It is no easy task to cook, talk and be funny but Jan Maree manages to do all three for two very entertaining hours.*

Eat Me is the second part of the series Maree started in 2007 where she uses her life experiences, family recipes and stories to create a relatively “out there” concept of cookery and comedy.

Sandwiches is the perfect setting for this show – classy, warm and intimate – you feel right at home, walking in as I did from a blustery, cold Wellington evening.

Maree’s entire ethos is to be friends with us by the end of the show, almost like family, because we have shared a meal together. She gauges her audience well and the jokes are just the right amount of dirty without being crass. Her off-the-cuff jokes are often the funniest.

We watch as Maree cooks two dishes from her grandmother’s recipe book and laugh along as she regales us with funny anecdotes encompassing her Italian /Croatian ancestry. With the smell of garlic, peppers and herbs wafting around the room, we’re all drooling already.

After Maree cooks up the dish, Sandwiches head chef Bevan Marks and his team bring out the adaptations of her recipe for all of us to dine on. It was nice to see vegetarians were looked after with alternative options as Maree’s main dish was meat-based.

All three courses were delicious and Maree left us to taste, share and discuss the food before coming back out with the stories again.

I wasn’t expecting the show to be emotional but when it comes to family, food and love, a few tears have to be shed and there are a few touching moments in the show.

The last part of the show is stand-up only, covering Maree’s experiences on TV2 show Island Wars last year, learning to be a gracious loser and her step-daughter. This is the belly-laughs part – you didn’t want to guffaw with a mouth full of food so this is a nice way to chill out after a big meal and laugh away.

Maree is the consummate host – entertaining, mingling, gossiping a wee bit and making sure you leave happy and full – which I did and so will you.
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*The show duration is meant to be 2 hours (incl. dining time) as it says on the programme but last night we were there for three hours and I imagine timings will change with every night.
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