Food and Wine Discovery Tours for Foodies
Welcome to Finding Flavour, Auckland's specialist foodie
tour company
Come and join us on a food exploration tour in Auckland and
beyond. There are other foodies to meet, delicious cuisines
to discover and markets to shop on a Finding Flavour
tour. We take you to meet the people passionate about their
cuisine, and to markets and specialty food outlets which will
enable you to recreate authentic dishes at home.
Get a behind the scenes look at some of the Auckland
region's unique food and wine suppliers. We will enjoy
some delicious food tastings and of course, time for
shopping! Pick up useful cooking tips and ideas to take
home. You will be taken on a tour of discovery by experienced
guides who are also foodies.
Or learn to cook the freshest produce of the season at one of our
seasonal cooking classes. Savour delicious cuisines at our
special themed lunches. We have a foodie world to
discover!
Join us!
FINDING FLAVOUR will be at the AUCKLAND FOOD SHOW, 29 JULY-1
AUGUST. Come and visit us on Stand 216A (next to House of
Knives) and enter the draw to Win tickets for 2 places on a regular
Finding Flavour Foodie Day Tour!
Programme, June - December, 2010
Join us on one of our exciting upcoming foodie day tours,
lunches or cooking classes.
Sat 26
June World in
a Day Tour: North Shore Sold Out!
Tues 20 July Seasonal
Flavour Cooking Class:"Midwinter
(evening)
Moroccan"with Chef Sarah La
Touche Only 2 places left!
Thurs, 29 July - Auckland Food Show
-
Sun, 1 August Visit the Finding
Flavour stand 216a!
Sat 21 August World in a Day Tour:
Eastern Suburbs
Late September Seasonal Flavour Cooking Class:
(evening)
Spring with Chef Sarah La Touche
Sept TBA French
Food Discovery Tour with
Chef Sarah La Touche
Sat 16
Oct
New! World in a Day Tour: South
Auckland
Fri, 12
-
New! Inaugural Melbourne Foodie and
Sun, 14
Nov
Shopping Weekend
Sat, 27 Nov Gardens
for Foodies Tour
Sat, 4 Dec
Christmas Baking and Treats Tour
(and subject to demand Sat, 11 Dec)
New Coming in 2011.....
Christchurch Foodie Discovery Day Tour and
Hawkes Bay Foodie Discovery Day Tour.
Plus Wellington Foodie Discovery Day Tour and
Sydney and Melbourne Foodie
Weekends. Our great Auckland Discovery
Tours: Central, North, South, East and West
Suburbs. Cooking classes to inspire and special events will
highlight our upcoming year! Join us!
All tours/events subject to minimum numbers. Finding Flavour
reserves the right to amend/alter any tour/event if necessary.
Recent Event: "Mid-Winter Moroccan" Cooking Class with Sarah
La Touche, Tuesday evening, 20 July
The heavenly scent of spices greeted the enthusiastic foodies who
arrived for this Moroccan-themed cooking class. We nibbled on
a tasting platter of eggplant dip (baba ghanoush), buffalo yogurt
with olive oil, za'atar and Sarah's own walnut pesto accompanied
with flat breads and sipped Obsidian Chardonnay while everyone
arrived.
Pre-class
nibbles
Obsidian
Wines
Sarah proceeded to show us the secrets of a flavoursome lamb
tagine (the term applies both to the food and to the dish that it
cooks in). While this went into the oven to cook, Sarah
served us another one she had prepared earlier that
day.
The tagine, fragrant with an array of spices, was absolutely
delicious and we sipped Obsidian's Weeping Sands Montepulciano with
the main course. This was accompanied by two versions of
couscous with almonds, mint and coriander and a leafy green
salad.

