N.Z. chefs collect medals

Press, 3 February 1986, Page 2

N.Z. chefs collect medals

By

ROBIN CHARTERIS

in London

When it comes to cooking New Zealand lamb — or in the European speciality style, nouvelle cuisine — New Zealand chefs are tops.

This was shown in the prestigious Le Salon Culinaire International de Londres culinary competitions in London on Friday when New Zealand entrants won the gold and silver medals in the feature New Zealand lamb class, and a special certificate of merit, and then won the gold medal in the coveted nouvelle cuisine section.

The biennial competitions attract the best of British chefs and many from overseas. The New Zealand chefs won all but the bronzemedal in the lamb class. Mark Gregory, aged 23, executive chef of Auckland’s Hotel de Brett, won the gold medal; Vicki Bruhns-Bolderson, aged 26, owner, with her husband, of the Bayswater Cafe, Napier, the silver; and Simon McNamara, aged 24, sous chef at Orleans Restaurant, Auckland, the certificate of merit. The three are members of the Auckland team of

four which is competing with a four-man team representing the Cookery and Food Association of New Zealand. '

For the manager of the Auckland team, Mr Warwick Brown, owner of Le Gourmet restaurant, his team’s success was a repetition of his own in the lamb class in 1978 and 1980, when he won gold medals. Five New Zealanders competed in the lamb class, which is sponsored by the Meat Producers’ Board. Greg Heffernan, of the Huka Lodge; and Graham Brown, of Scarborough Fare restaurant,

Christchurch, were unplaced.

To cap a triumphant day, Gregory won . a second gold medal in the nouvelle cuisine class. His game dish headed off top chefs from the British Army and the Royal Air Force.

Nouvelle cuisine is regarded as the dominant influence on restaurant cuisine in Europe for the last decade. Observers said that for a New Zealand entrant to win this class his standards and those in New Zealand must be extremely high.