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[Music] kiwi's Love at First like Finn we're making [Music] waves generate switch online
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[Music] today Tony es welcome to my podcast hey neat to be here it's great to have you
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here let the meet tribe the story of Ann this is your this is your book how um how was it was it a cathartic experience
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did it feel uh like toe curling at times well it took it took nearly 10 years actually when we we first started it and
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Geraldine Johns who the co-writer and they were the ghost writer she and I were well she was a food critic and
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apparently so it says in the book that I banned her from the restaurant but I can't quite remember doing that but I
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probably did because I banned so many people but she and I did so going back 10 years we did I think do you call it
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when little recording machines we did 30 about 36 hours of just chatting into a mic into a little cassette and um then
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we did that for for quite a while but then we sort of broke away from it and uh she wasn't well so we suddenly
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stopped and then well probably about 18 months or two years ago she I rang here and said
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do you think we should start this again and she said well I've lost all the tapes but when she moved house she found
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this box of all the tape so cuz I thought I'm not going through all that crap again so anyway we she found them
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all and we started um seeing each other once a week and then it became every second day and used to come to the
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restaurant and just record and record and um then we just really got into it in the last last year and it's uh it it
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was supposed to be a recipe books not one Dam recipe in it which is quite interesting but uh couple of recipes for
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disaster yeah well I think a few of those yeah you're right um but anyway suddenly we got it done and of course
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when I saw it in print I thought good God I mean I'm sick of looking at my face on there now but I quite like the
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cover with the knife it sort of makes it interesting but um anyway it just happened and I've people say have you
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read That's only about 30 times but you forget what you've actually done and
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then suddenly when you read it you think oh God that I really do that it's quite
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interesting but it's I'm very happy with it I think it's done quite well and it
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seems to be doing quite well so yeah so for anyone that doesn't know anan's an
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incredibly um popular fine dining restaurant establishment in the Oakland suburb of Parell which um you you
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started at at the age of 22 which is crazy young um and you only shut the doors um recently so it was open for
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half a century um I'm try I'm not sure if I I think I may have gone there but
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I'm not entirely sure but um I've Loved reading about you and um apparently your
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temper you did mention before you there was a big long band list you were very trigger happy with the bands but you and
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I have um before doing this podcast you arrived early we sat down we were yarning away for 15 or 20 minutes you
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didn't swear once have you mellowed with age well yes it's not so dramatic
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anymore but I think just in kitchens it just happens that way I mean I used to say that uh Gordon Ramsey was a bit of a
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fairy really compared to me because he didn't stab people like I did but I mean
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I you know that that was an accident but I did stab somebody but but in that you probably go
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to jail now if you treated your staff the way we did but it was I mean when I was 15 I worked in Normandy and you know
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there was there was corporal punishment you know if you did something wrong you got to smack and but that came from
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school too because there was corporal punishment at school so it was just quite normal but I think it's the
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tempers really come from when you you know you under huge pressure you know you've got 50 60 people out there
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wanting food you're running around and you actually just scream out you look
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you're attacking yourself more than you're attacking anyone else but if someone else unfortunately does
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something wrong they get it and you know I used to swear quite a lot it was actually mean you know foul mouth
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I mean there was definitely my father used to say that mouth of yours will get you into trouble one day probably has
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many times but I quite enjoy getting into trouble yeah have you mellowed with mellowed with age yeah I think I have I
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mean I tolerate things now which I would never tolerate before I mean I had a short fuse there was no doubt about that