Sarah with the Lamb Tagine
Medjool Date and Rhubarb Fool was our luscious dessert. The
traditional mint tea completed our meal.
Our luscious dessert

Yum!
"The tagine was absolutely divine, and the pudding a
delightful surprise," praised
class participant, Tamsin.
Thanks to Epicure Trading for giving us access to the Dish
taste kitchen, to Obsidian Wines for the accompanying wines and to
Dish for magazines for the class.
We were given lots of ideas for our Spring Class
to be held at the end of September, so plan to join us then for
something completely different!
Recent Event: World in a Day: North Shore Foodie Discovery
Tour, 26 June
"Lynn's relaxed and friendly manner, along with the
thoughtful little extras provided enhanced the enjoyment of this
foodie discovery tour in our own backyard." Judi
Thank you, Judi!
We held our breathe the day before this tour....the heavens had
truly opened up and it absolutely poured with rain. However,
in true Auckland fashion, the weather the next day was totally
different. Fine but with fog in the morning. It made
our travels even more of an adventure!
We headed to the furthest point first, to our favourite
maker/supplier of South African foods, located in Albany.
This is truly a family run business, and Fred himself was there to
meet with us. Sisters Alida and Aletta gave us a thorough
briefing on their quality products made on the premises, and of
course, we just had to taste their biltong, boerwoerst, melktarte
and koeksisters. The takeaway coffee helped to wash it all
down.

Next stop: Germany. We love helping our foodie friends
discover this artisan German baker in the heart of industrial
Glenfield. This bakery does a roaring trade with German
ex-pats, especially on Saturday, and we were lucky to be invited
into the bakery area itself to enjoy our tastings of these
delicious baked goods. The freshly made pretzels were a
revelation to many in the group.

On to the Middle East. Once again, the shop exteriors give no
clue to the foodie treasures inside. At the first shop,
Mohammed gave us a warm welcome and explained Halal meat to
us. At the second shop, located just to the rear of the
first, we entered the wonderful world of Middle Eastern spices,
dried fruits and nuts, dates and other delicious ingredients.
On our last tour to the North Shore, we visited a Korean restaurant
for lunch, and we enjoyed it so much that we decided to
return. Lunch included bibimbap, stir-fried beef with onions
and seafood and vegetable pancake, all accompanied by many
side-dishes. We tasted the kim-chi and then visited a Korean
supermarket to see where it could be purchased.

Our journey continued to a little slice of France in
Devonport. The historic building just adds to the ambience,
truly transporting the shopper overseas. Although we were
full (to say the least), we could not resist the sampling of Potage
St Germain, accompanied with the lightest bread "puff
balls".
What better way to end our travels than with a tasting of
chocolate? Owner of this boutique chocolate-making business,
Stephanie Everitt, took us through a tasting of Organic Blend,
Togoland and Caribbean sourced chocolate. We watched truffles
being made and chocolates being filled and sealed, then finished
our visit with a tasting of two new products from the "Honey Bon
Bons" collection: Horopito Truffle with Honey Centre and
Freeze-Dried Crushed Raspberry coated Honey Truffle.

Thanks to our foodie participants who made the day such fun, and
special thanks to the business owners who made us all so
welcome.
Our next "World in a Day" tour is to the Eastern Suburbs on 21
August, where we will visit a French artisan bakery, Italian food
and wine importer, UK butcher, Middle Eastern spice blend
maker, kitchenware shop and a well-known gourmet food
supermarket. Lunch will be at the fantastic Mexican
Specialities. Join Us!
Recent Event: Baking and Afternoon Tea with Alexa
Johnston, 8 May
Alexa welcomed the participants to this extremely popular
special event into her heritage villa and proceeded to bake and
chat away a chilly autumn afternoon. She prepared a number of
dishes from her best-selling cookbooks, including Honeymoon
Sandwiches, Savoury Cheese Dreams, Crunchy Apple Slice, French
Bonbons and more. Alexa had set her large dining table with
embroidered table cloths and bone china teacups and saucers, which
we sat around after Alexa's demonstration to enjoy a sumptuous
afternoon tea.
Alexa regaled the group with the stories behind the recipes and her
cookbooks, as well as giving us great baking tips along the
way. We eagerly await her next publication "What's for
Pudding?", being published in 2011.
Recent Event: Seasonal Flavour Autumn Cooking Class with
Sarah La Touche, 29 April
"Very well planned, generous with portions and
wine. Great length of time - very informative. Loved
the class. Thanks." Gillian, Class participant
"Loved her (Sarah's) natural style and she is just from the heart
which is refreshingly genuine." Class
participant
We were all in a convivial mood as we gathered to enjoy warming
autumn foods prepared for us by Sarah La Touche.
This was the first time that we used the kitchen of Epicure
Trading, and it worked a treat.
Participants were offered a glass of wine along with a
complimentary bag of hand-made Real Potato Crisps on arrival.
These crisps won a Cuisine Magazine artisan award, and they are a
delicious treat. Our thanks to the tream at Real Potato
Crisps for supplying them for our tour and class
participants. A copy of the current Dish magazine was also
given to each person.
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Welcome
table
Sarah preps for the class
Our entree was a recipe for poached baby leeks with a walnut
vinaigrette. Most of us had not tried cooking or eating baby
leeks before, and they were very mild and tender. Gillian was
a willing helper to Sarah as they tied the baby leeks into bundles
for serving.

