On a public holiday Monday, residents of an Auckland city street spotted a large quantity of spaghetti adorning the front window of a local cafe. Madeleine Chapman investigates who threw it and why.<\/p>\n
At first glance it looks like a giant vomited after a big night out. Red streaks and the occasional piece of spaghetti coat the glass front of Hideout Espresso Bar on upper Symonds Street, reaching from the ground all the way up to the concrete framing. There\u2019s a lot of it, and it\u2019s splattered, having evidently met the glass with force. On the ground below it is the lid of a takeaway container, evidence that the spaghetti was thrown. By who? The neighbouring building\u2019s frontage gives a hint: Paparazzi, Italian restaurant.<\/p>\n
The spaghetti, allegedly thrown by Paparazzi owner-operator Sashe Sterjov on Monday afternoon, makes for a striking image, but is just one detail of a three-minute altercation between Sterjov and Hideout owner Anderson Mar that led to a physical confrontation and a police callout \u2013 all, apparently, over a wheelie bin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sashe Sterjov moments after flinging spaghetti bolognese at a window (Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n
Mar is serving customers while speaking to The Spinoff over the phone two days later. Every 30 seconds, a new customer enters, and every single one mentions the spaghetti incident. Some have come in solely because of it. It\u2019s the talk of the neighbourhood, and has led to dozens of residents promising to boycott Paparazzi and its spaghetti-flinging owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So what happened?<\/p>\n
Hideout was closed on Monday and Mar had the day off but says he was in the cafe doing some prep work when he received a text from Sterjov about an overflowing bin outside. Mar said it wasn\u2019t his bin as his bin was in the carpark. Sterjov sent a photo and Mar realised it was an old bin of the cafe\u2019s that had been stolen and had now reappeared, broken, and filled with rubbish. <\/p>\n
Mar says he didn\u2019t give it much energy \u2013 \u201cI was busy prepping\u201d \u2013 until Sterjov walked over and knocked on his front windows. \u201cHe told me to come out. I said \u2018no sorry, I\u2019m busy\u2019. He was insisting on me [removing the bin] straight away.\u201d Eventually Sterjov left, but returned soon after with a container of spaghetti \u201cand threw it all over my glass window\u201d, according to Mar. The two began arguing, and Mar says Sterjov told him to \u201cgo back to your country\u201d (Mar is Chinese), to which Mar replied, \u201cyou go back to your country\u201d (Sterjov is originally from North Macedonia).<\/p>\n
The bin at the centre of the dispute (left) and the remains of the dispute<\/p>\n
The spaghetti had just been thrown when an eyewitness to the altercation \u2013 who did not wish to be named but who is familiar with the neighbourhood and its characters \u2013 heard yelling from across the street, she tells The Spinoff. \u201cI thought maybe it was someone who was just being a bit disorderly\u2026 then I saw the Paparazzi guy yelling and screaming at the Hideout guy, Andy. And Andy looked pretty freaked out.\u201d She yelled out herself from her side of the street, attempting to break it up or get their attention, but it didn\u2019t work. \u201cAnd then [Sterjov] started, like, throwing all this racial abuse at [Mar],\u201d she remembers. \u201cAnd then that\u2019s when I was like, oh, no, we\u2019re not doing that.\u201d She says Sterjov was leaning into Mar. \u201c[Sterjov] was just right in his face, you know, shoving him in the chest, poking him, like hyper aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n
After that initial spat, Mar says Sterjov returned to Paparazzi next door while continuing to yell as his spaghetti dripped down the tall glass window. \u201cThat was frustrating for me,\u201d says Mar. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to deal with this on my day off.\u201d So Mar picked up the spaghetti that had fallen to the ground and threw it back at the windows of Paparazzi.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen he comes running.\u201d CCTV footage shows Sterjov sprinting back to Hideout as Mar backpedals into the doorway. Strikes are thrown from Sterjov and before long, Mar responds in kind. \u201cI had to defend myself\u2026 I punched him because he was trying to hit me.\u201d Mar\u2019s punch landed on Sterjov\u2019s face, who swiftly retreated to his own restaurant and called the police.<\/p>\n
By the time the eyewitness got across the road (upper Symonds St has four lanes and a cycle lane), the pair had separated. She says Sterjov was calling the police \u201clike he was the one who was assaulted\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sterjov (facing the camera) confronts Mar in the doorway of Mar\u2019s cafe<\/p>\n
When the police arrived, they interviewed both parties and requested any footage of the incident. Mar says Sterjov told police his finger was broken. \u201cHe probably hit me and broke his finger.\u201d He found his own CCTV footage and has supplied it to the police. He says he wants charges pressed against Sterjov.<\/p>\n
Once the police left, Mar spent three hours cleaning the spaghetti sauce from his windows, then finished his prep in order to open as usual on Tuesday. Next door, Sterjov\u2019s wife arrived to clean up the spaghetti from their own window.\u00a0<\/p>\n