Executive Chef & Co-Owner
Peter was created an O.N.Z.M. (Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit – the NZ equivalent of an OBE) in the 2009 New Years Honours List for services to the Food Industry, by the Queen at Windsor Castle. Peter is widely recognised as an strong promoter of the food industry in both his native New Zealand and here in the UK where he uses his culinary skills to raise money for numerous charities, as well as various culinary competitions which promote professional excellence amongst younger chefs and waiters. Peter’s annual charity event for leukaemia ‘Who’s Cooking Dinner?’ has so far raised more than £3.5 million over 13 years.
Early life and career beginnings...
Peter was born in the New Zealand coastal town of Wanganui. He moved to Melbourne in 1981 and completed a four year cookery apprenticeship at William Angliss College. He cooked in Melbourne restaurants for five years before travelling for a year throughout Asia. This was to become the greatest influence on his culinary style. In 1986, he returned to Wellington, New Zealand, to set up the kitchen at the original The Sugar Club restaurant.
London and Fusion...
In 1989, after two years running The Sugar Club kitchen, Peter and Michael McGrath made the move to London, where Peter gradually introduced his eclectic style of cuisine, now called Fusion.
After working in several UK restaurants, a private country home and event catering, he set up the kitchens of The Sugar Club in London's Notting Hill (1995) and West Soho (1998). In 1996, the Notting Hill restaurant won a Time Out award for Best Modern British Restaurant, and an Eros award from the Evening Standard for Best Pacific Rim Restaurant. The Soho restaurant was voted Best Central London Restaurant in 1999 in the Time Out Restaurant Awards.
The Providores and Tapa Room...
Peter left The Sugar Club in November 1999 to begin various solo projects, culminating with the opening of The Providores and Tapa Room in August 2001.
Other restaurants...
Peter is also consultant chef to restaurants in the UK, New Zealand and Istanbul:
dine by Peter Gordon
Peter's signature restaurant located in the 5 star SKYCITY Grand Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand
Bellota
Bar and restaurant in Auckland, New Zealand, serving possibly New Zealand's largest selection of Spanish wines and tapas style dishes
changa and müzedechanga
Award-winning restaurants in Istanbul, Turkey
Gourmet Burger Kitchen
Peter has been consulting to GBK since 2001. Two of its founders, Adam Wills and Brandon Allen, have now joined forces with Peter and Michael McGrath to open Kopapa in London's Seven Dials area.
Public
Award-winning New York restaurant, to which Peter and The Providores team provided consultancy during set-up
Books...
Peter is the author of six food books. See books section for more information and to buy copies online.
Fusion – A Culinary JourneyVegetables – The New Food Heroes
Salads – The New Main Course
A World in my Kitchen
Cook at Home with Peter Gordon
The Sugar Club Cookbook
Other writing...
Peter has also contributed to around another dozen food books, as well as a non-fiction book on Grandmothers for Virago Press. His food and travel features appear regularly in British and international publications, and he has written for New Zealand House & Garden for more than a decade.
TV...
Credits include:
Food Poker, Market Kitchen, Saturday Kitchen, Cooking the Books, MasterChef New Zealand and appearances in Nigel Slater's and Jamie Oliver's series.
For the Discovery Channel, he filmed a show in 2005 on the food of China's Guangdong Region for the Planet Food series, as well as a programme on Serendipity in 1999.
For the American Food Network's series My Country, My Kitchen, Peter travelled back to New Zealand to introduce its culinary diversity to an American audience. He also fronted an hour-long special for Television New Zealand, Peter Gordon's Pacific Harvest, which looked at New Zealand's culinary evolution and development from Rarotonga in the Pacific to Stewart Island at the southernmost tip of New Zealand.
Other projects...
2010 saw the launch in New Zealand of Peter's pork and bacon product range which after only a few months on the shelves was awarded the 'Innovation Award for Outstanding Innovation in Food Enterprise' in the 'Other Food & Beverage' category at the NZ Food Awards in association with Massey University
Peter's range of dressings, sauces, relishes and chutneys for New Zealand-based fine food company Sabato re-launched in New Zealand in 2010. They are the perfect expression of his cooking style, with innovative taste combinations that showcase different flavours from international cuisines.
Peter is a shareholder in the lauded Waitaki Braids vineyard in New Zealand with Michael McGrath, winemaker Michelle Richardson and Steven Cozens.
Peter is also an investor in Stolen Rum, the award-winning rum brand that is the brainchild of Jamie Duff (formally of The Providores) and Roger Holmes.
Find out more about Peter Gordon