Gillian and Sarah tie leek bundles....the finished dish of Baby
Leeks with Walnut Vinaigrette
The main dish was risotto, but unusual in that it was a risotto
made from pearled barley with cavalo nero. Again, not a dish
that many of us had tried or tasted before, and it was absolutely
delicious. Cavalo nero is a dark leafy green, but chard, kale
or spinach can also be used.
After all that healthy food it just had to be time for -
chocolate! Dessert was the most decadent, rich baked "Creme
au Chocolat". Serving tip: freshly grated orange zest
on the top.
During the evening we sipped a crisp Pinot Grigio and then sampled
a Montepulciano. Both went very well with the menu.
"Great for all the extra tips and insights to nutrition and
international experiences of Sarah." Class
participant
Thanks to our class participants for enjoying the evening with us,
and special thanks to Epicure Trading for allowing us to use their
test kitchen.
One suggestion made for our Winter Class was for
Moroccan food, and Sarah and I think that would be
perfect. Join us in July for our Seasonal Flavour Winter
Cooking Class when Sarah will prepare a fragrant and warming
tagine as part of a Moroccan/Middle Eastern menu.
Recent Inaugural Tour: World in a Day: Western Suburbs, 24
April
"An informative and wonderful day. Thank You. Really
enjoyed the ethnic/cultural experience." Sandy, tour
participant
We had a sold out tour for this first foray into Auckland's Western
Suburbs. Is it true that people are friendlier in the West? If
the hospitality that we enjoyed is anything to go by, then we would
absolutely agree!

Our first stop was at an artisan Swiss bakery. The choice was
wonderful...hazelnut filled pastry, sourdough and organic breads,
brezels (pretzels), quark cheesecake....and we loved the
tastings!
After a reviving coffee, we moved on to an importer of European
foods. The small retail shop located at the warehouse has an
excellent supply of smallgoods, cheeses, pasta, tomato
products....even dried cod. This friendly family-run business
was one of the first to import such products. We owe them a
big vote of thanks for taking action when they missed the flavours
of their heritage. Our cuisine is all the better for it.

We got to see into the warehouse.......and then tasted the
delicious products so generously provided by Vlasta.
I discovered an amazing small shop during my explorations,
which I just had to share with the group. So next we took a
short break from food shopping and tasting to journey to Italy and
shop for ceramics, glass jewellry and Venetian masks.

A short "pit stop" in a South African food importer, then onto an
importer of spices and foods for the cuisines of Pakistan, India,
Sri Lanka, the Middle East and Pacific Islands. We definitely
needed more time to explore the shop and learn about how to use
these products.

Spice and food shop Storeowners and Hosts Zia and Huma Quereshi and
daughter
Thanks to the recommendation of fellow-foodie Alexia Santamaria, we
enjoyed lunch at Auckland's best Malaysian restaurant. Again,
this family-run business gave us a warm welcome and the most
delicious food. Many of the group had not tried Malaysian
food before, so this was a new experience for them. The
cuisine is a merging of Malay, Nonya, Chinese, Thai, Chinese and
Indian influences. The hit surprise dish of the lunch was
Coffee Pork Chops!

A person always has room for ice cream, and no matter how full we
all were, we thoroughly enjoyed our tasting experience at this
award-winning ice cream maker.

