The former home of one of Takapuna’s most enduring hospitality institutions has entered a decidedly different chapter, with Goldie’s Bar & Yard bringing a dose of Southern spirit, country music and unapologetic good times to Auckland’s North Shore.
Occupying the site once home to Elephant Wrestler, the newly opened venue arrives with a clear point of view, drawing inspiration from the growing popularity of country culture while sidestepping novelty in favour of something considerably more considered. The result is a sprawling, two-part destination where long lunches can stretch comfortably into late-night revelry, whether that involves margaritas beneath a retractable roof or line dancing to a live band.
Split between two distinct spaces, Goldie’s offers a different experience depending on the mood. The Bar embraces a darker, moodier aesthetic, complete with booth seating, a pool table, a stage and a disco ball, while The Yard delivers a more relaxed atmosphere, where abstract Western-inspired murals, sunshine and an expansive retractable roof create an easy backdrop for post-beach gatherings that have a habit of lasting far longer than intended.
The menu follows a similarly generous approach, favouring bold flavours and shareable dishes designed for groups, leisurely afternoons and spontaneous rounds of ordering. Tear-apart Texan Toast arrives with jalapeño honey butter, burrata is paired with burst cherry tomatoes, and the aptly named Honky Tonk Hammer, a slow-roasted beef shin that falls effortlessly from the bone, is designed to be pre-ordered and shared among friends. Alongside these larger-format offerings, diners will find a collection of smaller plates that encourage grazing rather than formality.
The drinks list leans into familiar favourites, albeit with a playful twist. A Watermelon Mezcalita combines reposado tequila, mezcal, watermelon, lime and jalapeño for a bright, smoky take on the classic margarita, while the Dirty Marg introduces olive brine for those who prefer their cocktails with a savoury edge. Elsewhere, the Negroni Spurs adds cold foam to the iconic Italian aperitif, and a deliberately American-leaning beer selection sits alongside a concise natural wine list featuring producers including Terroir Project, Emma Marris and Paradise.
Every detail contributes to the atmosphere. Sam Burton of Sure Shot was responsible for much of the venue’s visual identity, from gold leaf hand-painted lettering within The Bar to the custom water tower and large-scale mural work that define The Yard, while vintage finds sourced from country fairs and antique stores lend the space an authenticity that avoids feeling themed.
Entertainment forms a central part of the experience. Line dancing nights kick off from early June, live country music takes over Thursday through Saturday evenings, DJs keep the energy high on weekends, Yacht Rock Sundays provide a suitably laid-back close to the week, and for those feeling particularly adventurous, a mechanical bull waits nearby.
At its core, Goldie’s understands something many hospitality venues overcomplicate. People are looking for somewhere they can relax, gather a group, order another round and enjoy themselves. Takapuna’s newest opening delivers exactly that, with just enough country flair to make the experience memorable.
PHOTOS Sharyn Cairns and Piers Fitton | 3 Jun 2026
There is a quality of light along the bay end of Brighton. Flatter than the Mornington Peninsula, softer than St Kilda, drawn out by the proximity of so much water and sand. It moves through this house in a way that feels almost choreographed. Late morning, it falls across custom-stained timber floors and pulls the grain forward as though the floor is being lit from within. By mid-afternoon, it has migrated to the travertine, warming a surface that was already warm to begin with. You notice the light here before you notice the architecture, which is one of the more sophisticated things a house can ask of you.
The residence sits on the so-called Golden Mile, two hundred metres from the beach, and was designed by Melbourne practice McKimm for Bondi Sands co-founder Shaun Wilson and his wife Tess Shanahan, model, presenter, and host of the Tess Talks podcast. The brief, by the couple’s own account, drew on a particular set of references: the canyon-cradled houses of the Los Angeles Hills, the stripped-back tonal palette of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s home, the scaled grandeur of Kim Kardashian’s. The intent was clear: a home that could hold international ambition while remaining unmistakably grounded in its Australian setting. McKimm has met that brief with real fluency. The house is international in vocabulary, Australian in sensibility, and entirely its own thing.
