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The Spinoff
5 days ago
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- The Spinoff
All 86 staple items at a classic Kiwi bakery, ranked and reviewed
Every bakery in New Zealand is a treasure. But not every bakery item is. Tom Augustine presents a massive ranking. Ah, the classic Kiwi bakery. How often do we take the time to acknowledge this stalwart of Aotearoa's many great cities and towns? The bakery, earlier than most, welcomes any and all comers, with the promise of affordable comfort food, coffee or your daily bread. Glance about a bakery and you'll find lycra-clad walking groups, gaggles of old ladies, rushing businessmen, and, of course, the humble tradies. A melting pot, surely. And yet, who among us has not had the experience of walking into an unfamiliar bakery and being overwhelmed by the selection on display? How often have we opted for a sweet treat that didn't live up to the dream, knowing full well as we walked away that we could have gone for a superior tart or slice if we had just taken a few more minutes to consider? Fear no longer, dear reader. Here is a list of the best, most reliable items you can opt for at any bakery across our glorious nation. This is not a ranking of the best items at any specific bakery – your local may have a superior apple turnover, sure, but this is a ranking of the viability of the option across the board. What gives me the honour, the privilege of presenting this ranking to you? In my usual field of work, I judge the merits of various works of cinema. I am no food critic. So? Well, I thought of it, for one. But also, I've been frequenting these establishments my entire life, and I have the pounds to prove it. I'm a big fella, and I love a bakery. Take it from a lad with some meat on the bone – I know what I'm talking about here. A little on how this has been achieved: we've collated the menus of a range of bakeries across Auckland to compile this list. None of the fancy shit – nowhere where a cookie is going to set you back 10 bucks. We're talking classic, old-school bakeries. If it has 'Golden' or 'Sunrise', or heck, 'Golden Sunrise' in the title, you're in the right place. If an item is available at one bakery, but none of the others, it doesn't make the list (apologies, Corned Beef and Palusami pie), and items must appear in at least three bakeries to make the cut. Factors that have been included in judging are general flavour, texture, reliability, cultural importance and general aura. Capisce? Let's go. 86. Cheese and onion Sandwich This one is personal because I controversially am not a fan of onion. Onion lovers, this list is biased against you. I'm sorry in advance. Slices of onion not only look like fingernails, but have the texture of them. In a sandwich at a bakery like the ones I'm talking about, the onions are rarely cooked. As I am not Stanley Yelnats trying to stay alive in the desert, I will pass, thanks very much. 85. Fruit cake Don't come looking for fruit cake revisionism 'round these parts. It's not going to happen. Stop trying to make it happen. Dense, flavourless, full of the bits that people put up with in other cakes and none of the good parts. The culinary equivalent of that one friend of your Nana's who had a really dusty house with ceramic statuettes of cherubs and a little yapping dog. 84. Battered fish There is some element of risk in purchasing any of the hot food options at one of these bakeries. That it will be dry, chewy, greasy and perhaps somewhat biologically dubious are part of the appeal, but you have to be categorically insane to go for a piece of battered fish in a bakery. If this is you, I invite you to think on your choices. 83. Ham salad roll/sandwich Where are we at, as a society, on the subject of ham? I feel like unless we're doing thick slices of Christmas ham, there are endless selections of deli meats that would deliver you a better eating experience. When I was a kid my dad briefly worked as a bank underling, and we went on a corporate workers' lunch for families where they served ham salad rolls. That's the correct place for one of these – you shouldn't have to pay for them. 82. Cheese sandwich Just… cheese on bread? Not even toasted? What? Are you five? 81. Hot chips The fish and chip shop is right there, mate. 80. Mince pie The starter pie, if you will. Only kids need apply. 79. Blueberry tart I don't really have anything to say about this one. Blueberries are probably the worst of the berries, and thereby goes the tart. 78. Choc chip cookie In the abstract, there are few things better than a chocolate chip cookie – but an interesting thing occurs when placed alongside its peers in a bakery. It loses its luster. It looks painfully inadequate, the chips meekly staring at you from behind the glass, as though ashamed to be there at all. To eat one is to seal the deal. You've made a mistake – like Milhouse playing Mystery Date, you picked the Dud. 77. Steak pie In the grand scheme of pies, steak beats mince every time. It's more flavourful, there's more variety, more texture. A steak pie just by itself puts one in the mind of a peasant farmer from medieval England before they're drafted to fight the French and die miserably in a field somewhere. Last meal for the peasant folk kind of vibes. Which is OK, but there are better pies. 76. Custard twist Custard is a delightful substance. But a custard twist is not the correct vessel for such a thing. You need a receptacle, not a gnarled piece of dough. 