Lolabar - Ponsonbys classiest watering hole

This is a newish spot in Ponsonby, and while it was the first time I'd been there a week or so ago it definitely won't be the last. Sebastian is the helpful bar manager (god knows where he's from but he has a pretty strong accent)

Bouchon restaurant Kingsland - BYO Everything. Seriously.

We have tested their policy and it came up tops. Took our own bottles of rum and coke, beers, vodka, so on and so forth. There was about 25 of us there for a birthday and they did well - good service, good food, and we stumbled out of there well drunk.

We had most of the outside courtyard to ourselves, which is fully enclosed and heated and nicer than sitting inside I think.

The owner is very helpful and obliging and made sure we had a brilliant evening - we'll be back for sure!

Top 5 restaurants in Auckland

At a glance -

The French Cafe - magical food heaven. There's a reason this place has been open forever and is booked weeks in advance. Some damn good wines too (Henschke is calling my name..) It's a bit noisy for my liking as the tables are pretty close together but when you taste the manna from heaven they serve up you soon forget all about those minor details. Who needs to talk when your mouth is otherwise occupied with splendid morsels of deliciousness...

The Grove - voted top restaurant in Auckland this year by Metro. Not sure if I would make it my number one but its definitely up there. When the right 'mixologist'is behind the bar (wish I'd asked for his name because its a hit or miss with cocktails otherwise) their espresso martini is AMAZING

Vinnies - just wonderful, daahling. The Maitre d' - I think his name is Rowen - is an absolute star. He's got a lot of camped up personality without being annoying or in your face, and he's not afraid to recommend wine matches or food choices that he thinks will suit you. Plus, he somehow manages to look after the whole restaurant seamlessly pretty much on his lonesome. Passion in bucketloads

No.5 - cosy and warm, good everything. It's in an old villa so feels like being in a friends living room. This is in the Entertainment Guide too for those of you sensible enough to buy one. 25% off your bill, alll-right

Jervois Steakhouse is up there, although its not really fine dining. The Alaskan King crab is a must try, and if you are lucky enough to be attended to by the strapping young(ish)Ozzie guy Hamish then you'll have a brilliant night. The other staff are lovely too but he is my favoritist


There are a few others that are good but not great in my opinion. Although others would say differently! Dine, Kermadec, Merediths, O'Connell St Bistro, Antoines, Clooneys, Sails, Euro, 4.2.

Have not yet been to Seoul or Iguacu which I hear are marvelous, so will check them out next. Watch this space.

Thinking about NY plans? Highlife is back at Stonyridge

www.highlifeentertainment.co.nz

Stonyridge is a pretty awesome venue, I've been to a couple of gigs there and they rocked
Early bird tickets go on sale on Thursday July 1st at 9am from www.iticket.co.nz, Real Groovy Queen St, Conch Records Ponsonby Rd and Stonyridge Vineyard.Expected price is $95 + booking fee

UPDATE: They are organizing big party boats with DJ's, alcohol etc taking people off the Island and back to Auckland after the event! Fun fun fun

Waiheke Island accommodation options

http://www.waihekeholidayhomes.co.nz
http://www.waihekeunlimited.co.nz
http://www.holidayhouses.co.nz/Waiheke_Island
http://www.waihekeholidayhomes.co.nz
http://www.bookabach.co.nz
http://www.holidayhomes.co.nz/search?q=Waiheke%20Island
http://www.amazingaccom.com/
http://www.waiheke.co.nz/
http://waiheke.aucklandnz.com/
http://www.gotowaiheke.co.nz/
http://www.tourismwaiheke.co.nz/
http://waihekeonline.com/
http://www.visitwaiheke.co.nz/

Playstation Move control, how cool is this!

Here you go, pasty skinned gaming nerds. The Playstation’s official motion control been released as “PLAYSTATION MOVE”. Its a bit like the Wii Nunchuk but is wireless with less buttons, and the battery is rechargeable.

It is a smart controller with a colored ball on top. You will need the Playstation Eye camera to detect the exact movement of the gamer - the colored ball points the end of the movement and the Playstation Eye camera will capture it

McLovin it!

The latest boy toy - Playstation 4

Keep your panties on, it's not out just yet... but here's the first official launch trailer of Sony's PS4.