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but I you just had high standards was that what it was you and of course I mean if you speak to anyone that worked
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for me anyone that worked for a long time with me they would realize that I mean I just did not allow them to drop
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their guard once they had to do things properly because people were paying a lot of money
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and plus they were our customers that have been coming mean over 50 years you end up with customers that have been you
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end up with their grandchild so the standard had to stay there and I I mean we were very high-end Silver Service and
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Beth my late wife was she was probably Al she was a kind person rather than she didn't swear at anybody but you know she
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had very long fingernails and if you doing something wrong you'd get this little pinch behind the ear or or just a
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little you know in the arm you knew damn well you'd done something wrong so but
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our standards were very high and I just couldn't let them slip yeah the way the
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way you ran your business over the years you you couldn't get away with that now
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either there'd be employment lawyers on the on the doorstep there'd be you need
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to go undergo sensitivity training whatever that is like um the PC training that wouldn't work with me at all I
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might tell you but um and health and safety and things I mean I had an you can't throw meat at people anymore can
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you oh well I quite like that I probably still would you know good hunk of meat flying through the restaurant W never
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Hur Simon Gul got that I think he although I think he probably exaggerated that one but never mind but you know you
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I mean I remember once there was this boy um and I I've actually felt terrible
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for it for the last 40 years but he was just not doing the job and I was so angry you know I'm chopping away there
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and I just had this huge passley knife and I just said oh [ __ ] sake and just threw it on the floor and didn't even
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realiz that went straight through his foot now he didn't say anything cuz he
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was too scared to say anything but you know about an hour later Beth said to me he was suddenly sitting on an ice SP on
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a a chili bin and she said to me is Stuart all right and I said he's just hopeless you know so you're not allowed
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to call people hopeless anymore either but anyway about half an hour later I looked him I thought actually he's not
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all right something wrong with him he was very pale anyway under his shoe and there was blood just pumping out
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everywhere so of course I just rang an ambulance and sent him on his way I mean didn't go with him just anyway roll on
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20 years and the doorbell rang at Antoine and I opened opened the door and there was this big boy and two very
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large boy standing beside him and I said oh Stuart he said chef chef and I said oh and these two boys said is that the
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guy that stabbed your dad now he had gone to England and he got a job he was running a huge catering company in
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Britain so he did very well and he said he showed me the um the scar it wasn't
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good it a bit like you know Herman moner's little anyway but he was he he became an
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amazing a different type of chef but huge and he said oh that discipline taught me a lot I thought yeah I hope it
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taught you never to do it to anybody else yeah well I suppose through his career even if he um if he lost his
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ragot staff he could be like look it's not like I stabbed you in the foot it
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was well exactly and he never he never snitched on you to his parents or he didn't even tell his parents un
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unbelievable you know like he was in hospital for the whole night I actually almost forgot that he was there but
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anyway in the morning I said oh God I better see how stew it was anyway I rang the hosal I said we just released him
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and he came back to work the next day and we never disc well we didn't really
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discuss it again so but he didn't tell his parents I mean that would have been
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a in court day I think what decade was that oh that would have been in the ' 80s oh yeah I feel
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like that would have been except you know everyone was doing all sorts of things in the ' 80s probably didn't feel
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the pain yeah yeah yeah yeah you you talk about that in your in your um in your book there was um an issue in an on
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in the ' 80s with um these little salt spoons you had oh which I've still got
