30 years on: The dining experience unlike any other in New Zealand — and the secret to its success

Sunday, 28 June 2026

Auckland's Caluzzi Cabaret on Karangahape Road is celebrating 30 years in business.

The venue features a rotating cast of 10 drag performers who serve as waitresses, maintaining the original interactive dining and entertainment format.

Current owners Nick Hall and Nick Nash, known as drag performers Anita Wigl'it and Kita Mean, have run Caluzzi for 10 years.

“Bing bong!”

To the thousands of customers who have crossed the threshold of this iconic corner of Auckland's Karangahape Road, that signature refrain from drag performer Ling Ling will be instantly familiar.

A cheeky play on the infamous 'ping pong' scene from the movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (IYKYK), Ling Ling has been greeting diners at Caluzzi Cabaret for nearly 28 years — almost as long as the doors have been open.

Now the intimate 70-seat institution is celebrating three decades in business — managing to thrive and survive where others have fallen by the wayside.

The unique format has barely changed. The drag queens greet each diner and serve the meals before launching into a full show. Garlic bread and pumpkin soup are practically compulsory. It’s interactive, it’s bawdy and it’s unlike any other dining experience in the country.

Drag legend (my words, not hers — she's apparently too shy for that sort of thing), Ling Ling has seen it all since making her nervous debut back in 1998.

“I was so scared,” recalls the performer behind the make-up, John Pan.

Having recently arrived from Malaysia, he was working behind the scenes at Caluzzi before being thrust into the spotlight during a Halloween party.

The memory is a little hazy, but he believes his first-ever lip-sync was to Shirley Bassey's This Is My Life. He admits a few drinks helped settle the nerves and jokes, “nothing has changed”.

The performance of the anthem was enough to convince the owners at the time to give John some training — a drag 101, if you will.

Soon after, Ling Ling was born. She’s never left.

Humble beginnings

Former owner Campbell Orr says Caluzzi has come a long way from its modest beginnings.

Back then it was a café staffed by two drag queens: chef Felicia Porget and server Courtney Cartier. After clocking off, the pair would head upstairs, slip into their drag personas and hit K Road.

Before long, café customers were asking them to put on a show, and the cabaret, as we know it, was born.

Orr worked as a bar manager in the early days and remembers it as the 'wild west of fun, and certainly less conservative back then.'

The venue was a hub for some of the fringes of Auckland's gay community. “Every Friday we'd have the cross-dressing group,” says Orr. They would mingle with the fetish crowd before, over the years, making way for corporate groups and hen's parties.

Standards were, as Orr describes them, a lot 'looser'.

'People would walk past in the morning, and it would be the same plates and lamb shank bones on the table from the night before.'

Orr almost bought another gay bar, Surrender Dorothy on Ponsonby Road, before ultimately taking over Caluzzi. He inherited a business on its knees.

'If I didn't buy it, it was done and closed, and that was the end of it.'

He adds ruefully: 'Not many people know that.'

For the first couple of years he survived, as he puts it, by 'living on the smell of an oily rag', often running the kitchen, front of house and the bar on his own.

Slowly, standards improved, money was invested back into the business and the Caluzzi girls rallied around him.

Orr left to pursue a career in real estate in 2016, but says he's immensely proud the venue is still going.

'I miss the girls and the people. Our favourite part of the night was after the show, after the punters had left, we'd shut the door, and we'd just have our own little party. Ling would get out the peach schnapps shots and then we'd all go down the road together.'

‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’

It's been nearly 10 years at the helm of Caluzzi for owners Nick Hall and Nick Nash, better known to many as drag royalty Anita Wigl'it and Kita Mean.

'It's been wild,' says Hall, 'but it feels like a blip in time. A lot has happened in 10 years.'

He's not kidding.

The pair have appeared on various franchises of RuPaul's Drag Race around the world, starred in their own TVNZ shows, and weathered divorces and difficult operations in their private lives. Through it all, one anchor point has remained: Caluzzi.

'It's just honestly such a joy. I don't even necessarily call it ownership. Kita and I are holding the torch at the moment, and we're just kind of keeping the legacy going.'

The pair haven't tinkered with the winning formula. There have been upgrades, including a revamped sound system and a refreshed interior, but the heart of Caluzzi remains the same.

'If it ain't broke, don't fix it,' says Hall.

'The magic of Caluzzi is it's so personal. Having the drag performers as the waitresses is such a brilliant idea.' Today, there’s a rotating cast of 10 to entertain and serve the punters.

The humour has evolved, says Hall.

'Some of the subjects we used to talk about 10 years ago, we can't now. But we still push the boundaries.'

Hall would love to franchise Caluzzi beyond New Zealand's shores, although he admits that would require significant investment.

While the venue continues to perform well, it hasn't escaped the pressures facing the wider hospitality sector.

Trade remains below pre-Covid levels and there are unique challenges too, including pressure from vocal opponents to the LGBTQI+ community, which can make some corporate clients hesitant.

There is also the risk of what Hall calls 'drag fatigue'. What was once edgy and niche has become increasingly mainstream thanks to the many iterations of Drag Race around the world.

Even so, Hall is pragmatic.

'We can still pay our bills and make money, which is honestly what anyone could wish for in an environment like this.'

Looking ahead, he's characteristically upbeat.

'Caluzzi is Disneyland for adults. You're there to completely switch off from the world and all the bad things in life, and that's what I love.

'They can laugh, they can be immature, they can be childish, and they can just be encouraged to let loose, which we don't get to do as adults.'

Through nearly three decades of serving tens of thousands of garlic breads and lip-syncing to anthems galore, one constant has remained: Ling Ling.

John is still amazed by his longevity in the business and touched by the relationships both he and his drag persona have built over the years.

“The sisterhood, the people who I work with, have been so nice to me. I am proud of the people who support me, I am proud to be Asian and I’m proud people give me a chance to perform.”

Who's to say there won't be many more years of 'bing bong' to come?

**Caluzzi Cabaret is hosting a special 30th Birthday extravaganza as part of the Auckland Live Cabaret Festival at *The Wintergarden at The Civic* on June 28. Details here.**

The author once owned a gay bar opposite Caluzzi called Urge and frequently worked with the venue to raise money for charity. He also once performed in drag there. He slayed.