Meet the dish Men

In each issue of dish, we chat with some of our favourite Kiwis to share their food loves so we can create a recipe especially for them. Over the years we have met with a bunch of awesome men from around the country, from celebrity chefs through to comedians, so we thought why not take a moment to look back at all of the dish men and the delicious recipes we created for them.

Tom Sainsbury 

Is there anything Tom Sainsbury can’t do? The all-rounder is an accomplished and prolific playwright, penned award-winning TV series Super City with Madeleine Sami and worked on web series Stake Out, Bachelor Pad and The Video Store. He’s also an established actor and comedian. But he’s probably best known as the creator of a series of comedy videos featuring characters made using Snapchat filters (check out his Facebook at @tomsainsbury6 or Instagram at @thomassainsbury – you’re in for a treat). His favourite characters he’s invented? “It’d have to be Tayn, who’s a boy racer with missing teeth; he’s a ratbag, always getting into trouble,” admits Tom. “Or there’s a character with a huge mouth called Maz who’s quite sweet – I love playing those two.”

Food-wise? After growing up on a dairy farm, Tom now eats vegan. Here, he talks his go-to vegan lollies, what would be on Boomer Dad’s dinner wish list and death row meals.

Click here to read his interview. 
Click here to explore the recipe we created for Tom. 

Daniel Faitaua 

Most Kiwis will know Daniel Faitaua from his all-but-nightly spots on the news for the past three years. From his base in London, the sunny Samoan Kiwi has been 1 News’ Europe correspondent during a notably bleak period, while the continent has weathered everything from Covid to the war in Ukraine. Recently appointed president of the Foreign Press Association London, the reporter extraordinaire is now on his way home to take up an as-yet-undisclosed television role. We look forward to welcoming him back onto screens soon!

Click here to read his interview. 
Click here to explore the recipe we created for Daniel.

Colin Mathura-Jeffree

Model, television host and man-about-town Colin Mathura-Jeffree is the sort of guy you imagine would be intimidating in person. In his colourful career, he’s graced catwalks for the likes of Versace, judged New Zealand’s Next Top Model and hosted New Zealand’s Hottest Home Baker, cha-cha’ed for the cameras in Dancing with the Stars and served as an ambassador for multiple charities, among much else.

Named New Zealand’s Sexiest Man by Metro in 2012, he cuts a striking figure. Yet he’s more down-to-earth than his celebrity profile would suggest – a thoughtful and considerate interview subject and a lover of such Kiwi classics as bacon and egg pie and ginger crunch. We caught up with him to hear about dining with the Maharani of India, the lamb roasts he enjoys at home and overindulging in chocolate-covered coffee beans on his first modelling shoot.

Click here to read his interview. 
Click here to explore the recipe we created for Colin.

Matty Mclean 

An adventurous eater, keen cook and perennial joker, Breakfast weather presenter and A Current Affair reporter Matty McLean is someone we'd want to have dinner (and maybe a few drinks) with. We caught up with the Queenstown-raised Aucklander to find out what he likes to cook, which 90s icon he likes to sing along to in the kitchen and the one and only food he finds utterly offensive...

Click here to read his interview. 
Click here to explore the recipe we created for Matty. 

Sam Low 

The first New Zealand MasterChef in seven years, he stunned the judges and audiences nationwide with dishes offering a modern, inventive twist on Chinese food.But although Sam is not a professional chef, he has long been cooking up a storm. Before entering MasterChef, he was a food social media star, with over 30,000 Instagram and TikTok followers watching his videos on cooking everything from simple stir-fried bok choy to fried chicken gua baos. (He first made headlines for glamming up the meals he received in a managed isolation facility in 2020.) He’s the brains behind modern Chinese pop-up, Da Lin. And he’s also an award-winning barista, former latte art champion and De’Longhi ambassador.

Usually, we use The Plating Game to profile one of our favourite Kiwis, then create a dish for them. But while we were keen to hear about the food Sam loves, eats, dreams of and cooks, we knew we couldn’t come up with something for him better than what he already could for himself! This special edition of The Plating Game featured one of Sam’s own recipes, for mouthwatering northern Chinese-style cumin and chilli lamb skewers.

Click here to read his interview.
Click here to explore his recipe. 

Sam Neill

Our interview with Kiwi actor Sam Neill ranged in topics from the restaurant he’d like dish to whisk him to, the ubiquitous American food he can’t stand, to the duck dinner he’ll remember forever with love...and resulted in us creating a dish we think is him to a tee: Honey-Roasted Duck Legs with Apricots.

National icon and global star Sam Neill is one of those actors who is like a litmus test for viewing quality. Enter Sam on-screen and you sink comfortably into your seat, thinking: ‘ah it’s him; must be a good movie’. Over a career spanning almost 50 years, he’s brought his trademark gruff charm to a raft of landmark film and TV productions – from Hollywood blockbusters to independent (many Kiwi) gems. The Piano, Jurassic Park, The Dish, Gallipoli, Peaky Blinders, Thor Ragnarok, Rams, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Ride Like a Girl, Dead Calm… the list is endless. And yet he comes across as a regular Kiwi bloke, the sort you could easily imagine shooting the breeze with over a glass of red (perhaps a delicious pinot noir from his Two Paddocks vineyard in Central Otago). Here Sam reveals the restaurant he’d like dish to whisk him to, the ubiquitous American food he can’t stand, and the duck dinner he’ll remember forever with love.

Click here to read his interview. 
Click here to explore the recipe we created for Sam.