Sony previously announced that it won’t be changing the cell processors much of the PS3, they plan to recycle the old platform so they can improve it more and make it even faster. (The PowerXCell 8i is a 65nm chip, with support for 32GB of DDR2 memory and eight fully-functional SPEs (compared to seven on the PS3)

So far there are no official specs about the new hardware of the PS4 although speculation is that it will have an improve graphics card, faster memory, increase in space of storage and possibly 3D experience. Lemme hear you say ooooh ah!

Toyota-Subaru RWD Coupe

The new rwd coupe designed cooperatively between Subaru and Toyota is to go into competition with and probably outdo the Honda Integra Type-R. The dimensional specs will be in the range of the Integra Type-R specs. Pretty good looking car, and it looks to have a lot of potential in today’s market for those of us who want an affordable and powerful rwd coupe. Will be released sometime in 2011 for about $20K U.S. Hoo rah!

Iphone 4th Generation

Apple announced on June 7, 2010 that their new iPhone 4 will be released on June 24, 2010.

Some features of the new Apple iPhone 4 are:

The screen is 30 times harder than plastic.
It has a 5 mega pixel camera.
LED Flash
Records 720p HD video
Antenna is built into the body frame of the iPhone.
3 axis gyro makes it more accurate when moving.
Facetime for video chat over Wi-Fi
iMovie for video editing
Five times video zoom
Long lasting battery including 7 hours of 3G talk time, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing,10 hours of video, 40 hours of music or 300 hours of standby time.
Has a 2nd microphone for noise cancellation
3.5 inch display
360 by 460 pixels which is 326 pixels per inch
800:1 contrast ratio
Display ratio is 4 times that of Iphone 3G
Additional front facing camera
Farmville's coming to the iPhone
Netflix coming to the iPhone
iBooks coming to the iPhone
It is 24% thinner than the iPhone 3GS which makes it the thinnest smart phone ever.

Sh-----mokin

Happy hour 1 2 3 4 on the floor

Something I miss about Queenstown was making our way round the many happy hours - every bar had em, and most at different times so you could drink your way round them all from 4pm to midnight!

Carpark Lower Hobson St happy hour 5-7pm

Provedor on Princes Wharf, otherwise known as Provide-a-whore. Young girls and old pervy guys for your entertainment pleasure. Yeah, you know you wanna! Happy hour from 3pm

Bomita tapas bar on Ponsonby Road. Cute as

Mexican Cafe on Victoria St 5-7pm. Crowded, noisy and fun. Salsa nights on Fridays which are a good time if thats your cup of tea. Or jug of margarita more like.

Empire Tavern on Symonds St. This ain't flash my son, this be an old school pub.

Bluestone Room, Durham Lane West. Their happy hour is more like 4 hours of cheap drink happiness plus they have good deals on pizzas etc, which aren't bad at all

El Faro in Elliot Stables have 25% off drinks from 5-6pm. Cute place, pretty good tapas.

Grand Central... this place has a rep for sleaze, its open later than most places in Ponsonby and its been around for years. Fridays are 2-4-1 drinks

Margaritas, happy hour till 9pm. I remember going here and being a foot taller than everyone else, plus the only white person. Pretty funny watching the little asian girls dancing on table tops in their tartan mini's and knee high socks.

The Waterfront Bar,happy hour 4-7pm every day. Half price tap and bottled beers, house wines and spirits. Food is pretty rubbish for the most part but the location is good and they have a pretty nice balcony overlooking - wow really, the waterfront. Yah.

Vertigo happy hour Fridays 5-8pm 2 drinks for $10.

Pohutakawa Bar Fort St Happy hours 4-6pm. This used to be Morrisons, one of my favorite nightclubs, it has changed hands a few times since the good old days though.

Lady Gaga's new video for Alejandro, another piece of brilliance

Wicked websites

If you heard someone say something pretty weird and you wannna know what on earth it means! Go here - http://www.urbandictionary.com/

If you love Perez Hilton but you're a little bored and you want your gossip served up even nastier and laced with a heavy dose of sarcasm, go here - http://www.thesuperficial.com/

If you want sweet deals on random shit go here - http://www.1-day.co.nz/

If you want an in depth explanation of your star sign, go here - http://www.astrology-online.com/persn.htm

If you want reliable movie reviews go here - http://www.cinemaclock.com

If you're researching a holiday go here - http://www.tripadvisor.com/

Best photographer in Auckland - no, I'm not biased...

