidden wine bar Puffin. With a background in design, Hannah came into hospitality with a strong sense of feel and intention, and opened Puffin at exactly the right moment, backing herself to create something small, considered, and entirely her own.

This is a conversation about trusting your taste and building from there. We talk about making the leap into ownership, creating a space that people genuinely want to be in, and putting together a team that reflects that energy. There’s plenty in here on biodynamic wine too, what draws Hannah to it, what she hopes for the future of the industry in New Zealand, and why more people should be open to a slightly wild glass of what she calls purple jet plane wine!

A huge thanks to the rostering gods at Droppah for backing Season 2 of The Kitchen Day Podcast.

We also couldn’t do this without the support of the team at Coffee Supreme and Craggy Range. These guys love hospo as much as we do. 

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe wherever you listen and send it to someone who’d get something out of it. It makes a bigger difference than you think ✌️

An art history major who took a shift at Cazador at 18 and never really left.

Two decades on, Rebecca Smidt now owns and runs Cazador, the Cazador deli next door, and San Ray on Ponsonby Road with her partner Dariush. Three very different venues, all with their own identity, all built the hard way.

This is a wide-ranging, honest conversation about what it actually takes to run serious restaurants in Aotearoa right now.

We get into the Noma exposé and why it didn’t shock her, the limits of the Michelin framework, and the year they took BYO off the menu at Cazador and watched the room empty out. There’s the deli opening three weeks before the world shut down, the long road to getting San Ray right, and a Sydney trip that reshaped how she thinks about scale.

We also talk about where hospitality is heading. Why Bex is optimistic about AI and automation. Why a properly costed flat white is closer to nine dollars than five. And what “good service” actually means when you strip it back.

It’s a great conversation with one of the most thoughtful operators in the country.Big thanks to Droppah for backing Season 2 of The Kitchen Day Podcast.

We also couldn’t do this without the support of the team at Coffee Supreme and Craggy Range. These are people who genuinely care about hospitality and the people in it.

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe wherever you listen and send it to someone who’d get something out of it. It makes a bigger difference than you think ✌️

In this episode of The Kitchen Day Podcast, I chat with Tait Burge and William Bridewell Roberts, two of the most driven, humble, and exciting entrepreneurs in New Zealand right now. These guys started out with a simple obsession: to make the perfect flat white. Fast forward to today, and they’re behind one of the most influential coffee empires the country has ever seen. And trust me, they’re just getting started.

In this conversation, Tait shares how his relentless dream to craft a perfect cup of coffee led to the creation of Swimsuit. What started with one location on Dixon Street in 2019 has now expanded into four venues, and their brand has become something way bigger than just great coffee. From the beginning, Tait and Willy have merged coffee with music, fashion, art, and events in a way that feels completely natural They’ve built something that taps into so much more than just the hospitality world.

But what really stands out to me is their approach to team culture. Tait and Willy have gone above and beyond to create a supportive and growth-focused environment for their staff. They care deeply about looking after their team, and it’s obvious in the way they talk about them. They’re all about developing people and creating a space where everyone feels valued and encouraged to grow. It’s this mindset that I believe is at the core of their success, and it's clear from chatting with them that their humility and genuine care for others are big reasons why Swimsuit has thrived.

This conversation was an absolute pleasure to have, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Special Thanks:

Big shout-out to Angie, Pete, and the team at Droppah for sponsoring this season of The Kitchen Day Podcast. We also couldn’t do what we do without the legends Coffee Supreme and Craggy Range, thank you for your ongoing support!

In this episode, we sit down with the incredible Renee Coulter, co-founder of Coco’s Cantina and one of the most influential voices in Auckland hospitality.

Opened with her sister Damaris in 2009, Coco’s Cantina was always intended to be more than a restaurant. It’s a place built on care, where generosity extends beyond the plate to staff, regulars, and the wider community. A true K’ Road institution, and a living example of what heart-led hospitality can look like.

To this day, there are very few venues in Aotearoa as deeply woven into the fabric of their city as Coco’s.

Renee is a force, thoughtful, generous, and deeply committed to doing things differently. This is a conversation about building something that lasts, leading with care, and creating spaces where people feel they belong.

—

A huge thank you to Angie, Pete and the team at Droppah for sponsoring this season of The Kitchen Day Podcast.

A classy tip o’ the hat to our good friends at Coffee Supreme and Craggy Range for their ongoing support.

This episode was filmed upstairs in the private dining room at San Ray on Ponsonby Road. 

Season 2 starts here - and we’re kicking things off with one of the true heavyweights of the New Zealand hospitality industry.

In this episode, we sit down with Mike Egan, President of the Restaurant Association of New Zealand and a modern-day restaurateur whose work has helped shape the restaurant scene in Wellington and across Aotearoa. This is a conversation about what actually stands the test of time: building strong team culture in hospitality, running successful restaurants, and why consistency - not perfection - is the real aim of our game.

We get into Mike’s early days (including a wild Bluff oyster story), the thinking behind some of Wellington’s most iconic restaurants, and the lessons that only come from decades spent in service in the restaurant industry. From leadership and staff retention to changing customer behaviour and the future of dining in New Zealand, this one’s full of perspective.

A big thank you to our season partner Droppah , the go-to rostering tool for hospitality teams who want to run better services. And to our friends at Coffee Supreme and Craggy Range. for their continued support of Kitchen Day.

