Kiwi chef Al Brown on the year that made him

Al Brown. Photo / Greg Bowker

Al Brown, the author and chef behind Depot Eatery and Oyster Bar, Federal Delicatessen and Best Ugly Bagels tells Paul Little about a year that was especially significant in his life.

It was 2011 and I was approached by Sky City with an opportunity to move from Wellington and open a restaurant in Auckland. I'd been bagging Auckland most of my life so had to get my head around that. But the opportunity was too good to refuse.

I realised there are far more opportunities if you live in the biggest city in the country. Most of the publishers are up here, all of the main media players are based up here, more population equals more customers.

One reason I loved the year so much is it taught me a lot of lessons about how change and embracing a bit of risk is a good thing. Another lesson was to stop prejudging things till you know what they're about.

I even wrote a piece in the Herald shortly after moving up here apologising to Auckland for sledging it for 40-something years, mainly to purge my conscience, because as soon as I got here I realised what an incredible city it was.

My vision was to attempt to create a restaurant that felt inherently New Zealand. The question I continually asked myself was when and where was I happiest when I was eating, and it always came back to the typical Kiwi bach situation, where informality and generosity thrive.

When you have someone in your bach it doesn't matter if they're a freezing worker or high court judge. It's a massive leveller. It sounds like blasphemy, commercialising the bach, but that in a nut shell was the idea. I wanted to create a restaurant that no matter who you were, black/white, fat/skinny, gay/straight, rich or poor, you immediately felt comfortable when you walked in.

Another lesson I learnt, was that when you surround yourself with a talented bunch of people that are totally aligned with what you are setting out to achieve, the rewards can be incredibly fulfilling. I understand now more than ever, that it is much more satisfying creating something with a bunch of extraordinary people, where they bring their special skill set or expertise to the equation.

I may be the face of Depot, but I was just one of many cogs in the scheme of things. The buzz and thrill will always be amplified and much more satisfying when you share that with the others who have brought the many other layers to a project.

The stars must have been aligned in 2011, because I managed to hire and surround myself with some of the best people I have met. It was an intoxicating 12 months of hard but rewarding work. And I will always feel indebted to that initial team of people who essentially created the life and spirit of that restaurant: Joey, Kyle, Waz, Dana, Nick, Charlie and Gary.