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The Spinoff
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
One of Wellington's most creative kitchens runs on a single charcoal-fired oven
At Supra, chef Thom Millot proves that brilliance doesn't need endless equipment – just fire, guts and pure creativity. Table Service is a column about food and hospitality in Wellington, by Nick Iles. Ever since the rise of molecular gastronomy and the orchestral slow-mo reverence of Netflix's Chef's Table, we've fallen hard for the image of the high-tech kitchen. You know the look: sous-vide machine humming away in a tub of water, Thermomix spinning silently on the bench, a Pacojet promising silky-smooth everything. All of it signalling control, precision, mastery – but creating distance between a chef and their produce. A piece of meat cooked in a water bath will be perfectly predictable, and probably delicious, but it lacks the chaos and vitality of one seared in a blistering hot pan. Heat, seasoning, originality. That is all a great chef needs. Technology and gadgetry aren't villains; it's just that limitations are where creativity is truly born. Nobody understands this better than Thom Millot, owner-operator of Supra, a 17-seat restaurant tucked away up a set of narrow stairs on Eva Street. His kitchen has a coal-fired barbecue oven, a small induction hob for prep… and that's it. All he needs is a sharp knife, some flames, creativity, and his near-psychotic attention to detail. Thom started his career at the age of 15, working the fryers at fast food joints in the Sydney suburbs. At the age of 19, he began an apprenticeship at a Tex-Mex spot, then moved on to a busy steakhouse. He was quickly stationed on the grill, a big responsibility for someone so young. The head chef saw something in him, and with good reason. Before long, he was routinely knocking out 250 covers a night with precision and control. He knew he had found his passion. He spent time travelling and fell in love with live fire cooking at some of the most exciting restaurants Australia has to offer: Rockpool, Porteño and Poly. Finally, he settled in Wellington and, in 2021, he opened Amok with his wife Tashie Piper. For three years, it blazed a trail in the capital, blending live fire cookery with immaculately sourced ingredients and a wine list full of originality. But like all good things, and with the near impossibility of keeping a restaurant open in this climate, it came to an end. Amok closed, and Thom spent some time cooking at other restaurants. In 2024, he ventured out on his own again with Supra. The space itself is a kind of magic: part speakeasy, part private dining room. Windows wrap around two sides, making it feel both hidden and wide open at the same time. Every night, the room fizzes with energy, the music up high and the talented staff waltzing around the space delivering plate after plate of truly world-class cookery. Here, the menu shifts constantly. Thom responds to whatever's at its best right now. New specials land weekly, depending on what produce is too good to ignore and whatever wild ideas he has been dreaming up. One thing that is always true is that it is all about bold, inventive and delicious flavours – and it all comes out of that one barbecue oven. We start the evening with a snapper carpaccio. It is everything a raw fish dish should be, but with just that little bit more. The snapper is lightly beaten out till it is paper thin and garnished with macerated persimmon, which brings a tart punch. A ponzu dressing lifts and spikes with citrus, and a delicate macadamia ajo blanco lends a luxurious, almost whisper-soft finish. It is a masterclass in restraint and elegance. Next up is a quite frankly outrageous raw beef dish. Six months in development, Thom has taken the classic combination of beef and oysters to a brand new place. Tri-tip is an unusual cut selection for a raw dish, meaning it is cut particularly fine and retains much more texture than a traditional tartare made with fillet. It is heavily spiced with a secret blend and is sweet, earthy and piquant at once, like it's doing a cabaret quick-change act as you eat. Thom smokes oysters and combines them with crème fraîche, resulting in something ocean-sweet, velvety and full of saline elegance. Serving the beef and smoked oyster cream on the half shell with a garnish of thin slices of Jerusalem artichoke turns the whole thing operatic: fatty, spicy, sour, chewy, smooth. It is a dish that I have genuinely thought about every single day since I ate it. The headline act for the meal is the rack of lamb sourced from Conscious Valley, a high-welfare ethical farm in Wellington's Ohariu Valley. The meat they produce is something quite special and can be seen popping up on menus across the city. Here, it has been brined for 24 hours before being left for a further two days to thoroughly dry. It is then set in the barbecue to roast without any additional fats or seasoning. At the halfway mark, it is smothered in a honey and black vinegar glaze and heavily dusted in cumin, coriander seed and fennel. The thick ribbon of fat on the edge is rendered into something quite obscene, and the eye of meat blushes perfectly. It's the rack of lamb you've always dreamed of but never quite received, until now. On the side is a cabbage that has been lacto-fermented for three days and then lightly charred and dusted with shiitake powder. It is an uber-cabbage that has had all of its natural sweetness and umami brought forward. To finish, a fennel puree and a jus made from the bones of the lamb provide perfect balance. Sweet, savoury, fatty, all