Chefs serve up cool hits at Auckland tennis

It hasn’t just been tennis stars doing the hard yards in sweltering heat during the ASB Classic.

The offerings of catering crews at the tennis arena on Stanley St have also proven to be a smash hit in the warm conditions.

Ahead of today’s men’s final, tournament officials have revealed some of the most popular items on the menu over the past two weeks.

And unsurprising with the temperatures hitting the high 20s — combined with high humidity — during the summer of tennis, icecream features prominently.

“Thousands and thousands” of icecream serves have been devoured courtside.

A team of 65 chefs in 10 kitchens have been looking after the nourishment of players and fans alike.

The culinary team have cooked

180kg of lamb racks, three tonne of waffle fries, 800 duck legs, made

2800 sandwiches and used 200kg of Ka¯piti cheese.

Seafood has also been a popular tennis staple, including 600kg of salmon, 250kg of snapper and 140kg of sustainable tuna being served up.

The traditional grandstand and terrace seats haven’t been the only popular viewing points, with the plush Moet and Chandon Racquet Club also proving to be a hit — including the pop-up club’s pool which carries 13,000 litres of water.

And with temperatures expected to reach 27C for today’s final, icecream stands — and the pool — are expected to again prove popular.

Fans courtside, and other Aucklanders, should try to enjoy the sunshine as much as they can this afternoon, with showers expected in the region tonight.

And while a high of 27C is again forecast for tomorrow, showers and cloudy periods are also expected. Some brief spells of rain are likely in Auckland on Monday, as well as sunny spells.

MetService meteorologist Lisa Murray said next week would likely bring Auckland some respite from some fairly humid weather.

A cooler Monday would make way for some sun later in the week, when day temperatures would hover around the mid 20s.

The rest of the North Island can expect a similar weekend — apart from parts of the Waikato and western Bay of Plenty which could potentially be hit by thunderstorms.

Wet weather was linked to a front moving up the country, reaching Auckland by Monday morning.

Down south, the West Coast would get the best of the weekend weather. Fine weather with “plenty” of sunshine was forecast today, though a fine Sunday morning could be intercepted with some wet weather in the afternoon.