Growing up food and cooking was such a large part of my home life, there was always produce from the garden being preserved or meals being prepared for our extended family. Seeing food from seed to plate from an early age, I was forever thinking about food, and becoming a chef was a natural extension of this.
I would define my cuisine as fresh, seasonal and forever evolving. I change our menu daily, which allows me to make best use of the produce coming out of our gardens, a resource I rely on heavily. There is nothing quite like being able to cook with produce that has just been picked.
I love cooking with seafood. As chefs we are responsible for choosing sustainable produce, we are lucky enough to have a fantastic choice locally with sustainably fished seafood.
My cuisine is fresh and textural. I like to « hero » the best of produce from our gardens at The Farm and the surrounding Hawke’s Bay region.
We always have young chefs coming up through our kitchen, the most important thing for a progression in this industry, in my opinion, is to expose yourself to as much great cooking as you can, at work, at home and dining in restaurants and traveling.
A little acid added at the end of any dish, be it lemon, lime or vinegar—it can really make the flavors shine.
