Words Vicki Ravlich-Horan images Brydie Thompson
“It’s a really exciting time for us!” says Blair Graham, manager of The Historic Village.
This excitement stems from the recent arrival of three fantastic new hospitality offerings. “The community told us they wanted more choice when it comes to food and hospitality options at The Village, and we’ve delivered.”
Market & Main, the flagship cafe located in the heart of The Historic Village, is already a favourite among locals and visitors alike. Ichiban brings bold and vibrant Japanese street food to the scene, while The Med Lounge is a licensed Mediterranean-inspired restaurant with a relaxed garden bar vibe, serving lunch, dinner, cocktails, and live music in the evenings.
“Together”, Blair says, “they’ve transformed the energy in The Village. They support and elevate everything else going on here – from exhibitions and live performances, to retail, community services, and private events – offering hospitality options morning through night, seven days a week.”
Hospitality isn’t the only thing on the rise. In early September, new retail tenant Sugar + Spice opened its doors, offering artisan confectionery, gourmet BBQ rubs, and high-end packaged ice creams.
The Village has also added a commercial kitchen and catering partner which, Blair says, “has been a game changer for the six indoor event spaces, with groups hosting meetings, workshops or functions having access to full food and beverage service, making The Village even more attractive as a venue”.
These upgrades are building on a space already known for its strong community heart. The Village has long been a destination for public celebrations, hosting a full calendar of events each year, from the Tauranga Diwali Festival and Waitangi Day to the Tauranga Multicultural Festival, Asian Food Festival, National Jazz Festival, Fringe Festival, and Elektrophoria. These events draw thousands, filling The Village with colour, music and celebration.
But they are not stopping there. Great progress has been made on their building renewal programme. An important revegetation project, which involves adding native plantings, is underway, along with the construction of new accessible walkways that connect The Village and Cameron Road to the Kōpūrererua Valley via 16th Avenue.
The Village Chapel upgrades are almost complete, and this, along with the completed Balcony Room, Blair says, “makes The Village ideal for weddings. We are able to host ceremonies and receptions. There are lots of spaces for photos, and we even have an on-site hairdresser and barber, making The Village perfect for special wedding days. It’s been fantastic seeing The Village filled with people enjoying the activities and the space.”
Market & Main
Sitting at the crossroads of Market and Main streets in Tauranga’s Historic Village is a new cafe and eatery – Market & Main. Some would say this beautifully restored space sits in the centre of the action; Ian Mikkelsen would say “at the heart of the community”.
On the day we visited, a busy weekday during the school holidays, Market & Main felt like a wonderful representation of the local community, with children enjoying a scavenger hunt created by the café staff, business meetings taking place, friends catching up, and walkers taking a pit stop.
Ian is the Retail Catering Manager for Bay Catering, which opened Market & Main in The Village in early July. He says, “There is so much cool stuff happening here we want to facilitate connections, and what better way than through food.”
Everything is made on-site with the menu designed and overseen by Michelin-trained Bay Catering Executive Chef Anthony Lawler, with a focus on fresh local ingredients. The menu is modern and the innovative cafe food appeals to everyone while putting a twist on some of those perennial favourites: think salt beef croissant with hollandaise instead of your traditional eggs bene.
Along with the breakfast offering, the menu features a selection of deli-inspired sandwiches like The Fun Guy (mushroom, halloumi, onion jam and salsa verde) as well as a couple of burgers. The cabinet is bursting with tempting baked goods, both sweet and savoury.
The walls of the cafe are adorned with local artwork that changes each month, a small way the cafe is collaborating with its neighbours in The Village.
Market & Main is Bay Catering’s fourth cafe in its portfolio which includes 101 Cafe Experiment at the University of Waikato Tauranga campus, as well as on-site cafes at Baywave Aquatic & Leisure Centre and Mercury Baypark Arena. Bay Catering comes under the umbrella of council-controlled organisation Bay Venues, which has a core purpose of “connecting our community through exceptional experiences”. Any profits from Bay Venues’ commercial ventures help to fund community facilities around the city, including aquatic centres, indoor sport and fitness facilities, event venues, and community centres and halls.