The site offered both an opportunity and a puzzle. A southern street frontage and a northern aspect meant solar access had to be carefully drawn into the principal living zones, with the light pulled deep into the home from the back rather than the front. The architectural response is graceful: a sequence of rooms that opens, almost insistently, toward the garden and terrace, with framed views and biophilic gestures threaded throughout. Indoor-outdoor flow can be a difficult thing to do well. McKimm has done it with the kind of ease that takes a great deal of work to achieve.
Materiality is where the house quietly shows off. Custom-stained timber flooring runs underfoot, dark enough to anchor the eye, warm enough to live alongside the bay light filtering in from the north. Venetian plaster appears on key walls, that slightly hand-applied, slightly imperfect surface that catches light in a way painted plasterboard never quite does. Aged bronze is used as connective tissue: door hardware, joinery details, the cocktail bar that anchors the living zones with a presence the architects describe as subtle and rightly so. Travertine, a stone with its own quiet weather, brings a cooler counterweight. The result is a palette that is genuinely cohesive, where every material is in conversation with the next.
Curves carry much of the visible storytelling. Barrel archways soften the geometry of room-to-room transitions. Domed ceilings appear in moments where you would expect a flat plane and shift the air around you accordingly. Water elements thread the home together: a feature skylight installation that pulls the sky inside, an ice bath in the wellness floor below. The practice has been candid about its biophilic ambitions, and the application here is the most thoughtful interpretation of the term you’ll see this year. There are no token planters, no green walls performing the idea of nature. What there is, instead, is a sustained interest in light, in air, in the way water moves and stills. This is biophilia as architectural conviction, not as decorative claim.
Furniture has been treated with the same editorial fluency as the architecture. McKimm’s Design Manager, Isabella Cini, curated a scheme of real intelligence. In the front lounge, Pierre Augustin Rose’s Saint Honoré sofa sits with Gubi’s Pacha chairs, Wabi tables by Fleur Studios, and a vintage Tronchi chandelier whose Murano arms catch the late light. The room reads as gallery-adjacent: layered, deliberate, beautifully composed. Lighting throughout has been treated as sculpture in its own right. Crystal fixtures by Christopher Boots punctuate the principal spaces. Tubular chandeliers from Castorina and E-Moderno introduce a more architectural geometry. Selected pendants by Kelly Wearstler appear where their American restraint suits the room. The coherence of the lighting strategy is one of the project’s quiet triumphs.
The most genuinely thrilling move, however, lies in the basement of a house, where almost by definition, it is typically the level where projects play it safe. Here, McKimm has done something far more interesting. A lower courtyard cuts daylight down into a level that accommodates six cars, a guest suite, an entertainment zone with a bar and DJ booth, and a wellness centre of substantial proportion.
Inside the wellness centre sits a meditation dome lit from above by a skylight; alongside it, a gym, a sauna, a steam shower, and an ice bath. The dome is the move that lingers. Subterranean meditation rooms are difficult to get right, given the absence of sky and the weight of the ceiling. McKimm has resolved the problem with what amounts to an impressive architectural detail. Sitting beneath the skylight and the room reads as ground-level, even though it isn’t.
On the rooftop, the architecture extends in the opposite direction. The view captures both the city skyline and the bay, and the home’s living experience is pushed outdoors in a way that feels less like an amenity and more like a culmination. There is something genuinely satisfying about a house that begins underground in stillness and finishes in the air with a view. It’s a vertical narrative that mirrors, almost poetically, the way a day in this part of Melbourne actually unfolds.
What’s most impressive about the Sands Residence is its composure. The clients are public figures with public lives; the brief invoked some of the most photographed houses in the world; the budget is plainly considerable. McKimm has answered all of it with a project that has scale without pageantry, glamour without theatre, and ambition expressed as craft. The grandeur is unmistakably present, in the proportions, in the wellness floor’s sheer scale, in the precision of the joinery, and it has been delivered with poise.
That poise may be the real achievement here. The Sands Residence is a house designed for a way of living that has space for both the spectacular and the still: the rooftop entertaining and the subterranean meditation, the cocktail bar and the ice bath, the international references and the deeply Australian light. McKimm has held all of it in balance. The light moves. The water moves. The house, beautifully, holds its place.