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i' actually I think I told a few lies there because I found a whole box of them but we used to have little salt
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spoons on the table they were silver ones and they were very interesting and we used to find them in the in the
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toilets and but people used every night every day we'd have to replace them but
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anyway in the end as soon as they had finished their main course those salt spoons went but to to
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yeah look it was like a perfect little shovel for cocaine it was perfect unbelievable anyway I mean that was the
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80s I mean used to find I used to love finding the $100 notes for B did when she was cleaning the men's toilets
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because the girls used to take over the men's toilet they had nice grouting in
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the in the men's toilets and the ladies was too low so the girls would take over
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and make the men go to the woman's toilet and in the morning would find these $100 notes just rolled
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up just thrown on the floor so but let's roll on to the to '90s and 20s um she
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said I don't know what's happened but it's only $5 notes now in the toilet so
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we went from um sir Ernest riford down to serid exactly oh serid yeah he was a he was a client yes he was he was a
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delightful man man there is um God yeah you're running the successful business
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for such a long time there is um so much to discuss here and um I'm fizzing to
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get into it so thanks for being here today there was a quote I saw um to this day I still go out of my way to annoy
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people how old are you now what are you 17 74 uh nearly 75 do yeah you you still
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stand by that you still go out of your way too oh yeah I can't help myself you
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know what I really love doing because you know it's the US elections very shortly and um I remember when Donald
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Trump became the president the first time I had all these people down in the bay window and they were all business
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people and um I was listening to the election and of course I he won and so I started put all American music on and
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when I was pumping around the restaurant these people they got up and left they couldn't quite cope with it but anyway
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now if I go up dinner parties and I don't really want to be there I just bring up Donald Trump and everyone you
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go home quickly it's quite good so yes I still enjoy yeah um yeah yeah that quite
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there I still go out of my way to annoy people there's something in the book
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that I found quite amusing so um um the 2 am. prank calls oh that that was so much fun I mean I mean people people
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don't realize in restaurants you know like if you're a small restaurant we
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only set 50 people so if you're a small restaurant and you've got a table of 10
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or eight that doesn't turn up and they you know and then I mean that's a lot of
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Reven you gone and you've got the staff to do it and that happened quite a lot
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so but people just didn't arrive so of course I would you know after work you'd
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have a few drinks and then at 2:00 in the morning you think I might just you get a bit cocky you start rigging the
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people so oh Mr so and so anan's here um you're booking do you know what time
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it is yes I do I've still got all the staff sitting here you know it be quite
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nice if you would actually turn up and they'd Slamm down but I didn't stop
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there i' just ring them three or four times until anyway we did that quite a
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lot yeah cuz this is um yeah it's not like a today where you have your phone
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in flight mode when you go to sleep or whatever this is landlines that rang very very loudly that's um that's so
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petty though so passive aggressive and I love it I'm here for it I mean I just
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couldn't help myself but I mean that was just quite mild I just did I did all
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sorts of terrible things that I probably am a little bit oh I'm not ashamed of
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them it was fun at the time and I mean we worked so damn hard I mean the whole staff did I mean I used to start work at
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UH about 8:00 in the morning and go through till 4: and then go home and have a sleep and then go back at 5 and
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then work until 1: in the morning and we did that 6 days a week so or 5 days and
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and then probably 10 hours on a Saturday but you know you and if you you know it
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is a business and you've got staff I mean at one stage we probably had about