He's back in Auckland after a year away (we won't say where...) and he's brilliant, LOVE your work Frase!

Check out his website

http://www.fraserharding.com/

Caffeine Fixation

Shaky Isles features once again, their coffee rocks. Try one of their other blends too, there are 3 on offer (Toro is the strongest and my favorite)

St Kevins Arcade Cafe on K Road

Roasted Addiqtion in Kingsland

Adore on Beresford Square - awesome coffee cards too with lots of free stuff!

Seven in 576 Great North Road Grey Lynn - grungy, not a parents with the strollers weekend brunch place so extra points in my books. Nothing worse than being surrounded by screaming kids...

Altezano Symonds St

Bambina Ponsonby Road

Dizengoff Ponsonby Road

Zarbos Jervois Road

Landreth and Co 272 Ponsonby Road

Get me some eggs bitch!

My favorite places for breakfasting in Auckland, mmmm delicious

Benediction on St Benedicts St, Newton. Great courtyard and loungy area

The Attic in Mission Bay. So lovely when its sunny and warm out, they have an awesome balcony - and the owner is kinda hot ;-)

O'Hagens Irish Pub at the end of the Viaduct. One word - MASSIVE. You'll be doing well to finish any meal there!

Orvieto in Three Kings, pretty famous for their hash brown thingy

Shaky Isles cafe in Kingsland. Check out their wicked cartoons! Love em. A little R-rated but subtle enough for the kidliwinks

Brick Bay Vineyard

Brick Bay is my other favorite vineyard in Matakana. On a nice day this place is like being in the heavens, sun pours into the glass house and light plays everywhere. Wine tastings are $5, didn't try anything spectacular there.

http://brickbay.co.nz

They also have a gorgeous walk called the Sculpture Trail. There is a $10 charge, totally worth it if you're into art and scenery.

http://www.brickbaysculpture.co.nz/

Deeper Harder Funkier

Now, admittedly I've almost grown out of dance parties. ALMOST. But not quite! occasionally I still get the urge to go have a crazy big night with some good friends, if there's something decent on.

We Love Sounds was a bit of a flop with the main acts pulling out, and it is winter so most of us would rather hibernate... I know I would! But the next DHF could be worth crawling out in the cold for, and Ellerslie is an awesome venue. Nothing compares to the old St James though sniff sniff :(

So lets get amongst it and show the 18 year olds how its done yeah. How to party hard without getting way too wasted, out of control, throwing up, passing out, and shagging someone who when you woke up without the Vodka Cruiser-goggles you would wanna cut your own arm off to get away from.

Get amongst it! And make sure you go check out my mate DJ Russell Hodgeson, he's wicked at cranking up the crowds. Here's one of his mixes

http://soundcloud.com/dj-russell-hodgson/elements-of-doom-makura-and-russell-hodgson-remix

Tickets are currently $69.95 + booking fee on www.iticket.co.nz

Awesome BYO's around Auckland

You'd have to be deaf dumb and blind not to know about Thai Me Up on Ponsonby Road. It's cheap, the staff are lovely, the food is good and corkage is from memory $4. I'd kinda prefer not tell people about it and keep it for myself! Obviously other people feel the same way because over the 5 or so years I've been going there it's got too damn busy.

Nishiki, fun crowded noisy little place in Freemans Bay - YUM!

Mutiara is a cheap as Malaysian place on Ponsonby Road. If you book off the Time2Dine website they give you 10% off the total bill, awesome

http://www.time2dine.co.nz/


Nite Spice on Mount Eden Road has pretty decent Indian, and same deal on Time2Dine, 10% off

Troy Ponsonby Road - 10% off through Time2dine

Bistro222 is a new place - funnily enough, is at 222 Ponsonby Road. How curious.

Thai Friends in Parnell

Midnight Express, 59 Victoria St

Lotus Vietnamese restaurant is at 104 Customs St West. Free Bottle Vietnamese red wine with group booking of four or more on the Time2Dine website. No idea what Vietnamese wine is like but its free so who cares!