Peter Gordon

Peter Gordon is perhaps New Zealand’s most internationally recognised chef. Born in Wanganui Peter started collecting recipes from the age of four and began cooking not long after. After completing a chef’s apprenticeship in Melbourne in 1985 he travelled throughout South East Asia, India and Nepal for a year before setting up the kitchen at The Sugar Club in Wellington in 1986. Peter moved to London in 1989 and worked at various restaurants until he established his name as executive chef at Mayfair’s Green Street Restaurant then at the Notting Hill and Soho branches of The Sugar Club. Peter opened his current restaurant The Providores and Tapa Room with his partners in August 2001.

www.peter-gordon.net
www.theprovidores.co.uk

Slice of Life

By Peter Gordon - January 2009

The Basque Country, Kiwi Wine Makers, Will Martin and an ONZM

December – every restaurateur’s dream or nightmare month in many ways. The dreamy side of things is that it will be busy and help financially to offset the quieter months of the year. The nightmare scenario is that things will fall flat and be no help at all. As Europe gets gobbled up, and consumed, by the Credit Crunch (which is having a real impact here in London) we weren’t quite sure what to expect. Luckily for us our customer base is hugely diverse and from all corners of the globe so we actually didn’t suffer at all. Some food prices dropped again to realistic levels after some outrageous highs, and so profitability looked like it was achievable. The ‘crunch’ has already taken its toll on a few well known restaurants here in London but to be honest it’s probably more a case of bad management than the global crisis. I just hope none of our friends or colleagues suffer at all in the first half of 09.

I started December in a great mood by heading off to the French Basque Country to hang out with Akiko and Yoshi, my restaurant friends from Tokyo (see April 08’s blog) as they were teaming up with chef patron Cédric Béchade at his wonderful L’Auberge Basque – a restaurant with rooms and suites about 20 minutes drive from Biarritz airport. You can read about the weekend on David Eley’s informative blog A Good Nose. David is also a keen fan of the Douro Valley wines of Portugal. Cédric has an impressive culinary cv although he’s only in his early 30s. He worked for Alain Ducasse in Paris for many years and decided to up-root to the Basque country to have a break from the food scene in Paris and strike out on his own, helped along the way by Jean-Erick Grenoilleau who became my guide while I was there.

If you’re heading to this part of the world it’s a highly recommended stop over – either for a meal, or ideally as a base to explore the area. The Spanish coastal town of San Sebastian, the contemporary food mecca of the world if ever there was one, is only 30 minutes drive away and Cédric knows all the great chefs based there so he may be able to help in securing a table at one of them. One place we ate at twice, for lunch, was Patxiku-enea, a fantastic family restaurant that caters primarily to Spanish families by serving very simple and delicious food, primarily cooked over charcoal on barbecue grills raised about 50cm above the heat. Whole turbot and sole, huge 400g steaks, monkfish tails smothered with smoked paprika oil, and chillies come off the grill. A wonderful salt-cod omelette and simple salads come from the kitchen. It’s off a motorway roundabout in the country, but don’t let that deter you. If oysters are your thing, then head to the funny looking Chez Benat (think seaside shack stuck onto a house) in the lovely chic seaside town of Biarritz itself. And if you’re in the mood for buying some extraordinary ceramics, from a French family who have been making them for over since 1890, then check out Cazaux, also in Biarritz. I brought back a vase that has gold in the glaze – quite extraordinary.

http://www.agoodnose.com/index.php?action=page&p=blog http://www.aubergebasque.com http://www.patxiku-enea.com http://www.cazauxbiarritz.com Chez Benat: 22 Rue Harispe, 64200, Biarritz. Telephone +33 5 59 41 01 41.

I also managed to catch up with several wine makers from some of my favourite NZ vineyards here in London for various reasons. Jim Vuletic from Providence Vineyard in Matakana was in town briefly in late November with his daughter, en route to Switzerland. Foxes Island’s John Belsham and I managed dinner one night in The Providores before he had to shoot off to Hong Kong, and then Judy Fowler and her partner from Clevedon’s Puriri Hills popped in for lunch. All in all it was great seeing so many top-end producers in London.

http://www.kemprarewines.co.nz/providence.php http://www.foxes-island.co.nz http://www.puririhills.co.nz

NZ entertainer Will Martin and I also managed to catch up for a coffee before he headed off to perform on a cruise ship in the Caribbean over Xmas. I’d met Will in the Tourism NZ Rugby Ball, where he performed, and it was good to sit down and hear what he’s up to. In a few weeks he’ll be performing a showcase for a few hundred of his UK fans, which I’m looking forward to. http://www.willmartin.net

Finally, 2008 ended in a rather special way for me as I was given an ONZM (Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit) in the New Years Honours List for my contribution to food. It was a wonderful accolade to be given and really made the start of 09 all the better. Thirty or so years ago my gran Molly Gordon had been presented a QSM by the Queen herself when she was in New Zealand, for her service to the community, so it was good to be following in Molly’s footsteps.

Here’s to a great year for all of us, and let’s hope we can keep that credit crisis far, far away.

This month’s photo is of chefs Yoshi and Cédric, and Yoshi’s wife Akiko.