75. Cheesecake The cheesecakes I encountered in my adventures typically were covered in a neon red berry coulis of sorts. Something vaguely sinister about the whole thing. It's one of those options that feels like it shouldn't be single serve, y'know? 74. Kids' biscuits, various These are the biscuit options obviously designed to appeal to children, usually in the form of a smiley face or some sort of animal. M&Ms are used for eyes, you get the drill. They can occasionally be a delicious treat, but you do have to make peace with the fact that you will be embodying this meme. 73. Banana bread slice The owners of the classic Kiwi bakery are not going to be toasting anything for you, and that includes that slice of banana bread you're eyeing up. Have you ever had a dry, cold slice of banana bread? You're welcome. 72. Apple donuts Sounds good in theory, tends to be underwhelming in practice. 71. Chocolate mud cake The latent trauma of the Bruce Bogtrotter sequence prevents me from ranking this any higher. 70. Chicken sandwich Usually accompanied by some mayo. It's not bad, it's just that there are better options (see further down this list). 69. Chocolate fudge slice This is really the section of the list where it's not an actively awful decision, but it won't give you the electric highs of the best on offer. Mileages vary, also, but I tend to find if something is just chocolate flavour I always come away a little unsatisfied. 68. Steak and pepper pie Does this imply that pepper isn't used in other pies? Because that seems weird. Anyway, I don't really see the distinction. If you love pepper, I guess this is for you. 67. Chocolate muffin If you have a hankering for chocolate, don't do yourself a disservice by getting it in muffin form. 66. Date scone I'm just not sold, sorry. If you're going to add an element of sweetness to a scone, that's what jam and cream are for. Shoving dates where they don't belong is not a key to my heart – there are subtler but more accomplished sweet options or mega-sweet options galore elsewhere. 65. Bacon and egg quiche Ah, the quiche. The pie's inferior cousin that tries to convince everyone that it is fancier and thus better. It's a lie. Usually it's unpleasantly damp, a strange combination of savoury flavours and a biscuity base. Bacon and egg, also, is the lesser option of the quiche flavours usually on offer. You're at a bakery, mate: may as well get down in the trenches with us working class people and buy a pie instead. 64. Chicken pie Offers a point of difference in that we're talking about a white gravy rather than a brown gravy. I love a chicken pot pie, which is basically what this (and other chicken pie entries on this list) are. A chicken pie, though, really requires the presence of some kind of vegetable. By itself, there's a lack. 63. Ham and mayo sandwich Mayo is doing an insane amount of heavy lifting here. The person who goes into a bakery, sees all that is on offer, and selects the ham and mayo sandwich is a certified nutcase; that said, if you are coming in at the end of the day and your options are limited, you could do worse. 62. Steak, cheese and jalapeno Call me crazy, I don't think pies should be spicy. It's just not in their nature. It's like seeing a dog wear a tuxedo. I'd rather get spice elsewhere – a pie should be comforting, the warming effect the same you might get from a hearty stew. 61. Chocolate brownie Brownies in general are a scam. How it weaselled its way into the upper tier of baking options I don't know. The dryness factor here is lethal – if a brownie isn't moist and chewy, it is absolutely diabolical. The occasional satisfactory one, though, is a vibe. Is it worth the risk? 60. Spring roll Most of the hot food selections here are in a fraught position – some are delicious, but they do have the feeling of being imposters, wandering in a land that is not their own. Tourists, I guess. Some fare better than others, though. The density of a spring roll (and its brother – yes, it's male – the curry roll) usually means that it will survive the long term heat racks of the hot food section of a bakery, and so offers a better culinary experience. 59. Jam-filled donuts Listen, I love a donut. Often, they will be my number one sweet selection at a bakery of any kind. But there's a top-tier donut, which we'll get to later, and usually it has jam involved. The jam-filled donut walks a fine line. Very easily, it can become a lamentable case of too much jam. 58. Meat skewers, various The meat skewers are interesting because, unlike a lot of the other hot food on offer, it doesn't have a corollary anywhere else. There's not a lot of fish and chipperies that offer a meat skewer, really. That said, it still feels weird, right? This one is for those who are looking to protein load, primarily. 