Language and food belong together, add history and the story deepens into something altogether different. Lustre's taking the words we use every day and turning them into dishes. Cool as a cucumber becomes a palate cleanser, a piece of cake arrives as something entirely new, and every course speaks to the way culture lives in how we talk about food. Seven courses of interpretation, each one teasing out a different idiom from around the world. There's a German one about sausage and indifference, an Indian one about something fishy in the pulses, moments where the kitchen challenges and entertains in equal measure. One surprise dish waits mid-evening, your job is to guess which idiom it is. The menu shifts with the seasons and the whims of Lustre's local farms, but the game never changes: food as language, language as history. Your ticket covers the seven-course Lustrous banquet menu and an idiom-inspired arrival drink. Alcohol is available to purchase.

Simon Sweetman, Wellington's poet and writer, will host an evening of off-beat poetry, live jazz, and prohibition-era food served as roaming tapas. Think 1920s glamour meets modern vulnerability. The poetry explores what this year's theme actually means: gossip, confession, taboo, inhibition, and Simon reads from his own collection alongside tributes to the beat poets. Then the mic opens. The Lustre team will read their own and if you want to read something you've written (or just stashed away), you can! Spot prizes appear for categories Simon dreams up on the night. Five to six substantial canapés and small plates flow throughout, built from what Lustre's hyper-seasonal local suppliers have available that week, it's comfort food meets glamour. The drinks menu reflects the era: cocktails, old fashioneds, sparkling wine, moonshine.

Conscious Valley beef brisket, with Ōtaki cucumber pickles, Double Vision Brewery Hazy beer cheese, and kimchi mayo in a housemade sourdough brioche bagel bun.