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15 staff in a small restaurant like that so the the outgoings were quite high so
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you and if you're full you can't get anyone suddenly you can't people didn't
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walk into an because you couldn't you had to push the doorbell and we looked
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at you before we let you in anyway we didn't like you you weren't getting in
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anyway but we you know but you could so you could never do that you're begging
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people to come in but no one ever came and knocked on the door they always had a booking
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so you know so when people just don't turn up but some of these people you know they didn't care about it so you
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know if you go out to a restaurant now you should expect if you make a booking they take your credit card number
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because you know it's suddenly you know that could be $600 or $700 that they're
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not getting it's a lot of money to actually lose you know that's the rent
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for a for a small business absolutely yeah so um yes so an was at 333 panel Road um and you were there for 48 years
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um and so every day it was open you were there oh yes well only once I went away
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I had to go to a funeral and I went away and I let Megan poock who's actually in
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the book she came she came along and ran the restaurant for me tonight probably hate to think what happened there but
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anyway everything was given away but if I if we weren't if if I wasn't there we
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closed like we closed is quite a lot actually because in the in the winter every every June we closed for five four
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or five weeks and Beth and I would go to Europe and then at Christmas time we closed for
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the because there's no there's no business in Oakland from Christmas Day
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we opened and that was a monster day and then we closed until probably the 13th or 14th of January so we did close quite
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you know twice a year Well in in a place like pone goes to their house up in Omaha or power
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throw a rock down the street you won't even hit anybody it's quite interesting
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really that's um that's an incredible work ethic though way it's that's
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phenomenal really like why um why didn't you give yourself more time off was it
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like a control freak thing your perfectionism what was it no it was probably a bit of a I didn't like I
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didn't think anyone could do my job that was the thing there's no doubt about
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that however it was it was just my way of life I mean I didn't have any other
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Hobbies you know my whole life was the restaurant and minute I you know I'd be
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I'd be away on holiday in the two weeks time B and say are you all right said no
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I've got to get back to where I can't stand this you know what a waste of time
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walking around going to all these places but you know how many churches can you look at for God's sake you know but um
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ABC another bloody Church yeah exactly so it just became it was an obsession with me I mean I love that place so much
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that it was my whole life I was never home my whole you know and many times you know Beth would wake me up in the
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you know in the morning under the table you know I just thought it was easy to get a pile of tablecloths and go to
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sleep for her and get up early in the morning so it was I mean Anne's was my
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whole life in this not and it was also be so you know we that was us and I mean it but we had amazing people working for
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us you know some of the people some worked for 10 years you know like quite a lot and and you probably reading the
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book where I was always accused of never employing women well that was lad of crap because
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Beth was definitely a woman and we had many many girls running the front of the front of house so you know but I quite
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like the idea of yeah we only employ men you know I quite like that sort of stuff
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oh yeah well so yeah um your be your your your wife who um you unfortunately lost a couple of years ago um yeah it
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it's an actually an incredibly sad like it's it's it's a wonderful book but it's
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incredibly sad at the same time because it's like um you had these two huge loves of your life one being the
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restaurant and one being um your wife Beth and you you lost them well yeah you lost one of them and then you gave up
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the other one at very very similar times so um the the backstory with Beth if I've got this right um by way this
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incredible opening up of fine dining restaurant at 22 but you open up a Dair in Christ Church at 17 yeah that was