57. Steak, bacon and cheese Sounds like a party in your mouth, sure, but the bacon really lets the side down here. It is doing way too much. It eclipses the flavour of the steak. Usually it's in chunks, which is a bad way to consume bacon. Ultimately, it hogs the attention (forgive me) away from the rest of the pie. 56. Hot dog Glad wrap is such a significant part of the bakery experience, but it's especially bizarre in this context, melting into the cheese, ketchup and bun of a traditional American hotdog under the unrelenting glow of the warmer lights. The ketchup is doing an extreme amount of work here to provide something akin to moisture when attacking this most patriotic of snacks. 55. Lemon and ginger slice Thank god for the lemon, bringing a little zest to a culinary landscape where it's often in short supply. The lemon slice is for the fancy person in your life, the one likely to look down their nose at a bakery such as the one you've just entered. Is it a true encapsulation of the bakery experience? No, but it's an important emissary to the bougie folk in our lives. 54. Ham and cheese sandwich A classic, there's no denying it. Solid, reliable. 53. Chicken salad sandwich Unlike the inferior ham, chicken and salad are really doing something when they come together. Sometimes this offering includes a cheeky sprinkling of grated cheese, which is a fun time. 52. Pizza bread A very mixed bag. Some pizza breads can literally bring you back from the dead the morning after a big night out. Some clever bakers sprinkle olives on them. Others will try and sneak disgusting pieces of onion in under the cheese like thieves in the night. Some of the pizza sauces used may cause you to overdose on sugar, others are just right. Generally, my feeling is that if you're hankering for pizza, get some pizza instead. 51. Rocky road slice Very dependent on the ratio of marshmallow to black forest and nuts, and a bit of a chaotic eating experience. Doesn't quite work, but a valiant attempt was made. 50. Custard pie Not quite the superior custard offering, but a strong sweet pie option that can really hit if applied at the right time. 49. Berry muffin A stalwart, an icon. Countless office morning teas have flourished on the berry muffin's sturdy haunches. If there's some caramelized brown sugar on top? You're in flavour country brother. 48. Chicken and vege pie The equivalent of Sunday dinner at your grandparents'. A portable chicken pot pie, it is warm and comforting and feels wholesome, like if you subsisted off of this alone you'd flourish in all your endeavours. That wouldn't be the case, of course, but we can dream. 47. BBQ pork roll Really dependent on the nature of the pork within. If it's a pork riblet a la Subway, slathered in barbeque sauce, that's a ticket to processed heaven. Ditto if it's Chinese-style honey glazed pork. If it's strips of brown pork haphazardly stuffed into a roll, though, it's visually repellant and the flavour generally follows. Embrace the glorious unnature of the riblet, friends. 46. Spinach and feta quiche The superior quiche option. I'm agnostic on quiche at the best of times, but spinach and feta, firm friends, work hard to bring this one to life. It wouldn't be my personal choice most of the time, but I'd respect the customer who opts for it. 45. Rhubarb or apple crumble How good must it feel to be a rhubarb being baked into a crumble? What other avenue is there, really, for a rhubarb to shine? How does it feel for the rhubarb to share the spotlight with its hyper-famous sibling, the apple? It's a real Solange/Beyonce situation. Both provide excellence, neither can be entirely extricated from the other in crumble discussions, nor will they ever be quite the same. 44. Chocolate eclair The Kiwi bakery chocolate eclair is quite different to the dainty pastry you might find at a bona fide French bakery, mind. Usually it is bursting with cream, oversized, slathered in a shell of chocolate. It's all a little much, which is occasionally what makes it an ideal choice. 43. Fried chicken The fried chicken you have at a bakery is rarely going to be the best fried chicken of your life. There's a grubbiness to it (which, to the fried chicken connoisseur, is part of the appeal), but the act of eating and the aftermath leave a lot to be desired. That said, few things can match the immediate rush of impulse-buying a fried chicken drumstick at the bakery. 42. Banana cake I love banana cake, but I rarely opt for it at the bakery. There's not even any really good reason for that. Usually the banana cake on offer is fluffy and moist, and has some delightful lemon or chocolate icing, wrapped as is custom in a thousand layers of glad wrap. The banana cake at the bakery is kind of like Rachel McAdams – should be a bigger star, but for some unknown, unfair reason, isn't. 41. Apple turnover In all the bakeries I researched, few items sold as well as the apple turnover. I hadn't clocked that it was so popular among the people. Rare was the occasion when the turnover section wasn't completely bare by the time I reached it. It's interesting because I personally have always felt underwhelmed by the turnover – it's frequently assisted by ample helpings of whipped cream, but when the innards consist solely of stewed apple it feels entirely too close to the experience one could have with a McDonald's apple pie (and those, at least, are heated). I do like the aesthetic of the glaze on top, though. 