As the working day gives way to evening and the city’s energy begins to shift, Commercial Bay offers no shortage of reasons to linger a little longer. Whether you’re in the mood for a waterfront margarita, a glass of wine tucked away from the crowds, or a quick post-work cocktail before dinner, these are the happy hour offerings worth knowing about right now.
Offering: $14 cocktails, $10 beers, $12 house wine, bubbles and spirits When: Monday to Sunday, 3pm – 7pm
Advieh’s generous daily happy hour pairs well with the restaurant’s Mediterranean-inspired snacks menu, making it an easy choice for after-work drinks that naturally become dinner. Order seasonal hummus with warm Turkish pide, halloumi drizzled with mānuka honey and pomegranate, or a serving of harissa fries alongside your drink of choice.
Offering: Whisky and Champagne of the Month specials When: Daily, 4pm – 6pm
Part listening bar, part late-afternoon retreat, Kemuri Hi-Fi brings together carefully selected drinks and a soundtrack worth settling into. During Member Happy Hour, guests can enjoy whisky and champagne specials while taking in the venue’s warm, low-lit atmosphere and vinyl-led sound experience.
With its waterfront setting and easy-going atmosphere, Dos Donkeys makes a convincing argument for extending the working day just a little longer. Frozen margaritas lead the charge, while tacos, corn ribs and other share-friendly dishes ensure no one leaves hungry.
Offering: Free corkage in The Cave When: Daily, 11am – 9pm
Tucked away beneath the bustle of the city, Queens Wineshop’s intimate Cave offers a slower pace and a welcome sense of escape. With free corkage, rotating feature pours, warm lighting and an impressive collection of bottles lining the walls, it’s the kind of place where one glass often turns into another.
Offering: $8.50 house beer and wine, plus a $15 cocktail of the month When: Monday to Friday, 12pm – 2pm and daily, 4pm – 7pm
Public keeps things refreshingly straightforward with two daily happy hour windows that cater equally well to midday meetings and evening catch-ups. Alongside house beer and wine, guests can enjoy a rotating cocktail of the month, making each visit feel slightly different from the last.
Kome’s daily happy hour centres on one simple proposition: ice-cold Asahi enjoyed in a relaxed, contemporary setting. Ideal for a quick drink before dinner or a casual catch-up with friends, it’s a straightforward offering that does exactly what it promises.
Jervois Steak House is bringing back one of winter’s most anticipated rituals, this time in a new Sunday lunch format designed for lingering afternoons and generous gatherings.
Available every Sunday throughout June and July, the Sunday Roast Lunch centres around 12-hour slow-cooked Southern Stations wagyu sirloin, served with all the classic accompaniments that have made the experience something of a seasonal institution. Expect pillowy Yorkshire puddings, creamy potato gratin, wagyu fat roasted potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and a rich house-made jus, all arriving on the table ready to be shared.
At $84 per person, with a minimum of two guests, it’s the kind of meal that rewards unhurried conversation, second helpings, and a few hours spent away from the winter chill. Served exclusively between 12pm and 6pm every Sunday, the experience offers a compelling reason to gather friends and family around the table.
Pre-payment is required to secure a reservation, and with limited sittings available throughout the season, early bookings are recommended. Book now.
Salone may still belong to design, but the fashion houses have made themselves entirely at home, and this year it felt less like a takeover and more like a quiet recalibration of how they show up. The excess of mismatched collaborations has eased, replaced by a more confident return to core identity, where those with credible home lines refined their language, and those without leaned into experience rather than product.
Beneath the frescoes of Palazzo Serbelloni, Louis Vuitton returned to Objets Nomades with a considered nod to Pierre Legrain, reissuing his Celeste Coiffeuse alongside a series of pieces that balanced craft with theatre.
Hugo Boss translated its tailoring language into Ligne Roset’s famed Togo, bringing the precision and softness of suiting to contemporary living, while the Gucci Memoria exhibition, curated by Demna at the Chiostri di San Simpliciano, reinterpreted the house’s history through theatrical installations, tapestries, and interactive displays.
Dior leaned into the atmosphere at Palazzo Landriani, where Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance’s light pieces echoed the silhouette of the Corolle skirt within a raffia-lined setting that felt both nostalgic and precise.
Meanwhile, at 10 Corso Como, Moncler opted for spectacle, installing an enormous octopus across the façade and into the interior, which was impossible to ignore and, predictably, very effective.