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that was an interesting time I quite enjoyed my Dairy but I'm glad I don't
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have one now but why that's an incredibly what sort of capital Did you have how do you open the dairy at 17
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well my grandfather left lent us £800 so and my brother John and I opened we decided to call EST 7day mini M was in
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north New Brighton because that's where we where we were born and raised and
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everyone knew us so we thought oh we'll open a open a dairy so we opened the
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dairy he he had I'd just been sacked once again I got sacked a few times from
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The Coachman de prison said I know don't want you any cuz I thought I owned The
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Coachman to him I was only 16 17 I thought nah he can't coook I can't you
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know I was always quite like that but so anyway I end up going back there many times but he did this one time he sacked
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me I thought no we I'll stay in Christ Church so we opened the dairy and it was
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hugely successful funly enough and we opened it at 6:00 in the morning and closed it at 2: in the morning so it was
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right down by the beach so it had um very interesting trading hours and we sold some very interesting things I
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might tell you yeah you yeah you sold um like individual condoms was it was it legal at the time oh no well it wasn't
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because you you would were not allowed to sell anything after 5:00 that other shops like chemist shops um grocery
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shops so you had to have blinds that you pulled down over the stuff well of course we didn't do we pulled the blinds
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down but we sold every damn thing that was under them but there was the beach and all the surfies were they were very
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good customers that came in for their alcoholic milkshakes and their ice creams on the way down for their bonking
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down at the beach I would imagine so we thought we'd do the right thing cuz my
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sister happened to be a surfy and we thought we're not getting her pregant so
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we the local hamburger bar he closed at 9:00 so he used to give us a sell us a box of condoms and we people come and um
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well on on the way to the beach so they're by three or four and off they go it's quite and we charged a lot lot for
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them it was quite a good profit in them I might say but we kept the population down I think yeah so this is where this
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da this is where you met Beth so similar age and she came in to make ice creams yeah well my brother his wife
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um and and Beth worked in the same hairdressing salon and Beth was the senior and so Lee had married John or no
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was engaged to John a very young age and of course I had another job I had other
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jobs in Christ Church like I'd run the shop from 6:00 until until about 6 o' in the morning
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till about 5:00 at night and then John would come home from his he was a painter and paper hanger and he would
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come home and he would take over the shop he and Lee would so and then on the weekends Beth decided she wanted to she
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get on her bike from St Orbin and bike over to New Brighton and she and Lee would run the shop on Saturday so they
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started they were rolling ice creams and selling Best Bets or whatever we did you
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know Raffles and anything that was illegal at the time we were selling so cuz they don't they don't prosecute 16
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year olds when they're Dair da own 17 so so anyway that's how I met her and then
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um I went back we sold the dairy after a couple of years and well I left before then I went back to The Coachman again
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and then Beth came up to to be with me and she she was working in a hairdressing cell on Wellington then we
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got married and then went to England and then came back and went to ockland and uh had we had partners and we opened the
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restaurant and after about 18 w a year or so after that we took over the restaurant yeah what are your what are
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your Recollections of um your first meeting Beth was it was it was she into you were you into her from day one was
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it a slow bur or I think don't I don't quite know what really happened there
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because she she would come and then all of a sudden we suddenly realized what we
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were working together and I thought so of course there were um we happened to have bedrooms at the back of the we
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lived at my brother and I lived in the dairy which much to my father and mother's horror but it was quite an
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interesting little place in the back there so that's how it all sort of it just sort of fell into place if you know
