CityBeat - Te Waha Nui Online

by Sam Mickell

Auckland doesn’t have many restaurants that you can walk in to at the last minute and get cheap, delicious food accompanied by fast service.

Following numerous recommendations about Newmarket’s Hansan Vietnamese Restaurant, I thought I was on to a winner.

Tucked away down the road from the Nuffield Street development, Hansan offers a generously proportioned and well lit – almost bordering on sterile Read more

by Veronica Johnston

Auckland is a devilishly difficult place to find good, quality meals at reasonable prices when you’re a student.

Students often struggle to stretch their last few dollars until their next loan or allowance payment. So it’s important that we get value for money when it comes to food. Read more

by Grace Honney

Last week I read about Angela Kelly’s ₤35m (NZ$100m) lottery win.

I don’t begrudge her of it by any means, but I cannot be the only one who was jealous.

If Kelly put it into an interest-bearing account, she would earn something ridiculous like ₤2.2m (NZ$6.2m) in interest per year. Read more

By André Hueber

I was in Germany when Princess Diana died.

My grandmother told me, I thought she was pulling my leg. I sat glued to CNN all day mesmerized by the tragic news.

I had touched her hand once, way back in March 1983. And now she was dead, it was hard to believe.

Read more

by Carmen Stella

To pee or not to pee, this is the question.

Picture it: you’ve decided to treat yourself to a nice meal out at an ‘A’ grade restaurant, you’ve just finished your first drink, then nature calls.

As yet, nothing seems wrong with this story until you leave the calm, happy ambiance of the beautifully decorated dinning area and head into the hazily lit, dingy toilet. Read more

by Charlotte Coyle

Although the cameras have stopped rolling on TV3’s Downsize Me, Aucklanders who missed the chance to slim down on the show now have an alternative.

Downsize Me’s diet guru Damian Kristof has decided to carry on the show – minus the cameras. Read more

by Michel Sam Mathew

Patriotism swells up across the Indian subcontinent when Independence Day looms into view every year.

On August 15, thousands of tricolours, with its saffron, white and green hues, flutter from rooftops and office buildings across the country.

Hundreds of miles away from home and with nothing around to rekindle my patriotic zeal, Read more

by Amy Williams

A young Auckland woman is making a name for herself with her quirky range of handmade stationery.

Nut and Bee, designed and produced by Annette Lauder, sells lettersets, notepads, badges, magnets, bookplates, stickers, limited edition prints and t-shirts.

The appeal of the products is their cute animal designs, with angora rabbits, pufferfish, bears, monkeys and unicorns all making appearances. Read more

by Grace Honney

Having recently been subjected to Weight Watchers’ new ad campaign showing overweight people about town or on the beach, I started to wonder about New Zealand’s supposed obesity epidemic.

Am I alone in being frightened by the idea of developing type 2 diabetes and an increased risk of heart disease if I pack on the pounds?

But surely eating only one sushi roll a day, washed down with a seaweed and algae shake, is not going to do my body any favours either. Read more

by Veronica Johnston

Facebook is the latest Internet darling that has started creeping in to every day conversation.

Already worth an estimated billions dollars, and used by a staggering 20 million users wordwide, the social networking site is an online tour de force.

But users are doing more than finding old friends on Facebook. Read more