Kitchen Day Podcast

Hosted by Dominique Fourie McMillan, the Kitchen Day Podcast celebrates the people who bring hospitality to life through service. Each episode features chats with some incredible folk who work in service - from hosts and bartenders to sommeliers and owners - sharing their philosophies, challenges, triumphs, and why they believe service is the best job in the world. Whether you work in hospo (or did once!) or simply love dining out, these stories will reveal why service is an honourable craft, and those who do it well are worth celebrating.

Kitchen Day Podcast is a society podcast hosted by Kitchen Day, with 21 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Kitchen Day hosts Kitchen Day Podcast, a society show with 21 episodes published.

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  Episode #10

  Eric Kong of Dragons on living up to a family legacy in service.

  Jun 6, 20261h 4mS2

  <p>Eric Kong is 24 years old and runs Dragons, Wellington's most beloved yum cha institution on Tory Street in Wellington. But the story starts in 1908, when his great-great-grandfather arrived in New Zealand alone at 14, paid the Chinese poll tax, and started a fruiterers' guild that gave the Chinese community a foothold in Wellington. Five generations of hospitality has followed, and Eric has been part of it since before he could really choose otherwise.</p><p>In this episode Dom sits down with Eric to trace the whole arc. The fruit shops, the fish and chip shops, the fine dining restaurant...

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  Episode #9

  Melissa Lind of Charley Noble on walking the line between control and chaos in a busy service

  May 30, 20261h 6mS2

  <p>Melissa Lind didn’t plan to become the General Manager of one of Wellington’s busiest restaurants. She walked into Charley Noble with a single CV, no appointment, and asked for a job. Three months later, she was running the floor. Eight years on, Mel oversees Charley Noble and The Food Lab as GM of Knife Block Hospitality, leading huge services, managing teams of up to 75 staff, and navigating the beautiful chaos of modern hospitality. This episode is packed with the kinds of stories you genuinely couldn’t make up: clarified butter taking out the power during a packed dinner...

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  Episode #8

  Natalia Schamroth of The Engine Room on 20 years of restaurant excellence

  May 23, 20261h 13mS2

  <p>Natalia Schamroth never planned to open a restaurant on the North Shore. She and partner Carl Koppenhagen had a list, they'd searched for a year, and the day they went to see the old post office in Northcote Point they'd already talked themselves out of it. But then they saw the steel-framed windows, and the rest is history. Twenty years later, The Engine Room is the restaurant everyone in this city has a story about, and this week Natalia tells us hers.</p><p>It's a conversation about what it actually takes to build something that endures. We talk...

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  Episode #7

  Stephen Wong MW on passing the hardest wine exam in the world

  May 16, 20261h 32mS2

  <p>There are roughly 420 Masters of Wine in the world, and Wellington has one of them. This week on The Kitchen Day Podcast, I sit down with Stephen Wong MW, a Master of Wine, wine educator, consultant, and judge. If you’ve ever wondered what it actually takes to become a Master of Wine, this conversation breaks it down, from the famously difficult MW exam to the years of blind tasting, study, and repetition behind it (spoiler: it’s absurdly hard).</p><p>Stephen’s path into wine and hospitality started in New Zealand hospo almost by accident and evolved into a...

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  Episode #6

  Ismo Koski of Apéro - the restaurant every restaurateur adores

  May 9, 20261h 13mS2

  <p>Ismo Koski - or Mo, as he’s known in hospo circles -  is one of Aotearoa’s most respected front-of-house operators. He came up through the city's most influential fine-dining rooms, including The Grove, Sidart, and the French Café under Simon Wright and Creghan Molloy-Wright, before opening the iconic Apéro on K'Road with his partner, chef Leslie Hottiaux.</p><p>Twelve years on, Apéro is the restaurant every restaurateur wishes was theirs. A brick-walled wine bar behind a small door on Karangahape Road, built on 90k and a vision board scrawled in Mo's dad's garage. </p><p>Mo and...

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