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what I mean yeah yeah which is um was a wonderful part at the beginning of the book um you dedicated it to Beth um this
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book is the story of two people who had a vision one of them was Beth who I was so blessed to find um she God I'm
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getting I'm almost getting emotional reading this she managed to turn a dream
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into a magnificent reality with Just a Little Help from me um Beth sits on my shoulder every single day God me
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hopefully in the right direction I love her I miss her I thank her with all my heart yeah and you lost her on um the
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30th of March 2021 yeah she got the just incurable cancer and it was just the the worst
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thing that ever happened to me really because and that's really what Simon wooly came and said you're you're
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closing this restaurant down because Simon woly worked for me for many many years he owns antipodes water and he
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worked and he and I went into business opening another restaurant down the road um and he and Megan Pollock are very
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very close friends because Megan Megan's father lent me the money to buy Antoine
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so from my partners so they came along and said you've got to get out you've
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got to look after Beth so we didn't tell anybody we decided on the 18th of December that would be the last day we
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did we staff knew but no one else did and on that Wednesday or Thursday night we shut the door and by Sunday the whole
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place was empty s had got the movers in we the whole Place had gone so no one we
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didn't tell anyone we were closing of course people said oh they've gone broke
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you know however I didn't know anybody one damn s but it was the end of our life really and so then I luckily
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because um Beth passed in the May or the march of the following year and so I was
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able to be with her for the whole time so and that was very important to me I just can't imagine how tough that
00:22:54
period was for you well it was awful and I I I don't quite know how you know how
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you you don't know how you're going to react and I I mean it just it clicks in
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and you just do it you know and it was I just my mind was blank to everything I just had to keep her as comfortable as
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possible and look after her and and it was just it was really about a month after she passed that I suddenly
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realized I didn't have a restaurant anymore I felt as though it was just on holiday you know we closed the place for
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a we while and so then I forced myself to go back to the restaurant and I cuz I still had all the keys cuz the
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restaurant was never used again for was only just open now as something else but
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and I then used to go on there every morning and just sit in the empty thing and sometimes cry you know just the my
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whole life came back to me and I thought what am I going to do now you know suddenly you realize you by
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yourself cuz we don't have ch didn't have children but we suddenly you know you're all on totally on your
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own so but I had so many good friends around me that really did pick me up and forc me to do things otherwise I don't
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know what I would have done really I you know you just get into a depressed state
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and I was very depressed and but I had these wonderful people that just gave me a kick in the bum really and made me get
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up and do stuff and I haven't stopped since I just N I think that's the way of
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it's how you cope you just think find new things to do like I've opened a new
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started a new company I'm going to do food production from Antoine stuff um but I've got amazing customers who you
00:24:35
know like some some of these people were with me for you know like the Pollock family they were there right from the
00:24:44
beginning in 1973 and it to this day I mean the daughters of the Pollocks are just great
00:24:52
friends but they and their children became Antoine's customers so and these people are still around and they look
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after me very well and but every now and then someone say oh we haven't had anine
00:25:03
stuck an orange for a while we're having a dinner party so I go and cook their
00:25:07
dinner party for them but and I get so many people wanting me to do it I try not to do too much but there's certain
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people that I just love dearly and I will you know they've just been so good
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I mean over Co there was a couple of people that we were very lucky because we had three separate rooms in the
00:25:24
restaurant and so we could separate people you know you didn't have to be together and over the co time I mean
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these people couldn't they couldn't go to Europe which they normally do over
00:25:35
winter so they would come in and they would just give the waiters huge amounts of money just to keep them happy and
