Clement Mathon or ‘Clem’, currently lives and works in Queenstown. He is a chef working under Ben Batterbury at True South Dining at The Rees luxury apartments. Clem applied for a place on the inaugural Ora King Next Generation Mentoring Programme earlier this year.
Clem’s application intrigued us at Ora King HQ – he’s French, a classically trained chef, currently working as a Pastry Chef at The Rees and has front of house/concierge experience. At 29 years old he was one of the more ‘mature’ applicants and this came through in his articulately written application. A quick telephone call confirmed his maturity and assertiveness. Upon chatting, I instantly liked Clem and his enthusiastic manner. He explained that yes he is currently working as a Pastry Chef and pastry is his passion, but he is looking for a challenge – he loves Ora King salmon and thought the programme would be a great opportunity to make new contacts in New Zealand – sold, he was in!
We matched Clem with Ora King Chef Mentor Andrew Brown so off he went to spent a week in Christchurch at Andrew’s restaurant Dragon’s Den Social Lounge.
Clem did not merely spend his week doing mis en place in the corner of the kitchen. Andrew, and Ora King Sales Manager Jeremy, organised a work plan which included cooking and serving at The Christchurch Food Show in the Dragon’s Den pop up, visiting Ralph at the Copperfolly wasabi farm, learning about beer and food matching at Three Boys Brewery and a road trip to the Ora King hatchery in Tentburn to see the smolt and learn more about the hatchery process.
Then Clem was challenged to create a couple of new Ora King dishes – which you can learn more about here:
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