Real Life: Zennon Wijlens reflects on 20-year rise to becoming NZ’s top chef

Zennon Wijlens is the co-owner of Paris Butter. Photo / Alex Burton

When Zennon Wijlens walked out of his high school for the last time 20 years ago, he had no idea the very next day, he would be taking his first steps towards the summit of New Zealand’s culinary world.

As he walked home from school that day, leaving with his certificate in hand, he realised he needed a job. So he went into Titirangi cafe Barossa and asked for one.

“I just walked into the kitchen,” Wijlens told Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night.

“I didn’t know anything about kitchens. I knew I wanted to be a chef, but didn’t know how to go about it. I just walked in and said, ‘Hey, I want to be a chef’. And they said, ‘Turn up tomorrow at 8am’.”

Working as a dish hand and apprentice chef, Wijlens knew instantly knew he’d chosen the right career.

“As cliche as it is, I fell in love with it straight away. I was 16, straight out of school, and I was going into this kitchen where the chefs were wearing skate shoes and playing loud music, and there was fire and banging and knives and working nights.”

Wijlens threw himself into learning all there was to know about working in a kitchen, studying at Auckland University of Technology’s culinary school before working under Simon Gault at high-end Viaduct restaurant Euro for three years.

He then spent eight years at some of the top restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne – a “phenomenal experience” he credits with shaping his career more than any other – followed by a whirlwind nine-month trip with his fiancee to 34 of the world’s top 50 restaurants.

“It wasn’t just [an education for my] palate, but of the different levels of hospitality – just everything, the whole experience. Every restaurant is so personable for the owner and the chef; it’s their personality on the plate and in the restaurant.”

It was this knowledge he took to Paris Butter, the restaurant in Central Auckland’s Herne Bay he now co-owns with fellow top chef Nick Honeyman.

The restaurant has gone from strength to strength under Wijlens’ management, earning the maximum three ‘hats’ at this year’s Cuisine Good Food Awards – putting it in the top six restaurants in the country and earning him the title of Cuisine’s Chef of the Year 2023/24.

One of the key reasons for Wijlens’ success has been the emphasis he’s put on encouraging the young chefs coming through the ranks. It’s important to him that this new generation feels empowered to try new things and get opportunities to work on their own ideas.

“Saturday projects are a thing that we do that’s really cool. The guys will come up with a dish, a cocktail, anything creative, and on a Saturday they’ll present it. I used to do them - now I kind of just gauge theirs, and the ideas that you get from it are fantastic.

“I’ve had some amazing, amazing chefs, and I also have bosses, and I’ve also had some really bad ones. I think I’ve learned more and different things from the bad ones, on what not to do.”

Real Life is a weekly interview show where John Cowan speaks with prominent guests about their life, upbringing, and the way they see the world. Tune in Sundays from 7.30pm on Newstalk ZB.