Together, the week suggested that fashion’s relationship with design is finally maturing, though, as Moncler’s octopus reminded us, a little theatre still goes a long way.
Winter has officially arrived; however, this month’s cultural calendar is giving us every reason to leave the house anyway. This month brings a K-pop arena spectacle, Professor Brian Cox live, a cult musical at The Civic, a free glowing cathedral in Aotea Square and one of the year’s best gallery shows at Sanderson. Rug up and get out.
Where:Spark Arena, Auckland When:Thursday 4 June 2026
After performing his smash-hit show Horizons to nearly half a million people around the world, Professor Brian Cox returns with Emergence, his most ambitious live production yet. Bringing together cosmology, biology, philosophy and history on arena-scale LED screens with a full sound and lighting design, it is less a lecture and more an immersive experience. Cox describes the show as an attempt to leave every audience member, whether they love science, music, history, or simply contemplate the beauty of nature, with something new to think about. A rare evening that makes you feel genuinely smarter for having been there. Book tickets
Where:Various locations across Auckland When:29 May – 14 June 2026
Now in its 23rd year, New Zealand’s leading international photography festival transforms familiar streets, galleries and public spaces into a city-wide celebration of visual storytelling. The 2026 theme is Movement [Kori], explored through a programme of free outdoor exhibitions, gallery shows, talks and online activations featuring both emerging and established artists from New Zealand and abroad. Highlights include an exclusive suite of works from Taipei-based award-winning artist Shen Chao-Liang, Japanese photographer Mayumi Suzuki’s long-term project The Tide’s Gift II, and Cathy Carter’s underwater environmental series Zones of Immanence. The outdoor exhibitions are woven through the city centre (Te Komititanga Square, Queens Wharf and beyond), making it easy to stumble across something striking wherever you wander. Free and open to everyone.
Grammy-winning Brooklyn artist Leon Thomas brings his MUTTS DON’T HEEL Tour to Auckland for his first-ever New Zealand performance. If you don’t know the name yet, you almost certainly know the work: Thomas co-wrote and produced SZA’s “Snooze,” earning a Grammy in 2024, and his sophomore album MUTT was named Billboard’s number one R&B album of that year with over 315 million streams globally. His sound sits at the intersection of classic R&B warmth and sharp modern production, and the Town Hall is the perfect room for it. One to watch closely. Book tickets
Mickey Smith, Untitled Vol. XII, Strahov, 2026, Archival pigment print on Ilford Fine Art Canvas Galicia, 1600 x 1095 mm
Where:Sanderson Contemporary, Newmarket When:27 May – 21 June 2026
For more than two decades, American-born, Aotearoa-based artist Mickey Smith has closely examined libraries in the US, New Zealand and the Pacific, drawn to the fragility of knowledge systems and the way they survive, decay and transform. With Sacrosanct, she turns her gaze to libraries cloistered in monasteries, expanding on her award-winning photographic series Volume. The work is deeply contemplative and formally beautiful, concerned with the physical and social significance of texts and archives in an age increasingly defined by their absence. A quiet, intelligent show that rewards careful looking. Free entry.
