The dish

Non to franglais
British restaurateur and style master Sir Terence Conran has given British restaurants a serve. Cut the franglais and give us our food in plain English, he says, decrying the "obscure franglais" of menus obscuring sub-standard food.

The Habitat founder, who is credited with helping revolutionise British dining, says pretentious restaurants are confusing diners by describing dishes in a strange hybrid way.

And "snooty" and "offhand staff" serving expensive meals that are little more than "over-presented canapes" set Conran steaming. "The food itself is presented with masses of arty swirls, fiddles and froths ... it tastes of very little and certainly doesn't satisfy anybody with a reasonable appetite."

It's not just the food that has him boiling over. He believes many establishments are frequented by customers more concerned with the decor than the dishes. "A certain ghastly hush that falls over the place as people talk in whispers, as if the food was an offering to some deity. The huge bill at the end of the ritual equates to trying to bribe your way into the kingdom of heaven."

Sound familiar to anyone?

Barbie with Boerewors
Branco's sausages are a taste of South Africa that are sure to appeal to many Kiwi palates. The Boerewors Lite version was the first supermarket sausage awarded the Heart Foundation Tick, because of its high meat content of 82 per cent. And it uses only top-grade spices. "Think of it as a low-fat premium steak in a sausage," says Max Poznanovich , whose parents Branko and Juanita Pozanovic emigrated from South Africa in 1995 and saw a gap in the market for the sausages they enjoyed at home.

They set about making small quantities of Boerewors (farmer's sausage) and other sausages and now have a factory in Ellerslie producing three tonnes a week.

Considering that 31 per cent of New Zealanders eat sausages every week, there's a big market out there for top products.

Flavours include garlic, chorizo, continental pork and garam masala.

Available from supermarkets at $12.99 a kilo.

Flavour of the month
 It's the time when tempting our jaded who-can-be-bothered-cooking tastebuds seems to be the flavour du jour. Seasonal special sales of convenience food abound, so if you can handle more snacking it's a good time to check out the supermarket shelves for the weird and wonderful. If enough of those summer-edition Caesar Salad chips sell then they might stay in stores regularly.

The Dish prefers Eta's Feta & Italian Herb variety, or for something a little fishy try Smoked Salmon and Chives. All three Uppercut flat-cut chip flavours are selling at $2.59 to $2.79 for a 150g bag.

Then there's Regal Marlborough Salmon's Gourmet Bites, with mixed peppers and spices or chilli and lime. These chunky seasoned salmon bits can be added to pastas or salads or used in an easy antipasto platter. At supermarket seafood departments for $7.99 a 150g pack and with a handy keeping time of four to six weeks.

Sweet treat
Dessert with fruit is the latest twist from Fresh'n'Fruity, teaming yoghurt with a tangy layer of fruit. It comes in convenient 150g single-serve tubs in three flavours: boysenberry and blackberry, apple and cinnamon and rhubarb and vanilla . From supermarket chillers at $3.79 a two-pack. The snack is 93 per cent fat free and has 25 per cent of the recommended daily intake of calcium. Tempting ... but then again you could just have the fruit and a glass of milk.

A smorgasbord of chefs
The countdown has begun to the foodie talkfest of the year, when 800 chefs from throughout the world will be in Auckland for a convention at SkyCity from March 12 to 16. There will be lectures, seminars, presentations, master classes and a world junior chefs' challenge. A New Zealand Showcase expo will enable exporters to demonstrate their products. Mark your diaries, and for more information click on the link below. 

Masterful hospitality
AUT is launching an online master in professional hospitality studies programme to help managers increase their skills while still keeping up their customer contacts at regular day jobs. The course begins this year.