Homewood, a listed heritage home that dates back to the 1850s, played host to Jack Cashmore, who has worked in some of Europe’s top restaurants and Blue Duck Station owner Dan Steele as part of this year’s Wellington on a Plate festival.
Cashmore’s restaurant, The Chef’s Table, operated last summer as a stripped-back, pop-up, fine dining experience on top of the highest ridge on Blue Duck Station, reachable only by helicopter or four-wheel-drive.
There he offered a 10-course degustation menu largely inspired by and sourced from the station and served with views of Tongariro and Whanganui National Parks.
His presence in the Holmwood kitchen as part of the festival followed an initiative to get the high commissioner’s residence to contribute to its upkeep by being hired out as a venue, particularly when it can collaborate with a British connection.
The result was the Blue Duck Station at Holmwood event, held over three sold-out nights in the historic home’s grand dining room.
Cashmore took his passion for taste and knowledge of cuisine from time spent at two Michelin-starred restaurants, Sat Bains in Nottingham, In de Wulf in Belgium and as head chef at Anglo in London, and mixed it with a menu using foraged ingredients and meat from the farm, complemented with wine from Ata Rangi.
Dishes included wild garlic tart and smoke venison heart, wood ear mushrooms and sage, Blue Duck Station mutton and beetroot and smoked eel custard and apple.
Each evening wound up with a discussion with Steele, over coffee and digestifs, on conservation, sustainability and a better New Zealand.
What they have done at Blue Duck Station, in Ruapehu District on the banks of the Whanganui and Retaruke Rivers, is turn farming into conservation, Steele said.
“And I want to share how we did it and why it is the best way forward, not only for us but for the whole of NZ.”
He met Cashmore about 10 years ago when the now chef was travelling the world as an 18-year-old.
A friend of Cashmore had previously volunteered at Blue Duck and suggested if he was coming to NZ he do the same.
His commitment and can-do attitude set him apart as an exceptional volunteer, Steele said.
So when Cashmore, having stayed in touch after returning to Europe and establishing himself as a top chef, said he wanted to return to NZ with the idea of creating a unique on-station dining experience, Steele was happy to help.
Despite his success in Europe Cashmore says establishing a restaurant in the middle of nowhere in NZ could be seen as crazy and might be the hardest thing he has ever tried.
“But there was no way I was walking away without giving it a go,” he said.
“This is more than about making money or making a splash in the restaurant scene. This is about living what we say we believe and leading a vision to create a self-sufficient restaurant based on ethical production and run in a sustainable way, where your way of life and beautiful food become intertwined.
“It’s a farmer and a chef coming together. Completely natural.”