Along with great food, events and community, the Market & Main team is big on sustainability. There is an emphasis on recycling and the cafe has installed a couple of nifty commercial composters. So next time you pop in for a long black and a cinnamon bun, make sure you go home with a bag of Market & Main compost.
The Med Lounge
Tomer Rooney says The Historic Village was the perfect location for what they envisioned for The Med Lounge and Garden. And as the weather warms and we can sit in their beer garden enjoying a sunny Sunday session, I am sure many people will agree.
The team quietly opened over the winter months for lunch, offering filled pitas (baked at Falafel Metro, Tomer’s other business) and Mediterranean-inspired salads. Meanwhile, renovations continued on the beautiful house with a wraparound verandah that opens onto a wonderful green, aka the beer garden. Two private dining spaces have been added to the main dining space making The Med Lounge and Garden the perfect spot for lunch, dinner or a sunny Sunday afternoon in Tauranga.
Tomer, whose father is a Kiwi, grew up in a kibbutz in Israel. His wife Darya (who moved to Israel from Kazakhstan as a teenager) and he moved to New Zealand several years ago, purchasing Falafel Metro in 2022.
Business partners Mitch Lowe (from South Africa) and his wife Ezel (from Turkey) round out this global team.
While Tomer enthuses about the concept of bringing people together by the sharing of food, partner Mitch Lowe (the brains behind events like Bay Dreams and Soundsplash) is excited to create a unique space in the Bay for music and cocktails.
Both couples are immensely grateful to their adopted town they now call home and want to establish something new and exciting for the region. “When I do things for the right reasons they always seem to work,” says Mitch. “This is not a financial decision for us. It’s a project for local people to be proud of. I love this city and what it’s done for me. I always want to give back and improve the region.”
The menu, as the name eludes, will be Mediterranean inspired. But don’t expect a pizza- and pasta-heavy line-up. Tomer and the team are leaning into the less explored parts of the Mediterranean in the New Zealand hospitality scene, like Turkey and Morocco.
The emphasis will be on sharing dishes, with lots of flavour.
Ichiban
“It’s our sauce,” claims Karen Onishi on why Ichiban has proved so popular, first as a food truck and now in its permanent position at The Historic Village.
Karen’s parents are Japanese. They met in Brazil, where they settled and raised their four children. Karen has continued this family tradition by meeting her husband Diego in New Zealand. Diego is Brazilian and grew up not far from where Karen did. But it was here in New Zealand that they have settled and are bringing up their two children.
The pair originally settled in Christchurch but when Diego thought the food truck would be a good idea (Karen says Diego is the ideas man), they moved to the Bay where the weather is warmer.
A caravan was purchased and Diego set about turning it into a food truck, while Karen, a trained food engineer, worked on the food, including adapting her mum’s special sauce.
Juggling full time jobs, they started with markets and festivals. These went well so they parked up semi permanently on Newton Street, a test to see if the ultimate dream of a permanent bricks and mortar space could work.
And in March this year that dream came true, with Ichiban opening its doors at The Historic Village. Again, Diego got to work building the fit-out himself, including the mural wall that mirrors their logo he had designed years earlier.
Open Tuesday to Saturday, Karen is joined by their manager and head barista Augusto, serving their famous line-up of donburi, poke bowls and a recent addition, ramen.
I am told the Japanese fried chicken is the most popular dish. Karen says theirs is so good because the chicken is marinated with ginger, garlic and some secret spices. For those looking for a healthier option there is fresh salmon and tuna as well as brown rice and quinoa.
And while The Historic Village community have embraced and welcomed Ichiban, their famous fried chicken and Japanese-inspired street food can still be found further afield with the food truck still in action at markets and events and the team offering catering.