clicking into place like it was always meant to be. You'd have to be a better person than me not to pick up the bone and gnaw until there is nothing left. It is without question the single best plate of food I have eaten this year. None of this is a fluke. The menu goes on, playfully riffing on things you recognise and showing you things you never dreamed of. Thom's focaccia is a revelation; it rises tall but not showy, all sour and savoury and rich. The duck liver parfait is a perfect rendition, accompanied by a zesty, bitter marmalade – all candied peel and deep citrus. The pumpkin gnocchi are pillow-soft and sing with sweetness before grounding themselves in hazelnuts and crispy sage. Brown butter brings the toastiness, and a genius touch of sharp black vinegar cuts through it all. A lacy peppered cheese cracker on top gives cacio e pepe energy, distilled to a single, brilliant disc. It's rare to witness genius up close: one man, in a tiny kitchen, turning out dishes this bold and brilliant. Thom sources every ingredient with care before filtering it through his singular vision and that one charcoal barbecue oven. Supra is the kind of restaurant this city should be parading through the streets, high on its shoulders for all to see.
Eater
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
‘Chef's Table' Star Francis Mallmann's Restaurant Is Opening in Manhattan This Summer
Plus, 'And Just Like That…' bakery pops up in the East Village — and more intel Jun 11, 2025, 2:04 PM UTC Internationally renowned South American chef Francis Mallmann, known for his live-fire cooking and his appearance in Netflix's Chef's Table , is set to open his New York City restaurant this summer. La Boca will open inside the forthcoming fancy Faena New York hotel in Chelsea on 500 West 18th Street, near 11th Avenue, on Sunday, August 3. Details are still scarce about the restaurant — it's fair to expect Mallmann's live-fire cooking approaches. The name stems from a neighborhood in Buenos Aires. There will be breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Reservations can be booked now. The hotel's other dining and drinking spots will include the cocktail lounge, the Living Room, the speakeasy El Secreto, and the wine cellar La Cava. It is not Mallmann's first time working with the hotel, running Los Fuegos By Francis Mallmann inside the Faena in Miami. HBO Max series And Just Like That… is bringing its Hot Fellas bakery into real life in New York this weekend. The pop-up will take over East Village bakery Librae, offering free baked goods such as miniature croissants and flourless chocolate cookies, along with cold brew and hot coffee. The space will be themed for the show — will there be bread sconces and handles? It takes place from Saturday, June 14, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, June 15, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Paterson, New Jersey Turkish bakery Taskin is expanding into New York this summer, per the Instagram account New Restaurant Openings NYC. The second Taskin Bakery will open in Midtown East at 50 United Nations Plaza at First Avenue and East 46th Street, with an opening date sometime in June or July. The bakery opened in 1997, focusing on Turkish breads like a variety of pides (flatbreads), acma (similar to bagels), and the stuffed scone-like pogaca. See More: Coming Attractions Intel NYC Restaurant Openings
Time Out
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Two NYC restaurants just cracked the World's 100 Best Restaurants list for 2025
New York City just added two more reasons to flex its culinary muscle: César and Le Bernardin have landed spots on the World's 50 Best Restaurants extended list for 2025, which ranks restaurants around the world from 51 through 100. Released ahead of the main awards ceremony in Turin, Italy, on June 19 (where the top 50 dining destinations of the year will be announced), this year's 51–100 list spans six continents and features standout kitchens from 25 territories. Of the eight North American entries, two are right here in Manhattan and both are masters of the sea. Making a splash at No. 98 is César, the elegant, seafood-focused restaurant from chef César Ramirez. Located in a century-old space at 333 Hudson Street, the sleek dining room, which has both counter and table seating, gives a front-row view of the kinetic open kitchen. Ramirez, best known for his Michelin-starred work at Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare, serves a 13-course tasting menu built on Japanese precision, French technique and impeccable ingredients from around the world. Highlights include Norwegian langoustine with shiso and caviar, and sawara paired with yuzu kosho. It's made for a confident debut for a chef known for holding himself to impossibly high standards—and meeting them. Also holding steady is midtown's beloved Le Bernardin, coming in at No. 90. A mainstay of fine dining since 1986, the Midtown temple to seafood continues to reel in global acclaim under the stewardship of Chef Eric Ripert. The menus, which range from a vegetarian tasting to a chef's selection of greatest hits, strike a delicate balance of French sophistication and Asian influence. Nearly 40 years in, the restaurant remains one of the city's most consistent fine-dining experiences, with service and flavors as polished as ever. This year's list welcomed 12 new entries from cities like Tulum, San Francisco and Queenstown, reflecting the evolving diversity of global dining. North America's strong showing also included Atelier Crenn in the Bay Area and Huniik in Mérida, Mexico.
