Top chef scouting for good Kiwi kai

Peter Gordon is an unashamed ambassador for New Zealand food. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Chef Peter Gordon will soon be tempting tastebuds in London, New York and Istanbul with New Zealand-grown wasabi, Clevedon oysters, saffron and baby kumara.

Originally from Wanganui, Gordon made his mark in London in the mid-1990s when he transplanted The Sugar Club - a Wellington restaurant where he had been head chef since 1986 - to Notting Hill.

Since then he has become an international food celebrity, opening two more London restaurants, producing three bestselling cookbooks and making frequent appearances on British and American television.

Back home to check in with Sky City's Dine with Peter Gordon restaurant, which opened in April, Gordon has also been on the hunt for New Zealand produce and ingredients to use at the Providores and the Tapa Room in London, as well as two other restaurants where he helps design the menu, Public in New York and Changa in Istanbul.

An unashamed ambassador for New Zealand food, Gordon uses a lot in his restaurants and mentions it in his books and media appearances.

He has been impressed by locally grown wasabi. Most wasabi is a mix of mustard, horseradish and food colouring, he says.

"The New Zealand stuff is about 10 times as expensive as the imitation, but you can really taste the difference. We'll do our best to get that into the Asian restaurants in London. We know a lot of chefs."

Baby kumara has also got him excited. They have a less intense flavour and much softer skin than a regular kumara.

Regular kumara has been available in Britain only since last year, thanks to a British food importer who lived in New Zealand and fell in love with the vegetable, says Gordon.

But while a positive mention from him may be enough to get London foodies searching for Kiwi produce in the supermarket aisles, New Zealand producers are often unable to take advantage of the free publicity.

"You need distribution. Some New Zealand ingredients that we use are not readily available in the UK."

But he says Kai Kitchen, a London-based importer and distributor of New Zealand food set up by ex-pat Jane Caple, is helping to change that.