40. Chocolate donut A stodgy piece of dough with a humble shell of chocolate atop. Nothing special, by design. Usually one of the cheapest offerings at the bakery, which made it my go-to in high school with a couple of gold coins jingling in my pocket. 39. Kranskys and other sausages Few experiences are as strange as ordering a sausage at a bakery and walking out with it wrapped in a paper bag. There's no bread, this isn't a Bunnings fundraiser – it's just you, and the sausage. Nevertheless, the kransky adds the novelty of squirting liquid cheese, and, as with most hot food selections here, there's a certain, undeniably debasing pleasure in consuming it. 38. Chocolate lamington Not many items at the bakery feel as British as the lamington, and yet it constantly feels like it's in a state of identity crisis (perhaps apt, actually). Why is the chocolate wet? Is that intentional? The sponge inside is always a mixed bag, particularly if the chocolate has made the interior soggy. If there's cream involved, it's always too much. The desiccated coconut… you're good, I have no problem with you. All these drawbacks, and yet, it compels me. 37. Chicken and mushroom pie The superior chicken pie. Even a mushroom agnostic such as myself has to acknowledge that. Yes, even as early as here we are already acknowledging the astounding highs of your local Kiwi bakery. It's all up from this point. 36. Chocolate lava cake The chocolate lava cake is a saucy diva. Excess is the name of the game. I've always respected the lava cake's commitment to absolute decadence, even if it causes nausea in the minutes following, and there's something about the visual moistness of the morsel that's undeniable. 35. Club sandwiches, various Underrated? I think so. It's a sandwich that's also cute! 34. Cookie caramel (or hedgehog) slice If you're one of those perverts who likes raw cookie dough, this is the slice for you. I am one such pervert, and this slice holds more than meets the eye. 33. Ham and cheese croissant It's never going to be the best croissant you'll ever have, so I can hardly recommend opting for this if better, Frencher avenues are on the table elsewhere. However, as long as this one isn't counteracted by the presence of a ghoulish, pushy relish, there's the possibility of a savoury experience that isn't quite as burdensome as the heavier sandwiches or rolls. 32. Sally lunn Iconic Kiwi shit, this one. The fruit cake could do with taking a page out of the sally lunn's book. The presence of brioche, rather than cake, sounds like it shouldn't work and yet it does. The icing, ugh. Phenomenal. Never have I had a bad experience with sally lunn icing. 31. Curry roll We're getting to the really top notch stuff now, and naturally we must salute this ingenious riff on the spring roll. A deep fried tube of paradise, it is one of the surest bets for a crispy, hearty good time in the fraught territory of the hot food section. 30. Gingerbread man It's never going to feel great, ordering a gingerbread man as an adult, but sometimes you just need to embrace your inner child and go nuts. The only bakery item that inspired a fairytale character, there's something almost punk rock about the strident, unapologetic nature of the gingerbread man. Am I reaching? Maybe, there's so many entries on this list. 29. Ginger slice A peculiar thing, the presence of ginger icing on a muesli base offers a slice experience a little more refined than its fellows, and perhaps a little less satisfying for the same reason. Nevertheless, this remains a decent choice — never too overbearing, stodgy or hyper-sweet. For fans of a subtler flavour profile. 28. Anzac cookie You must first set aside the minor sacrilege of eating an Anzac cookie when it is not Anzac Day, which always feels a little wrong. But the cookie itself is magic – the simplest of concoctions, the Anzac cookie doesn't rely on theatrics or showy flavours, just good, wholesome sustenance. 27. Raspberry lamington The conservative social sphere of New Zealand could do with a bit more fruitiness in general, and if even our most colonial of treats can indulge, so surely can we. The superior lamington offering. 26. Bacon or ham and egg sandwich There are better ways to have bacon and eggs at a bakery (see further down this list), but the presence of a nice egg really ties the whole experience together. Who hasn't been lured by the winking glance of a sunset-coloured yolk gazing out through, again, truly insane amounts of glad wrap? 25. Lemon meringue pie Another essential offering from the humble lemon, this one with the additional, delightful presence of fluffy meringue. The only drawback here is stickiness. Ironically for such an elegant little morsel, I've yet to see a gracefully eaten lemon meringue pie. Perhaps that's part of the appeal. 