On The Up: Chefs Kārena and Kasey Bird bringing award-winning six-course dinner to Rotorua

Chefs Kasey Bird (left) and Kārena Bird are bringing their award-winning maumahara six-course dining experience to Rotorua from April 23-27. Photo / Jamie Troughton

It has been 11 years since Bay of Plenty sisters Kārena and Kasey Bird won MasterChef New Zealand in 2014. Since then, the sisters have had a “long, amazing ride” of cooking, travelling, publishing cookbooks, pop-up dining and designing restaurant and event menus. Next week, they bring their award-winning Maumahara six-course dining experience to Rotorua for the first time.

 

A dining experience that connects food to “memory, culture, and nostalgia” is coming to Rotorua, hosted by renowned chefs Kārena and Kasey Bird.

Kasey Bird told the Rotorua Daily Post the six-course degustation was a “personal and immersive food experience”, with audio, visuals and narration running with each course.

The theme was maumahara, or nostalgia, and was inspired by their childhood in Maketū, the 34-year-old said.

The dinner would be held at Te Kohea (Fairy Springs) from April 23 to 27, in collaboration with Tauranga pop-up restaurant Kitchen Takeover.

Bird said she and her sister Kārena, 36, hosted the maumahara dinner at last year’s Wellington on a Plate and won the Most Innovative Event award.

“It’s nice to be able to come home in a sense and bring this dinner which is really special to us.”

Chefs Kasey Bird (left) and Kārena Bird won MasterChef New Zealand in 2014. Photo / Te Rawhitiroa Bosch

The sisters - of Te Arawa, Ngāpuhi, and Ngāti Manawa descent - had dedicated their first course to the late Sir Robert “Bom” Gillies.

“When we think of the word ‘maumahara’, we think of the Anzac soldiers.”

The phrase “ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou” translates to “we will always remember them”, she said.

Bird said the Wellington dinner was a career highlight from the past two years.

“It was almost like a coming of age in terms of where we are with our ... personal journey and also our cooking journey, and really weaving together storytelling and food.”

Bird said the sisters were named in this year’s top 50 Women in Food and Drink Aotearoa New Zealand Awards.

What’s next?

Bird said the sisters were becoming more connected to where food comes from and its effects on wellbeing.

“We’ve always been on the end of preparing food, but we’ve recently started doing a little bit of work in hunting and gathering and collecting of food.

“So, actually starting to connect those food systems from the beginning of the journey to getting something on to the plate.”

Their third cookbook, written in te reo Māori, would “hopefully” be released this year, she said.

Chefs Kasey Bird (left) and Kārena Bird are bringing their award-winning six-course dining experience Maumahara to Rotorua after it won the Most Innovative event at Wellington on a Plate in 2024. Photo / Te Rawhitiroa Bosch

Asked about Maketū Pies going into liquidation last year, Bird said the business had been “a real cornerstone of our community”.

“Our first thoughts went to all of our friends and whānau who we know are connected to the place and work there.

“When we heard that Montana [Group] was actually purchasing Maketū Pies, we were really excited because over the years, we’ve done some work with Montana through their different catering outposts and all the time we’ve worked with them, we’ve had really positive experiences."

Chefs Kasey Bird (left) and Kārena Bird pictured in 2015. Photo / Michael Craig

Asked if the pair considered buying it, Bird said they enjoyed flexible working.

“I think sometimes if you have a brick-and-mortar place, you’re actually stuck there.”

Doing things such as pop-up dining experiences or designing menus for other people’s events or restaurants suited their preferred lifestyle, she said.

“We like to be flexible, we like to be able to travel, and then also being a mum, working in the food industry, they’re not family-friendly hours.

“I think it would be similar to owning a restaurant, which is something I don’t think we would do at the moment.”

Bird said they still lived in Maketū but went to Rotorua every day as her 3-and-a-half-year-old son attended kōhanga there.

“We’re dual citizens between Maketū and Rotorua.”

Bird said their Wednesday and Saturday events had sold out. Tickets for the remaining events can be purchased online.

Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.