Direct from London and New York, the wickedly funny stage adaptation of the 1988 Winona Ryder and Christian Slater cult classic arrives at The Civic. Welcome to Westerberg High, where popularity is a matter of life and death and the soundtrack is a killer. Based on the iconic film, Heathers is deliciously dark, sharp and full of big, unapologetic fun. Tickets from $64 to $163, and the run is short (five nights only), so don’t sleep on it. Book tickets
Where:Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall When:Friday 12 June 2026, 7.30pm
Australian conductor Benjamin Northey leads the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in a programme built around the intimate power of love itself, with Chinese-Australian virtuoso cellist Li-Wei Qin as soloist. Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet is one of the most emotionally overwhelming orchestral scores ever written, and the Auckland Town Hall’s Great Hall is one of the best rooms in the country to hear it performed live. An evening for anyone who wants to feel something, performed at the highest level. Tickets from $35. Book tickets
Where:Spark Arena, Auckland When:Saturday 20 June 2026
Six-member K-pop group IVE (Anyujin, Gaeul, Rei, Jangwonyoung, Liz and Leeseo) bring their second world tour to Auckland, marking a new chapter for the group as they move beyond the first three years of the “IVE Syndrome” into something more mature and individually driven. Their debut era delivered some of the biggest K-pop tracks of recent years, and the live show is a full-scale arena production with the choreography, visuals and energy the format demands. For fans of the genre, this is a major get for Auckland. Premium lounge upgrades are available. Book tickets
Where:Ayrburn, Arrowtown, Queenstown When:26 June – 31 July 2026
Not in Auckland, but very much on the Denizen radar. If you’re heading south this winter, Ayrburn’s Winter Wonderland is back for 2026 and well worth building a Queenstown trip around. The sprawling hospitality precinct on the outskirts of Arrowtown transforms into a spectacular midwinter Christmas from late June, with festive light displays, ice skating under the southern night sky, oversized decorations and plenty of mulled wine and seasonal treats across its collection of restaurants and bars. Entry to wander through the lights is free; booking is recommended for ice skating and dining. We covered the inaugural edition last year, and by all accounts the 2026 version goes bigger still.
Where:The Civic, Queen Street, Auckland CBD When:24 June – 5 July 2026
The most exciting time of the year at The Civic is back. The Auckland Live Cabaret Festival transforms the city’s most iconic venue into a playground of music, comedy, theatre, circus and burlesque, with free pop-up performances spilling through the foyers, cocktails flowing, and artists and audiences mingling in an atmosphere where anything feels possible. The Champagne Lounge, Piano Bar and Foyer Follies anchor the programme, alongside a rotating lineup of ticketed shows that run the full spectrum from the hilarious to the breathtaking. If you only do one winter evening out, make it this.
Where:Aotea Square, Auckland CBD When:30 May – 5 July 2026
Created by award-winning international lighting firm Mandylights, Winter Light Cathedral is a dazzling walk-through installation made from tens of thousands of tiny LED lights, inspired by the sweeping arches of grand church windows. From the outside it shines like a beacon in Aotea Square. Inside, it is a sparkling, golden world that manages to feel both cosy and spectacular. Free entry, no booking required, open day and night. The kind of five-minute detour that makes a midwinter evening in the city feel genuinely magical, whether you’re passing through on the way to dinner or making a special trip with the family.
There is a danger, with crystal jewellery, of allowing brilliance to do all the talking. Millenia avoids that trap by giving light a disciplined structure, building its language around the octagon cut and, in this latest Swarovski release, softening that geometry with champagne, cognac and honeyed topaz tones set against rose and yellow gold finishes.
The effect feels richer, more grounded and considerably more grown-up. Millenia has always occupied a more architectural corner of Swarovski’s universe, where sharp geometry and disciplined lines take precedence over overt embellishment, though this latest evolution introduces something warmer beneath the surface. Earlier, cooler palettes give way to stones that shift subtly with the light, bringing the collection closer to a jewellery wardrobe than a single evening gesture.
What Swarovski understands particularly well here is proportion. Jewellery designed for regular wear requires a different sort of intelligence from pieces intended solely for after-dark spectacle, because it must hold presence in daylight without looking as though it has arrived at the wrong appointment. The graduated choker necklaces move carefully between bold emerald-cut collets and finer pavé lines, allowing them to layer naturally without collapsing into visual noise. Cocktail rings arrive with enough scale to stand independently, while slimmer stacking bands encourage accumulation across the hand in a way that feels instinctive rather than overly styled. Drop earrings echo the same disciplined geometry, and pendant necklaces offer a quieter interpretation of the collection’s codes for those less inclined towards full glamour before midday.
A subtle floral motif softens the sharper edges of the collection, with petals rendered in pale morganite and citrine surrounding warm yellow centres. It is one of the few moments where Millenia allows itself something overtly decorative, though even here the symmetry remains controlled. Watches extend the language further still, their bezels framed with octagonal stones that blur the distinction between jewellery and timepiece with surprising ease.
The collection’s strength lies in its versatility. These are not pieces reserved exclusively for evening events. Millenia feels most convincing worn against tailoring at eleven in the morning, rather than under chandeliers at midnight.
