Apprentice Chefs Shine at Food Fest

An event showcasing the next generation of hospitality superstars was one of the highlights of the inaugural Treats of Taupō food festival.  

Treats of Taupō was held over two weeks and featured 24 food events, offering something for every preference and budget. The festival was set up to provide a platform for local producers, eateries and chefs to share their talents – and wonderful food – with New Zealand.

The Misfit Garden Party was an afternoon event that celebrated local produce and talent and featured five apprentice chefs from top Taupō restaurants, Embra, The Bistro, and Brantry Eatery. Three of those chefs are also Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology culinary arts ākonga.  

Held at the Misfit Garden warehouse, the chefs were tasked with creating two dishes each served as innovative canapés to give participants a taste of the future of Taupō eats.

The menu naturally embraces the seasonal goods from Misfit Gardens, but also produce sourced locally from Opepe Milk, Taupo Beef, Kinloch Honey, Volcanic Chocolate, and more from neighbouring North Island suppliers.

Josh Diack, Keegan Delaney and Jacob McDonald all study at Toi Ohomai alongside working at Brantry Eatery and they took up the challenge of creating dishes for the Garden Party event.  

The chefs were given two months' notice to come up with their dishes for the event and said they wanted to avoid creating dishes that they made regularly.  

“We wanted to get out of our comfort zone and create something a bit different,” Josh says.  

“We had several planning meetings before the event and we had to put in a decent amount of work into our dishes. We made a lot of adjustments,” Keegan says.  

For his two dishes, Josh served up a Duck Soup Tortellini, and a Sweet Pea Pannacotta. Keegan made a Chicken Liver Parfait Donut, and a Spiced Pear Entremet. Jacob made Lemon Beef and Beetroot, and an English Breakfast.  

Josh says the event was about more than showcasing their skills.  

“It was great to be able to get out and network and meet people. I feel like people can have a false understanding of chefs as being loud and aggressive, and it was good to be able to prove that perception wrong.”  

Tutor Jonathan Chemis says it was great to be part of the inaugural Taupō food festival and that he was impressed by the collegiality of the apprentices.

“Everyone got stuck in and was helping and supporting one another. I was also impressed by the calibre of the dishes everyone served up.”  

Josh and Keegan both agree that hospitality is a rewarding career to get into and say that if you work hard, you’ll go far.  

“You’ve got to put yourself out there and take the opportunities that present themselves,” Josh says.

“We’ve been lucky enough to be involved in some really great events which have all been amazing experiences.”