00:25:42
then they would you know there were no bills they'd just put money into the bank account just to keep anwin going
00:25:47
which is you know it's very important not many restaurants can say they have
00:25:52
customers like that and we became their family and they be they became ours and that's exactly what happened so it's a
00:25:59
tremendous am tremendous amount of Goodwill isn't it yeah yeah it just seems um yeah do you think
00:26:08
um had it not been for Beth getting sick that the restaurant would still be going
00:26:12
now or what was the plan you must I I I feel I feel um reading the book last night I just felt an incredible amount
00:26:20
of sadness because it's like you know you had these these fantastic years ahead of you you guys love traveling and
00:26:24
you you put like five weeks aside in the middle of each year shut the restaurant
00:26:28
down traveled and you went on these wonderful adventures together and yeah this should be like the decade that year
00:26:32
you know you get to do more of that together well we though I actually quite frankly I thought I wouldn't actually
00:26:39
the lifestyle we were having in the early days I was surprised I got past 50 quite
00:26:44
frankly like Beth was actually the good person she you know I was actually the bad boy how does that work yeah you L
00:26:50
loved your di I just me I used to I didn't start smoking till I was 38 I wouldn't even employ anyone that smoked
00:26:58
but then Beth went away she she went away to England with her mother for 3 weeks two months later she haden't come
00:27:05
back I have a funny feeling she may have left me I'm not quite sure we we didn't
00:27:09
ever discuss it but anyway so in the end I said um and while she was away I was really bad so of course I suddenly
00:27:17
thought well you better come home so I said well no more credit so no more credit card you so she did come home and
00:27:23
it was the funniest thing as I was out at the airport to pick her up and there I was and i' never she smoked early days
00:27:31
and I refused to buy her cigarettes I would you know she never smoked in front of me or she'd go outside whatever and
00:27:38
there she came through the airpod and me standing there with a cigarette I've
00:27:41
never seen a look on anyone's face ever again you know I thought oops but anyway so that was that was our
00:27:49
little separation for a couple of months but the only time we were actually ever
00:27:52
separated but um and I don't think it was a separation it was just I think she' had she' had enough and want to go
00:27:58
away but um so she came back and uh oh I don't know the restaurant just kept
00:28:05
going and going but when she when we finally did probably look we were may have only
00:28:13
stayed another couple of years because we really did want to go traveling again and we just love traveling so much and
00:28:20
we've got so many good friends overseas that we like to travel and see and go
00:28:23
around with but so we I think probably we probably Co was very kind to us because you know
00:28:33
we we Clos I we Clos the restaurant and um you know I just I think if we had have kept going it would have been a
00:28:41
nightmare because the restaurants are really struggling at the moment and you know in the country's financially not
00:28:47
great so I think probably it all worked out for the best but the only thing that
00:28:52
didn't work out for the best that we couldn't travel together and that's
00:28:56
that's an end of our life yeah and that's the um yeah that's the cost of great love isn't it great loss
00:29:03
yeah what would um what would she say your best and best and worst qualities where what would she say yeah well she I
00:29:10
don't know whe should say had good qualities no I I think possibly she would I mean I was quite a good
00:29:19
husband for the most part and I did love her dearly but I think what she loved about cuz Beth couldn't cook I think she
00:29:25
cooked me once I said I'll bug her off I'm having that crap so um she loved me cooking for her and of
00:29:31
course if she wasn't working in the evening of course I would make sure I would cook for her every day and so I
00:29:36
think she she liked that side of it and um but my my worst things was I just never I was never home and uh and the
00:29:45
interesting thing is that we didn't fight but I'm I've got a I've got a very
00:29:53
terrible habit of if I decide I don't I want to have a fight I just don't talk
00:29:58
to you and which is mental cruelty I might tell you because I I can go two weeks and not even say one word now that
00:30:05
it's a form of torture that is a terrible thing and that is one that's a
00:30:08
really bad thing that I are very good at doing I mean I just think I'm not going
00:30:12
to argue I'm just not going to talk to you and then it would you know sooner or
00:30:17
later you had to sort of one had to give up it was usually me that said okay I'll
00:30:20
give up you know all that sort of stuff because I think she probably did the same thing but I would just I didn't he
00:30:28
if she really was angry with me especially if we were if I was doing a speech or something and and I got went
00:30:34
off on a little tangent I'd see her sitting there going like Zip It zip it or it's time or
00:30:43
if she she never she never called me Tony she called me Chef the whole of my life it was chef chef chef and I knew
00:30:51
damn well i' overstep the life at the line of suddenly she would say Tony whoops a day see something really gone
00:30:59
wrong here I mean I mean she just had a she was just so gentle that you know mind you you you knew if no one ever
00:31:08
argued with Beth because she's usually always right anyway but and she would
00:31:12
always pull people up on their English and all sorts of stuff you know like you can but you may not all that sort of
00:31:18
stuff like the staff they all adored her because they she treated them like their
00:31:23
she was their mother but we always had very young stuff anyway a couple of times we had had older ones that didn't
00:31:28
work so and uh we had very young stuff that just end end up being our children really which is quite interesting and to
00:31:38
this day I mean I've so many of them ring me once a week just to see if I'm
00:31:42
okay or I ring them or we get together I mean it's quite nice really yeah are you
00:31:46