24. Sugar donut The simplest, cheapest item on this list, this is an item that is an ode to the power of baking in and of itself. There's little more to it than the labour of creating dough and cooking it. Eating one, you stop and marvel – look at this scientific miracle in your hands, one whose type has sustained the populace for thousands of years. Dusted in sugar and cinnamon, it's the bakery's simple charms distilled. 23. Chocolate caramel slice An extremely robust slice, one that is only slightly knocked down the rankings by the inherent glugginess of an indulgent layer of caramel. It is, inarguably, too much caramel. But while you're eating it, after you bite through that dense ceiling of chocolate, it's a lush experience. 22. Mince savoury For one who seeks the joy of consuming a pie, but can't commit to the entire thing. A savoury is the same thing as a pie, for all intents and purposes, and yet somehow it just hits different. There's a real satisfaction in something so compact it nestles within the palm of your hand, a little morsel of goodness that prevents you from going overboard on a mightier option. 21. Cheese scone The superior scone. Liberal lashing of butter are essential, of course. If you can get it warmed up, even better. 20. Carrot cake It's the best cake, and your arguments for any other kind of cake are wrong. Whoever thought first to put the humble carrot, the most uncakelike of any vegetable, into a cake, should be granted sainthood. One of those picks where even a lacklustre one vaults over other options handily. 19. Egg sandwich One of those things that shouldn't work, if you think about it. What do you mean you whipped up a slurry of mashed egg and mayo and chucked it on some bread? How many times, though, have I had one and found it to be a total delight? Countless. The overwhelming softness of the entire experience is unparalleled. There's no wrestling with an egg sandwich, it's just good eatin' all the way through. 18. Potato top pie A portable shepherd's pie. Cathedrals everywhere for those with eyes to see. 17. Belgian slice You'd think there'd be more Belgian biscuits on offer at bakeries, but not in the ones I sampled. Instead, there was the Belgian slice, which remained an exceptional baked experience, the gentle spices of the base mingling exquisitely with the spunky, sparkling raspberry icing. I could eat a metre of these and be ready for more. 16. Frankfurter roll A hot dog, but replace the bun with sesame seed-topped puff pastry. The ingenuity of the bakery knows no bounds. There is nothing in this option resembling even the faintest hint of nutrition, and your body will recognise that in the minutes and hours following. Those few bites of joy, though? Terrific. 15. Bacon and egg muffin If you are a GC and currently boycotting McDonalds, you may find yourself missing their finest menu option, the bacon and egg McMuffin. May I offer a solution – the humble bakery, whose hot food selection frequently includes such a muffin. It is an ingenious breakfast delivery system, the English muffin. Compact yet sturdy, never calling attention to itself and yet essential to the experience. Probably the most nutritionally responsible hot food selection you can make, too, which helps. 14. Mince and cheese pie Destined to live in the shadow of its brother, the steak and cheese pie, the mince and cheese pie will forever be the backup option if the superior one is sold out. That said, it is still a very good pie. There is the risk that the mince and gravy will form something a little gelatinous inside, which the texture of the steak counteracts, but the savoury highs of a really good M&C are hard to beat. 13. Afghan cookie It's a lamentably common pitfall to purchase an underwhelming afghan cookie. But when the biscuit of such a cookie is just the right amount of chewy, and the chocolate on top is just the right amount of decadent thickness, and the walnut atop that is shorn clean in two by your teeth, it's like seeing the face of God. 12. Custard slice Another Kiwi classic, this one tends to draw misty-eyed remembrances from my mum's generation. It's been a staple for decades in dear ole Aotearoa. There's an old-world Kiwiana to the custard slice that evokes golden hour farmland, sweeping mountain vistas, dudes in Swanndris. I'm thinking of a Mainland Cheese ad, basically. The puff pastry/custard combo is quite strange, but goddammit, it works. 11. Lemon tart The bakery MVP the lemon strikes again here with this exceptional tart. The zinginess of the silky lemon filling is a level of luxury heretofore unknown on this list. 10. Bacon and egg pie Kind of the black sheep of pies, the distant cousin who's always been a little strange, but when you take the time to get to know them you realise there's something really special there. It's not often that someone will opt willingly for the bacon and egg pie over meatier options, but perhaps we should – egg, once again being the saviour of a dish on this list, is ludicrously satisfying in this context. 