LOCAL Chef Regnar Christensen will cook in top UK restaurants later this year.
The 23-year-old, chef at The General Practioner, has won an award from the Hospitality Standards Institute (HSI). At the HSI training awards he received the title NZ-UK Link Cookery Modern Apprentice of the Year.
Christensen was one of eight finalists chosen after interviews with chefs from around the country. He then had to design a three-course meal from randomly selected “mystery box” ingredients, and cook it.
“Mine had things like snapper and lamb racks. I was stoked when I saw the snapper and the lamb because that’s the sort of stuff I often use,” he says. “I’d never entered before, so I was surprised [to win].”
Regnar will go to the UK for about six weeks to work in internationally acclaimed restaurants as his reward, and will start off in Kiwi expat Peter Gordon’s The Providores restaurant in London.
“I’ll spend about a week there, and then Peter contacts the kitchens I want to work for. I’m interested in St John restaurant, and Le Gavroche, which are both in London,” he says. “They’re restaurants that I really like – I’ve read a book from Le Gavroche, and I’ve got two of (St John founder) Fergus Henderson’s books. St John is an institution in London – it does depend on whether the restaurants have room, but hopefully…”
Being a top chef wasn’t always Regnar’s dream. He left school after fifth form (year 11) and started a job as a kitchen hand at the Hound and Bull in his hometown of Napier.
He was thrown into the deep end, and ended up cooking meals, as well as cleaning dishes.
“I enjoyed it, but ended up doing a six-month computer course. After that, I got into the kitchen again, and decided that was what I wanted to do,” Regnar says.
He moved to the Capital when he was 17, and has worked at The General Practitioner since it opened.
When Regnar goes home to visit his mum, he tries to cook her some delicious meals, but admits nothing beats mum’s cooking.
He has six months to use his HSI prize, and will probably head off to London in mid-October, when he’s saved enough money to really enjoy it.
Ultimately, he’d love to work overseas, and hopes the apprenticeships will open up some restaurant doors.