Estate Mailing List
Bracu Review - Canvas 2011
A new article from the 'Canvas' magazine insert which accompanies the Weekend edition of the NZ Herald.We'd been planning a dinner at Bracu ever since a disastrous lunch at Hotel du Vin some years back. Bombay is a great place to meet friends from Rotorua or Hamilton. In fact, this particular night, the Rotorua contingent bragged they took less time to get there than we did from Kumeu, having been held up by a mix of cyclonic rain, an accident (or "incident") and the usual Auckland holiday weekend chaos.
But Bracu, with its wide, inviting gates, parking spaces beneath the olive trees and elegant decor, melted tension away. We were expertly greeted by a smooth front-of-house person, shown to our beautifully decorated, white-clothed table and quickly delivered drinks all round.Read the whole story
Cuisine Restaurant of the Year Nominee
Cuisine Magazine has shortlisted Bracu in their 50 top restaurants of New Zealand. The full list is available in the current issue of Cuisine and the winners will be announced in the September issue.
To celebrate, we are offering a Villa Maria wine matched set menu from July through August.
Bracu, as seen on MasterChef NZ
UPDATE: The On demand show is now online!
We've been sitting on a bit of news for a while, but we can now announce that Bracu and Simunovich Extra Virgin Olive oils can be see on the MasterChef NZ show on TV One.
This Wednesday April 14th at 7:30pm you can catch a glimpse of the Bracu kitchen and dining areas as the compeitors do battle. You may have already seen our oils show up during the series as the dishes were being created.
We can't say who won this epic culinary battle, so you'll just have to watch to find out!
Sunday Star Times Review- Mar 2010
Bracu gets 4.5/5 stars in a recent Sunday Star Times review! We're very pleased to report that we're still striving for the full 5.
Read the review below:
sst14-03-2010_2.pdf The Herald Bracu four and a half stars!
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Peter Calder reviews Bracu in the Herald On Sunday, January 24, 2010 and has lots of great things to say. His Bottom Line is : "Great food in handsome surroundings". We could not agree more. Read it online here.
Metro, Audi Restaurant of the Year 2009 Awards
Friday, 1 May 2009
Adrian, Bracu's Chef, is thrilled that Bracu has received runner up in this years Best Rural Restaurant category of the Metro, Audi Restaurant of the Year awards. "It's great that all of my team's hardwork receives this kind of recognition... its really rewarding for us all. Bracu prides itself on providing excellence, to us its all about being local, fresh, seasonal!"
Read more: Metro, Audi Restaurant of the Year 2009 Awards2nd International Olive Oil Competition
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
Simunovich Olive Estate - extra virgin olive oil with the best chemical composition from the Southern Hemisphere, harvest 2007.
"Golden oil" By Katie Newton - Sunday Star Times
Golden oil
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
In the hills outside Auckland, a Croatian family’s centuries-old tradition lives on in a range of beauty products.
There’s a chute out the back of the processing plant at Simunovich Olive Estate that churns out a rich greenish sludge that looks a bit like tapenade. Nutrient-rich and faintly perfumed, for an olive fan it’s the weirdly appetising by-product of the estate’s olive press, ready to be fed to the herd of appreciative cows.
Inside, at the business end of the heaving production line, there’s a tube going into a steel vat with a tiny puddle of chartreuse oil in the bottom.