Jane came in especially to open up the "factory" and tell us all
about this family-owned business. All the ingredients are
natural, and many are organic. Yes, we did taste all eight
flavours on offer!
The finale of our day of foodie discoveries was a tasting of
award-winning sherry and port. Again, a family-owned business
with a proud heritage.
Our thanks to all the businesses that we visited for giving us such
a warm welcome and sharing their passion for their food
products. We shall return!
"Thank You, was a real treat. Well Done."
Louise.
"Well organised, friendly hosts and beautiful food."
Johanna.
Recent Visit to Melbourne and the Food Festival, 18-21
March
What could be more fun for a foodie than a visit to
Melbourne? A visit to Melbourne during their annual Food
Festival!
I spent four glorious days exploring, shopping and eating my way
around this cosmopolitan city. My good friend, chef/caterer
Judy Leach from Sydney, joined me in this endeavour, so we were
"double trouble". I did have my fellow Kiwi foodies in mind
while I checked out the city - I visited lots of "best
of" shops and markets with a view to coming back with a group in
(maybe) November. Anyone interested? Let me know!
Here is some of my Melbourne weekend in photos....

I headed south to South Yarra and Prahan. First up was a bite
of lunch at the very trendy and delicious Oriental Tea Shop.
They are known for their fab decor and innovative yum cha
menu. The front of house is a retail area selling almost
every kind of tea you could want.
My next discovery was a shop
specialising in olive oils, called "Oliveria". The oil is
stored in metal containers, and you can purchase oil in varying
amounts. I wish I had purchased their truffle oil...it was
very well priced. Next door at "Brioche by Philip"
bakery, I picked up a loaf of bread which has a texture and flavour
which is a cross between brioche and a croissant. It was
perfect toasted for breakfast.
The highlight of the afternoon was a tour of the Prahan
Market. This is Melbourne's second-oldest market and is less
well-known than its famous cousin, the Victoria Markets. The
Prahan Market is much smaller, but has a very quality, specialist
produce orientation (as befits the surrounding
neighbourhoods!). I was in good company on the tour -
included in our little group was Martin Bosely from Wellington and
one of the world's most-read foodie bloggers, Pim
Techamuanvivit, who were in town for the Festival.

The Prahan Market is home to many specialist stall-holders,
including a potato stall owned and operated by the same family for
over 130 years! One stall specialised in nuts and dried
fruit, where I saw wild dried figs for the first time.
That evening Judy Leach and I did a tasting tour of several
fantastic tapas bars, including "Spice Market" with mezze by Greg
Malouf and the wildly popular "MoVida Next Door".
After breakfast at "Cumulus", on Friday we explored the
Carlton/Fitzroy areas of Melbourne, with a quick trip through some
of the downtown arcades. Judy had never visited the Queen
Victoria Market, so we headed there first...only 5 minutes from the
CBD. It really is impressive and is just huge, covering a
whole block. This market includes non-food items (unlike
Prahan which is food only). We did a quick stop in a cookware
shop and then walked to an award-winning Sicilian Bakery, where
Marianna di Bartolo creates sweet delicacies from her Sicilian
heritage. Both Judy and I purchased a selection of the
biscuits to take home.

The perfect "chaser" to the sweets was a coffee at "Seven Seeds",
well-known to Melbourne's coffee afficionados. Next we headed
for "Books for Cooks". How I have missed visiting this shop
on previous trips to Melbourne, I will never know! Room after
room of cookbooks, a real delight. Then back on the trams to
our most exciting find of the day - "Casa Iberica". If you
want to walk into a shop that has authentic Spanish ingredients ,
then this is it! Hams hanging from the ceiling, lots of
chatter, shelves stacked with goodies for the home cook:

Is it any wonder that after all this exploring and
shopping Judy and I needed a restoring glass of bubbles and a
bite to eat at the ever-wonderful David Jones Food Hall?
Judy and I had agreed to "push the boat out" for dinner one
evening, and tonight was it! We had a reservation for the
"cutting edge" Greek restaurant, "The Press Club", created by
George Caloumbaris of Australian Master Chef fame. We opted
for the full degustation menu with matching wines. What can
we say about our meal? Brilliant? Delicious?
Challenging? Filling!! Eight very ample courses later,
Judy and I were begging for mercy.....not a bite more!

