Aquaman star Jason Momoa creates ‘pretty big buzz’ at Auckland restaurant

Aquaman and Game of Thrones star Jason Momoa has created “a pretty big buzz” at Auckland restaurant Baduzzi, arriving with All Blacks, ordering an off-menu dish and magnum of Tuscan wine, and telling restaurateur Michael Dearth how lucky he is to live in New Zealand.

Dearth, who ownes the Italian-inspired restaurant on North Wharf, said he kept Momoa’s visit a secret from staff until Saturday night, when the Hawaii-born actor entered the restaurant in a group of about 10 to 15 people, including a few All Blacks.

Dearth said Momoa ordered “a lot of seafood” and “ate heaps of fresh pasta, venison meatballs, lamb meatballs, T-bone steaks… He was smashing it. He was drinking some good juice, some good wine.”

Momoa ordered a magnum of 1998 Sassicaia wine, which he signed, and asked for a simple Italian pasta dish with garlic and olive oil that wasn’t on the menu, Dearth said.

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“He was like ‘Can the chef make me an aglio e olio? It’s not on the menu, but it’s like my true test’. He said it’s like the best Italian food he’s had in a long time. He really loved it.”

Dearth said Momoa attracted attention from both staff and customers, some of whom asked for a selfie with him.

“(The staff) were loving it and the customers were because you know he is a presence. He is a large specimen of a man. He was with a few All Black guys, and he was even dwarfing over them. It was pretty impressive.”

Dearth said he ended up having “a really nice chat with Momoa”, bonding over Dearth’s imminent trip to Hawaii for the school holidays.

Dearth said Momoa was curious about why he had chosen to make New Zealand home.

“He just loves New Zealand… I think he loved the fact that my wife is from the Midwest and I’m from the East Coast of the US and I chose to make New Zealand my home. He was really quite interested in my story. The whole ‘why did you choose New Zealand?’. He was saying how lucky I am to have made New Zealand my home. We made a good connection.”

Momoa arrived in Auckland from Hawaii on September 17, where he was greeted with a pōwhiri at Auckland International Airport.

Shortly after his arrival, he shared a carousel of photographs of himself with the All Blacks on Instagram, writing “Mahalo to my favorite team in the world Aloha j.”

He is in New Zealand to shoot the new AppleTV+ series, Chief of War.

Before departing for New Zealand, Momoa debuted his new head tattoo, a traditional Hawaiian tattoo which he said on Instagram had been in the making for 20 years.