Michael acknowledged that there’s a lot of hard work that goes into creating food in Polynesian communities, and the work is shared because the intention of the food is to be shared. This fundamental nature of Polynesian culture is reflected in Metita; both in the menu offerings and the sharing style concept of food. Interestingly, despite the fact that Polynesian culture is so deeply embedded in New Zealand (and Pacific communities being at the core of New Zealand’s demographic make up), there’s always been a large gap in the market for a restaurant that has at the forefront of its focus bringing you Pacific cuisine in Auckland, the way Michael has done so in Metita.

There are Pacific delicacies in the menu (classics like corn beef, taro bread and sapa suey) but with different ingredients used to how things may be prepared at home. Michael honed in on how Polynesian cuisine is already a melting pot of different flavours; driving from East Asian and Indian influences, so the menu offering at Metita aims to only amplify that further. “If you look at the Fijian culture and the influence of Indian cooking, I’ve applied a lot of that, using spices as a way of bringing aromatic [flavours] into sauces”. I really saw this to hold true, with a lot of the dishes I tried embracing flavours I’m used to tasting in Indian cooking such as tamarind. Despite honing into the melting pot of flavours, I found that Michael executed this without taking it too far away from what Polynesian cuisine really is.