Top restauranteurs share love of home cooking

FOODIES: Students of the At Home with Salute Cooking School share a meal in Salute owners Eve and Travis Clive-Griffin's garden in Gladstone.

The team behind one of Greytown's most popular eateries are taking intimate dining to the next level -- sharing their favourite recipes from their kitchen bench.

Salute owners Eve and Travis Clive-Griffin have launched their latest project, the At Home With Salute Cooking School, offering small, interactive cooking classes from their Gladstone home.

The couple held their first cooking class in December last year, and have since had a steady stream of fellow "foodies" through their door, keen to learn everything from Balinese fish courses, to Spanish tapas, to the Kiwi pavlova.

Classes are run by Salute executive chef Mr Clive-Griffin, who has been trained in Michelin Star restaurants in the UK and his native Australia.

Mrs Clive-Griffin said the new venture was an opportunity for her and her husband to share their love of food in a quieter, relaxed setting -- as well as from a busy restaurant.

"We get to connect with people on a more direct, intimate level," Mrs Clive-Griffin said.

"Travis has been a chef for 30 years, but still loves the art of home cooking, and sharing what he's learned.

"We get to spend a day with like-minded people who are fascinated by food."

For Mr and Mrs Clive-Griffin, life "revolves around food".

Mr Clive-Griffin, of Lebanese heritage, was inspired by his grandfather, a talented cook who made Sunday lunch "a huge affair". He left school at 14 to work as an apprentice chef and, by his early 20s, was training with Michelin Star chef Raymond Blanc.

He and Mrs Clive-Griffin met while working in Queenstown and opened their first restaurant at just 25 years old.

They later moved to Melbourne, where they worked for renowned chefs Jacques Reymond and Stephanie Alexander, before returning to Mrs Clive-Griffin's native Wairarapa in 2001.

The couple set up the cooking school two weeks before Christmas, which Mrs Clive-Griffin said was "absolutely mad but it keeps us from boredom".

Their first cooking course focussed on "Christmas meals, made easy", and they have since run classes on Balinese cuisine, barbecue and tapas, with seafood and desserts to come.

Mrs Clive-Griffin said the classes have a focus on nutrition -- for example, using oils with high omega 3 content, and salts rich in minerals.

"Travis is big on meals which enhance health, but are seriously delicious," she said.

"It used to be that you either beautiful meals, or you ate well -- but he's big on joining the two."

She said students have most enjoyed Mr Clive-Griffin's entertaining and charismatic personality, and the hilarious tales of life in high-profile kitchens, and sharing food together afterwards.

"They're in awe of Travis' knife skills, and the way he cleans up so quickly afterwards. People stop him in the street and say they've tried all his recipes - he loves that he inspires them," she said.

"Plus, Gladstone is such serene, peaceful place to share food."

For more information or to book a class, go to salute.net.nz/at-home-with-salute-cooking-school.