S.P.Q.R. Est. 1992

by Tamara West (Photographer)

Legendary Ponsonby restaurant S.P.Q.R has been a magnet for Auckland diners for more than 20 years. With its Italian-inspired menu, colourful atmosphere and sun-bathed pavement tables, there really is no other restaurant quite like it.

The S.P.Q.R cookbook shares more than 85 dishes from the restaurant menu, all carefully translated and tested for the home cook. Recipes range from elegant entrées to casual platters, classic Italian pizzas, pastas and risottos, to simple salads, favourite seafood and meat dishes and stunning desserts. Photographer Tamara West captures S.P.Q.R's unique spirit and writer Simon Farrell- Green introduces the book, paying tribute to the contribution this unique eatery has made to Auckland's dining scene.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 24, 2014

Reviews

[Peter Waalkes]

Witty with an encyclopedic grasp of Roman history, Mary Beard takes you through from the earliest days of the Roman Empire to Constantine. She has a brilliant breezy style with which she comes across as a master storyteller. The entire book feels as if you are sitting on a porch with her having a glass of wine while she relates the history of one of the greatest empires the world has ever known.

[Debi]

My husband and I were reading this out loud but it wasn't compelling enough. We kept being "too tired" to read it and since it's been sitting on a table being ignored for months now, I'm giving up on it...though somewhat reluctantly.

[David Pulliam]

She tended to ramble through themes rather follow a timeline which too me seems a bit more manageable to track. Also, I was a bit surprised how much she skipped near the end, she hardly talked about they year of the four emperors, the Severen (sp) dynasty and year of the 5 emperors. I think the biggest issue was her very deep skepticism of he historicity if early Rome while having less skepticism with the events of the first century. I let her approach was in the least arbitrary.