9. Chicken and avo roll/sandwich Far and away the finest sandwich option at a bakery. All the inherent pleasures of a chicken sandwich with a heroic sidekick in the form of glossy, buttery avocado. Honestly if the bakery just stocked this sandwich or roll, it'd be just fine. Why would you opt for anything else? 8. Lolly cake A controversial pick, perhaps. An exceptionally sweet, doughy concoction encrusted with wedges of marshmallow inside and desiccated coconut on top, it has earned as many haters as lovers. But that very controversy is the arrow in the lolly cake's quiver – we may love it, or loathe it, but at least we're talking about it. 7. Neenish tart I don't know where Neen is, nor do I care to find out, but damn do they make a good tart. The yin and yang of the chocolate vanilla filling represents the inherent dark and light within all of us – and is just a little bit fancy. The slightly perfumed taste can be quite intense, but it's such a pronounced outlier in the selection that it is always worth a go. More often than not, you'll be glad you did. 6. Butter chicken pie Fusion cuisine at its finest. Someone saw the inherent pleasures of butter chicken and pies in their unparalleled ability to provide comfort to a hungry nation and combined the two. The result just feels right – the delightful reveal of orange within the cozy confines of the pastry, and the taste that follows, is deeply pleasant. More often than not, this pie will be one of the last left on the shelf. A desperate punter will give it a go, realising bite after bite that they're the one striking gold all along. 5. Mint slice Mint! Fancy seeing such a multifaceted, resourceful herb round these parts. A sophisticated option, the mint slice has the added value of a dark chocolate icing, blending surreally well with the mint filling and biscuit base to create the king of all slices. May we all excel as the mint slice does effortlessly. 4. Lasagna topper The greasier, the better. Once again displaying the bakery's capacity for astonishing new frontiers in food that is really bad for you, the lasagna topper takes Garfield's most beloved dish and fuses it with the sinister potential of the deep fryer. An unholy mutant cross between a big plate of pasta, a pie and a cordon bleu, there's really nothing like it. A particularly exemplary hangover cure, if you're looking for one on a cruel Sunday morning. 3. Sausage roll Consider the sausage roll: the humble accompaniment to so many of our country's most beloved beach towns and roadside attractions, a paragon of consistency and comfort like few others. The sausage roll has the advantage of being a tube, which makes it portable in a way that a pie could never hope to be. You can wrap up a sausage roll and have it later, or chop it up into pieces and share it. You can spend hours slapping flakes of pastry off your pants and relive the joy of eating it over and over. Were it not for one other savoury item, this would be taking the number one spot. 2. Cream donut The queen of all sweet offerings at the bakery, and it's not even close. There are no adjectives that adequately encapsulate an encounter with a cream donut, with its pliable, pillowy sugared donut outer layer, that delightful squiggle of whipped cream, and the judicious layering of jam alongside. The little dot of jam in the centre? Legendary. The cream donut doesn't take part in the gladiator match of sweet treats from the bakery, it presides over it in finery and regality. 1. Steak and cheese pie Could it be anything else? The star of the bakery, the go-to, the foundation of any establishment worth its weight in pastry. If the steak and cheese pie is lacking, go elsewhere. Peerless in the way it blends every aspect, from the density of the pastry to the savoury tang of the gravy, the soft give of the steak and that classic, indulgent layer of cheese. It is as Kiwi as pavlova, pūkeko and tax breaks for landlords. It's all you need. Marry me, steak and cheese pie.
RNZ News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Screentime: What's on offer at this year's International Film
Film and TV reviewer Tom Augustine joins Kathryn to talk about some of the less well-known - but no less interesting - offerings at this year's New Zealand International Film Festival. Tom Augustine is a Tamaki based filmmaker and critic. He writes for Rialto Channel's View Magazine and Metro Magazine. Tom is the co-programmer of the Capitol Cinema Film Club, which shows rare and underseen gems from throughout cinema history monthly. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Screentime: Conan O'Brien Must Go, The Surfer, Mountainhead,
Photo: IMDb Film and TV correspondent Tom Augustine joins Kathryn to look at New Zealand's part in Conan O'Brien Must Go , the new incarnation of horror flick Final Destination , Nicolas Cage's performance in mind-bending Aussie thriller The Surfer , tech-bro series Mountainhead and new Kiwi series The Sender . Tom Augustine is a Tāmaki based filmmaker and critic. He writes for Rialto Channel's View Magazine and Metro Magazine. Tom is the co-programmer of the Capitol Cinema Film Club, which shows rare and underseen gems from throughout cinema history monthly