Here is just one of the dishes....and the Grand Finale Dessert,
which came complete with an atomiser spritzing of rose water (on
us, not the dessert!).
Come Saturday I was more than happy to have a day's break from our
explorations for a day of Food Festival Master Classes. My
selections were Peter Gilmore of Sydney's Quay restaurant,
Thomasina Miers of London's Wahaca Mexicana cantina, Massimo
Bottura from Modena, Italy and David Chang, a "rock star"
Korean-American chef from New York. All were wonderful.
Thomasina inspired me to explore authentic Mexican cooking and
Massimo Bottura presented the most challenging food tastes of the
day.
The absolute tasting highlight of the day (and I have heard of the
classes) was his foie gras "ice block". Think a small block
of foie gras, filled with the best aged balsamic, then coated with
toasted chopped hazelnuts and almonds from Italy. This was
presented on a wooden stick, a la ice block, and eaten in one
extremely decadent and delicious bite. Just
astounding! No wonder his restaurant has two Michelin
stars!
True to his creative nature, Massimo spontaneously created a
risotto dish in honour of his visit to Australia, which resulted in
a line up of chefs plating the food for the crowd of 200, and a
line of staff waiting to serve it. No one seemed to mind that
our session ran 30 minutes over time!
The evening called for something light but delicious for
dinner...and we found the perfect location at "Coda". Why is
it that Melbourne seems to have such successful restaurants located
down alleyways and in basements? It makes going out a real
adventure!
Sunday dawned another beautiful day, so I made the most of it
exploring and checking out (most of ) all the places that I had
missed so far. Here is a tip for those of you visiting
Melbourne on a Sunday: purchase the all-day transit pass for
only AU$3.10 and travel on any tram, train or bus for the whole
day. A real deal and believe me, I made good use of it
!
One of Melbourne's
arcades
Interested in joining me on a weekend exploring Melbourne's
foodie delights in November? Just send me an email, and if we
have a minimum of three people booking, we are off!
Email lynn@findingflavour.co.nz
Recent Event: Wellington and Petone Foodie Discovery Day
Tour, Saturday, 6 March
"Fantastic day - experienced wonderful tastes from around the
world. Thank you for a wonderful experience."
Feedback from one of the tour participants....just the
experience that I was hoping our group would have, especially since
most of them had made the trip especially from Auckland for this
tour!
The weather gods were smiling on us at we explored the foodie
scene in our capital city. Forecasts for clouds and winds did
not eventuate, and we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day in Wellington
and the trendy suburb of Petone.
Any foodie tour of Wellington must include a visit to their premier
food supplier conveniently located in the central city. Terry
kindly met us and provided a tasting of specialty food products
from Wellington and surrounding regions: Kingsmead Ngawi
brie, Linkwater cheddar, Arobake honey and walnut leaf, Wairarapa
gold olive oil, Mela apple juice, Ruth Pretty tomato chilli jam,
Rutherford and Meyer wafers, Aromatics smoked mushrooms and
Harringtons pepperoni salami. We ate it all!

It is so interesting to see products from suppliers not usually
seen in Auckland...and great that a large food retailer is
supporting the local growers and food makers. (No prizes if
you guessed that our first stop was at the outstanding Moore
Wilson's Fresh!)
Time for coffee....at a specialist coffee brew bar featuring nine
single origin coffees and four brew methods! Charlie and Ben
guided us through all the choices and made their
recommendations.

Our coffee
"guides" This
paper cone system looks familiar!
On to Petone....where we started by visiting a Dutch food importer
(more tastings!), a spice shop and a cookbook shop on Jackson
Street. Then a little free time to explore some of the
other interesting shops.

Gouda cheese tasting
Lunch just had to be at a very popular Italian food importer
whose restaurant is always full to overflowing. The
philosophy of owner/founder Antonio Cacace is to use the freshest
and best of Italian and New Zealand ingredients. We can
attest that it is a delicious philosophy! Our lunch included
linguine with clams, ravioli stuffed with pork and beef (the hit
dish of the lunch), grilled vegetables and the most delicious
seasonal salad of fresh peaches, tomatoes, walnuts and shredded
basil.

Buono
Appetito! Some
of our delicious lunch
One last stop....at a treaure chest of a specialist food
importer/supplier. We were given a warm welcome by Stephen
and his team, and plied with coffee and tastings of all kinds,
including a selection of unusual salamis and sausages.

Stephen plying us with more food! Just some of the
salamis and sausages for sale
Fortunately this was our last stop of the day....I don't think many
of us had room to taste another thing!
"A thoroughly enjoyable day. Thank You." Feedback
from tour participant Liz.
Join us next year when we return to Wellington for another
delicious foodie tour! And watch out for possible day tours
in Nelson or Napier/Hawkes Bay!