Peter Gordon's avocado confession

Celebrity chef Peter Gordon didn't know what a halibut was until he was asked to fillet one at a London restaurant.

Growing up in small town New Zealand, he was familiar with locally caught fish such as gurnard, terakihi and snapper, but was ignorant of other cuisines and ingredients.

And it wasn't only fish - he says he didn't discover sushi or avocados until he moved to Australia in his late teens.

But since completing a four-year cookery apprenticeship in Melbourne, Gordon has taken the huge step from small town New Zealand to world renowned chef.

Now based in Britain, Gordon co-owns The Providores and Tapa Room restaurant in London, is a consultant to two Istanbul restaurants, and has the restaurant Dine and the Bellota tapas bar, based at Auckland's SkyCity Hotel.

Gordon, who arrived back in New Zealand last week, says he has spent most of his time here focusing on a new menu at Dine, though he's also here to promote his new book, A Culinary Journey.

On Friday, Gordon flies to Australia for the Sydney International Food Festival, before returning to Auckland for another four days.

He says Dine is going through the biggest change it's had in a while, with the appointment of new head chef, Bernard Bernabe.

"His style of food is more akin to what we're doing in London, so the flavours and the ingredients remain similar but they are presented slightly differently."

Gordon is also spending time catching up with his parents, who have made the trip up from his home town of Wanganui.

He comes back to New Zealand four or five times a year and still thinks of it as home, even though he's lived in London for 20 years.

"I come back for work. But I'd like to come back next year and actually have a holiday.

"I probably haven't had a holiday here for five years, so I associate New Zealand with work and being stressed out and having to do a million things, emailing London and dealing with Blackberry messages.

"I enjoy coming home, but I need to re-establish it as a relaxing place rather than just full-on."

He doesn't know if he'll ever move back.

"I wonder if I might prefer to live on the Mediterranean in Spain or Turkey or Italy. I've no idea, and every year it changes. Some years I think I'll buy a piece of land in New Zealand and build a holiday home, but I really don't know," he said.

A Culinary Journey, launched this week, is his sixth book.

"It's not just a cookbook, it's a good read. I enjoy telling my story and bringing my family in and my experiences with food and ingredients," he said.

His culinary philosophy has been shaped by his travels - exploring different tastes, cuisines, foods and cooking ideas.

"For most first, second and third generation Kiwis, we don't really have a cooking culture," Gordon says.

"It was about survival. It wasn't about the joys of the dinner table. But that's now re-emerging."

Thirty years ago, there was hardly a cappuccino or an avocado south of the Bay of Islands, he says.

"Our wine culture is from post 1980, which isn't that long ago. We've been late to break the mould."

Now he's looking for a site in east London, something like a gastro pub.

"I can picture it in my head and I've seen a few sites but nothing is quite right so far.

"Business in London is up on last year, which is good, but you don't know what's around the corner.

"Some people are saying we're heading out of the recession and others are saying the worst is still to come.

"It's really all about keeping a close eye on everything and making sure we're up to speed and doing as good as we can."

- NZPA