If you work in hospitality, or are building a venue of your own, or if you simply love partaking in this vibrant industry and fancy a little look behind the scenes, this conversation is for you.

Head to our website www.kitchenday.co.nz to listen to the full episode, and subscribe to get each conversation delivered straight to your inbox each week. And if you got something from this ep, share it with your team, give it a like, and subscribe to the channel - all those clicks help us to keep telling these stories. ✌️

Roger Young is a true Cuba Street original - a hospitality rockstar whose venues helped shape the soul of Wellington. In this episode, Roger shares the wild, funny, and fearless stories behind building iconic spots like Little Gringo’s and Fidel’s, from scraping by in the early days to creating places that would become cultural institutions.

With no regrets and no filter, Roger talks about the chaos of hospitality, the importance of community, and why creativity and authenticity matter more than scale. He reflects on the risks he took, the lessons learned from decades in the industry, and a dramatic boating accident that mirrors the pressure and unpredictability of life in hospitality.

This is a candid, big-hearted conversation about resilience, storytelling, and what it really takes to build something that lasts - on Cuba Street and in life.

🔔 

The Kitchen Day Podcast is sponsored by ⁠Boring Oat Milk⁠, a New Zealand owned company making oat milk right here in Aotearoa, from NZ grown oats.

We'd also like to thank the good folks at ⁠Upstock⁠ - if you buy or sell wholesale, this app has all your invoicing, ordering, logistics and payments in one place.

We're supported by the team at ⁠Droppah⁠. Droppah takes the chaos out of scheduling with smart, skills-based rostering that helps you get the right people on, at the right time.

As always, we film pre-service at ⁠Loretta⁠ Restaurant, and our podcast is recorded and produced by Jono Tucker at ⁠Empire Films⁠.

Thanks for listening!

Hey! Dom here. This isn't an ad, but I have a favour to ask! I'd love your feedback on Season 1 of the Kitchen Day Podcast. It'll only take 3 minutes of your time, but it'll help us shape Season 2. Tell me what you're loving, and what you'd like to hear more of in future episodes!

SURVEY HERE - ⁠forms.gle/YJQeJ7fMM4WBSXWN9

In this episode, we sit down with Kate McMillan Hutchison of the iconic Wellington establishment Capitol, to talk about her journey into hospitality and how that path has changed over time. Kate shares how she first found her way into the industry, the role her education played in shaping how she thinks about service, and why hospitality became a place where she felt a real sense of belonging.

From there, the conversation moves into what happens when you add parenthood and partnership into the mix, and how returning to the floor can shift your sense of identity in ways you don’t always expect. We talk honestly about the day-to-day realities of working in hospitality while raising a family, the importance of strong support systems at work and at home, and what it takes to care for guests and teams at the same time.

Kate also reflects on Wellington’s hospitality community, the impact of COVID-19, changing expectations around sustainability, and why valuing the people who work in hospitality really matters. It’s a grounded, open chat about service, care, and finding a way to make hospitality work across the different seasons of one's life.

🔔 

The Kitchen Day Podcast is sponsored by Boring Oat Milk, a New Zealand owned company making oat milk right here in Aotearoa, from NZ grown oats.

We'd also like to thank the good folks at Upstock - if you buy or sell wholesale, this app has all your invoicing, ordering, logistics and payments in one place.

We're supported by the team at Droppah. Droppah takes the chaos out of scheduling with smart, skills-based rostering that helps you get the right people on, at the right time.

As always, we film pre-service at Loretta Restaurant, and our podcast is recorded and produced by Jono Tucker at Empire Films.

Thanks for listening!

Hey! Dom here. This isn't an ad, but I have a favour to ask! I'd love your feedback on Season 1 of the Kitchen Day Podcast. It'll only take 3 minutes of your time, but it'll help us shape Season 2. Tell me what you're loving, and what you'd like to hear more of in future episodes!

SURVEY HERE - forms.gle/YJQeJ7fMM4WBSXWN9

In this episode of The Kitchen Day Podcast, we sit down with hospitality legend Steve Logan, co-founder of Wellington’s iconic Logan Brown restaurant. With over 40 years in the hospitality industry, Steve shares his story of building one of New Zealand’s most respected dining rooms and what it really takes to build a legacy that lasts.

We talk about opening Logan Brown with confidence, why hiring for personality matters more than experience, and how genuine care for guests is at the heart of everything they do. Steve also reflects on the challenges of running a top restaurant through changing dining trends, the impact of tourism, and navigating COVID - along with the importance of team culture and community connection.

It’s a relaxed, insightful conversation packed with real-world lessons on hospitality, leadership, and creating memorable dining experiences.

 🔔

We're sponsored by the excellent folk at Boring Oat Milk. Not only does it make a mean flat white, but also Boring is a New Zealand company, making oat milk here in Aotearoa, from New Zealand grown oats.

Today's episode is sponsored by the team at Upstock - taking the hassle out of wholesale buy/sell, with all your ordering, invoicing, payments and logistics in one handy app.

We're also supported by the team at Droppah. These guys are the rostering pros - taking all the stress out of staff scheduling, they serve up rosters that just make sense.

We record pre-service at Loretta on Cuba Street, and our show is filmed and produced by Jono Tucker at Empire Films.

Thanks for listening!