There’s a reason the dining chair is the most unforgiving piece of furniture to design. It has to be comfortable enough for a three-hour dinner, light enough to pull back with one hand, strong enough to withstand years of daily use, and, ideally, worth looking at from every angle. The Otway Armchair by Kett manages all four with a kind of quiet confidence that doesn’t announce itself.
Defined by a gently curving solid ash frame, the Otway’s structure is both sculptural and purposeful. Rounded legs intersect to cradle the seat in a gesture that feels intuitively supportive, the kind of detail you notice the second time you sit down, when you realise you haven’t shifted once. Fine woodworking meets contemporary production here, resulting in a chair that is as enduring as it is elegant.
Upholstered in leather or fabric, it invites comfort without fuss. Stackable yet refined, it’s the rare dining chair that works equally well around a long oak table or pulled into a corner as a reading seat. This is a piece designed for unhurried evenings, the ones where conversation stretches well past dessert and nobody wants to be the first to stand up.
Auckland’s downtown retail precinct has secured a major international name, with Arc’teryx set to open its first New Zealand store at Commercial Bay in Spring 2026. Founded in North Vancouver and shaped by the demands of British Columbia’s Coast Mountains, the Canadian performance brand has built a global following for technical outerwear, precision design and alpine-grade functionality that now travels well beyond the mountain.
The arrival marks a notable moment for Commercial Bay, which has continued to draw premium international retailers into the heart of the city since opening in 2020. For New Zealand, where outdoor culture sits close to national identity and the weather has a habit of making amateurs of us all, Arc’teryx feels like a particularly appropriate addition.
The new store will bring the brand’s full premium offer to the local market, housed within a retail environment designed to reflect Arc’teryx’s rigorous approach to performance and material intelligence. “New Zealand has a strong outdoor culture and an increasingly engaged customer base seeking premium technical apparel,” says Bianca Bernadi, Arc’teryx Country Director ANZ. Commercial Bay, she adds, is “a natural fit” as the brand expands its global retail presence.
Scheduled to open later this year, the store adds further weight to Commercial Bay’s position as Auckland’s most desirable downtown retail address, and gives local devotees of the brand something far more satisfying than the usual online chase.
With the last of the autumn sun still upon us and a long weekend ahead, the most appropriate call to make is to secure plans before the weekend gets underway. With the forecast for sunshine, we suggest setting your sights on Ki Māha for a much-deserved Saturday lunch.
Just a 35-minute ferry ride will transport you to our celebrated island paradise, Waiheke, and there’s no place offering the sort of sensory transportive dining experience like Ki Māha. Located on Onetangi Beach, where a long stretch of white sand and crystal-clear water is the same exacting destination brief that many globetrotters request from their long-suffering travel agents. Except this one is right on our doorstep.
For those in the know, this slice of heaven is less arduous to access and decidedly more elevated and enjoyable than any Caribbean isle.
Positioned with a picture-perfect outlook of the sand and water beyond. But the restaurant itself is where your aesthetic and gastronomic needs will be completely fulfilled.
The stylish interiors evoke the beach clubs and atmosphere of Pampelonne, with the added comfort of an outdoor fire when the temperature calls for it. The service is always impeccable, and the eternally captivating vantage point offers a visual and conversational distraction that, let’s be honest, some lunch companions can require.
The menu is built around modern international flavours and the country’s best produce. Sustainably harvested seafood, ethically farmed meats, fruit and vegetables sourced as close to the island as the season allows.
Start with the Crayfish and Prawn Rolls and Yellow Fin Tuna Tartlet, suitable for pairing with a glass of something crisp and effervescent. After all, we are celebrating the King, and it is customary to do so in a regally resplendent manner.
Follow with an equally monarchical feast of Dry Aged Duck Breast served with oyster mushroom, dates, and a Marmite and cashew cream, then for a table prepared to eat like Kings, the 350g grass-fed Wagyu sirloin, long-fed for 360 days at WX5 plus, arrives with the kind of mineral depth that is revolutionary. Add some truffle fries, and several bottles of Burgundy for good measure.
Rather than letting them eat cake, we suggest a round of affogato for dessert to keep the celebrations alive.
Let the afternoon get away from you, knowing that, unlike some members of the royal family, you’ve made very good decisions. Decisions that don’t involve planes, private or commercial.
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