NextGen Chef Peita Fleming’s week at Chillingworth Road

2017 NextGen Chef Peita Fleming writes about her mentoring experience with Darren Wright at Chillingworth Road.

Working alongside the team at Chillingworth Road was an incredible and humbling experience. They are so passionate, talented and enthusiastic about what they do and teaching the world around them. I arrived ready to learn and soak up as much knowledge as I possibly could – my week there went much too quickly!

On Day One I arrived in Christchurch, and was treated to an amazing dinner at Saggio Di Vino, with Darren and Leanne from Chillingworth Road and Jeremy from Ōra King. We tasted a range of dishes – all of which blew my mind – and made a plan for the week.

Day Two was an introduction to Chillingworth Road. I learnt what they are all about and helped with Service jumping in when needed, and getting the chance to plate a few of their dishes – but mostly watching and taking in how the kitchen team operates.

For the Next Gen Programme I had been tasked with coming up with a Japanese inspired Ōra King dish. I sat down to begin dish planning and development and Darren was an invaluable source of knowledge. He showed me how to break down whole salmon and grouper, demonstrating how easy it is and how to minimise waste.

Day Three we went “urban foraging” as Darren fondly called it. We explored the red zone of Christchurch and foraged everything from gorgeous chestnuts to quince and figs. It was amazing to learn what’s actually around, and what you can find if you know what you are looking for. In the afternoon we visited Kipps Patch, a microgreen producer that supplies many of the restaurants in the South Island. Never did I think I would see such a number of gorgeous micro herbs in one room – there were so many amazing smells and flavours in the tunnel house. I loved having the opportunity to experience first hand where some of our produce comes from.

Day Four we visited a cucumber farm, which to be fair, when Darren first brought the idea to light I imagine my face looked pretty confused. But seeing as cucumbers are such a huge part of Japanese cuisine, it made sense. We walked into a great long tunnel house that housed 9000 individual cucumber plants, and were lucky enough to view them at all stages of growth, from tiny babies with their flowers still attached to almost tag 2 products ready to be harvested. It was truly inspiring to see the passion and determination the producers have for their products and what they do. We got the idea of incorporating baby cucumbers with the flowers attached into my dish.

That night, we ran my dish for on the menu for the first time. We gathered some fantastic feedback from the guests but we were also very critical about it ourselves to give us a better outcome.

Day Five we visited Chillingworth Road’s main vegetable supplier in North Canterbury. We were shown around their 10 acre patch of land and saw how they plant/ start their oyster mushrooms. This visit in particular made me realise how important it is to have such good and deep connections with suppliers. We were invited into their home for a coffee and a chat to warm up in front of a beautiful roaring fire. I was really struck with their kindness and generosity.

Day Six we had a relaxed and chilled out morning with a little more development and fine tuning of my dish before having the pleasure of serving this to Jeremy and his children when they came into Chillingworth Road for dinner.

To sum up my week in a sentence would be impossible.  I have learnt so much more than I ever thought possible, made new friendships, gained knowledge and had an invaluable experience. I would like to extend a huge thank you to the team at Ōra King for this opportunity;  Darren, Leanne and the team at Chillingworth Road for having me for the week,  and my head chef Mat Jones, without his help and knowledge I wouldn’t be where I am today. Thank you.

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