The Star: July 14, 2016

28 Thursday July 14 2016
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The Star
Taste
Ever wondered
who is cooking
your food when
you go out to a
cafe or restaurant?
The Star continues
its series talking
with chefs.
Bishop Brothers
head chef –
Kathryn Ahu.
Up for any challenge
at work or home
• By Gabrielle Stuart
KATHRYN AHU was head chef
running her own kitchen before she had
even finished studying.
She was 19 and working at a hotel in
Hamilton, when the head chef and sous
chef both stood down at once.
“The owner asked me if I wanted to
step up as head chef. I said: ‘Well, let me
just go home and talk to my parents’.”
After two years running the kitchen
she took a step back to accept a sous chef
job at the Hamilton Belgian Beer Cafe.
But within a year and a half she was
head chef there, this time running two
restaurants.
Moving to the top so fast meant she
had to learn quickly, but she said it also
kept her humble.
“I scrub my own rangehood and sweep
and mop the floor, so I would never ask
my staff to do something I wouldn’t do
myself. I think we’re all a team.”
About 12 years ago, she moved to
Christchurch, “following a man”.
Although the relationship didn’t work
out, she fell in love with Canterbury.
Taking a job at the Christchurch Gondola
Pinnacle Restaurant helped, as she
said the views were absolutely beautiful –
although nature could also be a problem.
“Sometimes you’d get a call saying you
have to get down in 10 minutes or you’ll
be stuck, because the wind’s picking up.
Once we did get stranded and had to
walk down.”
The challenges in her next role at Cafe
Izone in Rolleston were quite different –
attracting people to an industrial area,
creating a family-friendly menu and
mastering stonegrill.
But it won Best New Restaurant in the
first year open, and she said it grew in
popularity from there.
She started in March at the newlyopened
Bishop Brothers Public House, at
the former Farrington’s Tavern site.
She said the owners wanted to “step it
up a little, restaurant style”, while keeping
the suburban, homely flavour and
reasonable prices.
It was a challenge she was up for.
She said it was her love for food that
drove her, and her enjoyment of experimenting
with different flavours and
ingredients, both at work and at home.
“A lot of people say no, I don’t cook at
home, but I say if you have a passion for
cooking why wouldn’t you?”
With a partner who worked as a personal
trainer and was ex-army, she said
a lot of the meals she cooked after work
were big and hearty.
She enjoyed being part of rebuilding the
hospitality scene in Christchurch, but said
it was sad to see how much had been lost.
“You can always open another Mexican
restaurant or Italian restaurant, but
knowing people who have lost everything
is the sad thing.”
She said the way people dined out in
Christchurch had changed.
“I suppose it’s a comfort, when you can
go out and have a really lovely time and
enjoy your meal. I think we’re enjoying
life a bit more, because it was a huge
shock to the system that in a matter of
minutes something can be taken from
you so fast.”
RESTAURANT-STYLE: Bishop
Brothers Public House, Bishopdale
Mall. PHOTOS: GEOFF SLOAN