Adding spice to the menu

By Tom Clarke

The adventurous Kiwi appetite for new and different food dishes is giving Auckland chefs much more creative scope, says British chef Iain Joyce.

"New Zealanders aren't afraid to try new things," he says. "They are quite daring about what they'll eat and don't shy away from trying new things. This makes it interesting when you're creating a menu."

Mr Joyce has just become executive chef at Auckland's new business hotel Rydges.

New Zealand chefs are adventurous as well, he says, and happily serve up different things. Overseas, and especially in Europe, people stay with what they know.

Some "weird things" can be found on Auckland restaurant menus, he has found. They include ostrich meat, unusual fish, and interesting combinations of food styles such as Thai spices mixed with French cooking.

Visitors to New Zealand, Mr Joyce says, tend to be more traditional.

"Americans for example, will never bend," he says.

"The English aren't so bad when they're here, but you go back to England and they're very stuck in their ways and still go for their prawn cocktails and things.

"London isn't so bad, because it's a very cosmopolitan place and there are people there from all over the world.

"But here, even in a small city like Rotorua, there are some good restaurants where people are still willing to try different things."

He also enjoys New Zealand's fresh fruit and vegetables which he says are among the best in world, and which he like to use in his dishes. He is impressed with the quality of the fish, and the better-quality meat that is increasingly available.

Mr Joyce joined Rydges as sous chef when the hotel opened earlier this year and has now become executive chef.

He trained in Bournemouth and London and has worked in restaurants in France and Britain, including London's prestigious White's Restaurant and the Oriental Club.

He has also worked in hotels in Bermuda, Dorset and Gatwick.

He came to New Zealand in 1996 and has worked at the Royal Lakeside Novotel Rotorua, the Hotel du Vin and the Formosa Auckland Country Club.