Parliament calls in top chef Martin Bosley to sort out its catering

Chef Martin Bosley (right), pictured here at the Auckland Seafood Festival, has been called in to advise on Parliament's food. Photograph by Doug Sherring

Top chef Martin Bosley has been called in to advise Parliament on the food it serves to MPs and staff.

He won't be in the kitchen at the Beehive cafeteria. But as Parliamentary Service's catering contract expires, Bosley has been employed to consult on catering for functions, meetings, and daily meals for those on the precinct.

Bosley is an award-winning fine dining chef and ran a restaurant under his own name on Wellington's waterfront for 20 years.

He also runs the popular Prison Gate to Plate event, in which inmates at Rimutaka Prison are trained by high-profile chefs to produce three courses of gourmet cuisine.

"Catering in its many different forms is a huge part of life at Parliament," said Parliamentary Service's group manager for precinct services Jim Robb.

"So the Parliamentary Service has engaged Martin in his new business capacity as a consultant to review the current services and give us some advice on how it could look."

But Bosley's role doesn't necessarily mean MPs will soon be tucking into freshly-shucked oysters and snapper tartare, formerly on the menu at his Wellington restaurant.

"We all know of Martin's reputation as a fine dining chef," Robb said.

"But he's also worked at the very other end of the catering spectrum, giving advice to Corrections on quality of meals for guests of Government - prisoners."

"We're certainly not saying Members of Parliament are prisoners, but he can work at every end of the spectrum."

The new catering at Parliament would, however, be better than jail food, Robb noted.

"Bosley also consults to high-end boutique lodges in Northland where the uber-wealthy fly in and out of."

So has the chef had a chance to review the food at Copperfields, where MPs have given mixed reviews about the lunch options?

"No comment," Robb said.