BBC News
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Jamie Oliver features with Cambridgeshire school on Netflix show
A school hoping to get children inspired to cook from scratch has featured with Jamie Oliver in a documentary 8 pupils from Comberton Village College near Cambridge got to meet the chef as he shared some of his cooking tips and tricks with them for an episode of Chef's 12, said the celebrity's visit "was really really inspiring and I really loved cooking".Oliver rose to fame in the late 1990s with the premier of BBC Two series The Naked Chef and has spent much of his career trying to improve school lunch nutrition. Emily Goodson, head of food and nutrition at the school, said she often used Oliver's cooking recipes in her class."I've tried to give children the broadest experience when it comes to food knowing that by the time they hit 13 or 14 they might never cook again."In a YouGov survey in 2022, only 3% out of 230 18 to 24-year-olds said they were "very good" at Goodson said it was really important to equip young people with the skills to feed themselves. "Jamie seems to have the same agenda - he wants kids to cook from scratch." Chef's Table made its debut in 2015. The Netflix series features famous chefs from around the world, including Oliver in the latest Goodson said the experience was like having a "rock star in".Stanley, 13, was in the class when Oliver visited and said: "He was very nice and quite down to earth."Gaia, also 13, said: "It was really exciting and really special because we were the only class doing it."I go home and do his recipes and that makes me happy." Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bono on U2's New Album: ‘Everyone in the Band Seems Desperate for It'
Almost ten years since the release of its last album, Songs of Experience, U2 is back in the studio. The band is cooking up new music and very likely gearing up for a whole new tour. If you hear it straight from the group's frontman, Bono, it's a matter of life and death. 'Everyone in the band seems desperate for it,' Bono told Esquire's Madison Vain in Esquire US's new cover story. 'It's like their lives depend on it. ... And, as I tell them, they do.' In between discussions of family, politics, health scares, and slowing down—including the story of Bono learning how to sit on his couch and binge-watch Chef's Table and Fleabag—the singer confirms that U2 is working on new material for a new album, which the band may greet with a whole new tour. The album is reuniting U2 with producer Brian Eno, who also produced The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, and Zooropa. Although the album doesn't yet have a title, at least one song is tentatively titled 'Freedom Is a Feeling.' Bono said this of the still-in-development piece: 'The thing is, I don't just want to be singing about freedom. I want to be freedom, the feeling. That's what rock 'n' roll has to be.' Bono also strongly hinted at plans for a tour. 'I just like to play live,' Bono said. Though Bono enjoys his cozy dwellings in Côte d'Azur, which Esquire explores with Bono in the piece, he's looking to get out of the house in the right circumstances. 'You want to have some very good reasons to leave home,' he said. U2's latest album, Songs of Experience, was the world's sixth-best-selling album of 2017 and was supported by the Experience + Innocence Tour in 2018. More recently, U2 enjoyed a buzzy residency from September 2023 to March 2024 at Las Vegas's cutting-edge venue Sphere. The production earned critical acclaim, with outlets like Billboard, The Telegraph, and The Guardian observing how the marriage of U2's artistry and vision with the venue's technical capabilities creates a show that forecasts the future of live entertainment. Still, for U2, it's about the music, and even Bono admitted that he's unsure what the future holds. 'I hope they're going to still be there for us,' Bono said of the band's fans. 'We've pushed them to their elastic limit over the years. And now it's a long time that we've been away. But I still think that we can create a soundtrack for people who want to take on the world.' You Might Also Like The Best Men's Sunglasses For Summer '19 There's A Smartwatch For Every Sort Of Guy What You Should Buy For Your Groomsmen (And What They Really Want)