okay yeah I'm fine yeah I mean I don't yeah I think I am I I sometimes you know cuz I'm now I've got
00:31:55
my new apartment and I moving out of that house after 40 42 years and excuse me we now that we I don't have dogs now
00:32:05
we always had dogs and that it was just a you know different life and to move out of that house was very very hard and
00:32:13
to move into an apartment but Simon and Megan made sure everything if you walk I
00:32:19
walk in that door it's like going to a hotel now but if I walk into that door
00:32:22
everything is exactly how it was in that in that um house so you walk in you feel
00:32:27
like your home yeah so it seems like she was the sensible one in the relationship what what did she make um I
00:32:36
I did this this this was not on my radio at all until I Googled you knowing you were coming in for this podcast um but
00:32:42
there was a controversial hero article in 2010 where I think it's where you said um about you don't hire a woman or
00:32:48
whatever it was clearly a joke yeah um and you don't like fat people in the the
00:32:52
kitchen because they sweat sweat everywhere or you talked about most of the chefs being on meth which that's
00:32:58
kind of factual um what did she make of that like little controversies like that
00:33:02
she said can't you just stop all this why do you do I I just can't help myself
00:33:07
I mean every now and then I get bored so I just have to I mean I think it was Michelle hson that actually interviewed
00:33:12
me on that one and she played it up like there no tomorrow of course I just happen to say oh I don't employ women
00:33:17
you know why would you employ women I mean that sort of thing I mean that's me
00:33:20
you're [ __ ] steering well I couldn't help myself but of course people take
00:33:23
you you know you said it so you deserve everything you get back but I mean fat people well our kitchen was so small I
00:33:31
mean I put on weight now but I used to be in anorexic so it was quite I just could did not there was no room for
00:33:39
people to be big you know every time we got a big person you had to squeeze in and squeeze out but I mean that was that
00:33:45
was nothing to do with their weight it was just that it was just the kitchen didn't quite work and some of you know
00:33:51
so of course you say stupid things like that but you know anyway I just couldn't
00:33:55
help myself did you did you get in trouble for that like anyone like boycotting the restaurant or no no just
00:34:00
water off a duck B well most people say that's him that's what he said you know
00:34:05
he says worse things about other people so yeah um yeah so so anine so um yeah open in 1973 rent was 22 bucks a week
00:34:14
what was it you you never owned the property he no we tried so hard to buy to buy the property and in fact at one
00:34:20
stage Gordon Pollock who L me the money to buy the to buy the business um he said let's buy the building so I said
00:34:29
okay let's try so we offered the the landlord a certain amount of money and we didn't hear for about 3 months we
00:34:37
said oh God we've got this we've got this building next thing we get a letter
00:34:40
from his lawyer saying if you can afford that that amount of money to buy the restaurant you can afford an increase in
00:34:45
rent so I took it to arbitration and we bloody well lost so in the end I look there's no point in and we could have
00:34:52
moved and opened it but Antoine's that was me and it was our home and it was a
00:34:57
beautiful little restaurant it was secluded no one knew it was there it was quite you had to know it was there and
00:35:02
we had so many good people that I just didn't want to go and open a new business anyway and it would have been
00:35:06
too hard but in the end it was um yeah we didn't own it at all and which is mind you even now you wouldn't get a
00:35:14
huge amount of money because the maintenance on that building was huge cuz it's an old it's 100 over 100 years
00:35:19
old now I mean it was a was a piece of old crap really when I think about it what was um you say from 22 bucks a week
00:35:26
in the ' 70s what what was the 1 a half thousand a week mind you our main courses in 1973
00:35:33
were $4.95 and when we close our $59 plus GST I just couldn't help myself with GST so
00:35:40
yeah inflation works all the way around doesn't it um okay let's talk about end
00:35:44
ones so there was a doorbell outside that you had to Ring to get in yeah let's yeah some of the rules so first of
00:35:50
all why the doorbell why was that was it a security thing was it just to manage who was who
00:35:56
was going to enter the restaurant well it was actually part of the Silver Service thing you know like if um we had
00:36:01
been to many three star Michelin restaurants in Europe and of course you have to you don't just walk in you have
00:36:08
to be let in and I just thought there was nothing else nothing else in New Zealand like it I mean people you know
00:36:15
just walked in initially we had a a pad inside the door and people got in but people if that didn't work you have
00:36:22
people sitting out you know because it was a fo and then we thought why don't
00:36:26
we just the door make the doorbell and of course that was the thing and you had to wait outside and then of course it
00:36:32
was just quite intimidating opening there n yeah and what is um you had like a dress code there or you wouldn't let
00:36:41
people in that were inappropriately dressed what what is um an appropriate addess well initially you wore a jacket
00:36:47
and tie mind you we weren't like the Intercontinental or the northern club or
00:36:51
Orland Oran Club where they have a jacket for you to put on I mean you know which is to me even stupid even now to
00:36:59
actually go and have to put some crappy old jacket on oh that was like me last time I went to the chist church Casino
00:37:04
actually oh they someone else's old jacket yeah know what's in the sleeve
00:37:12
but it was like it was suit and tie but then we relaxed that because the waiters
00:37:17
were dressed up I mean we had aprons on them we had they had bow ties or in the end we didn't like bow ties but we had
00:37:23
ties they were all in a uniform um and it just didn't seem right for people to come well we just jeans people didn't
00:37:33
wear jeans in those days unless they were youngish people but I mean older people didn't wear them I mean I
00:37:38
wouldn't be allowed in my restaurant now looking like this so I mean all I probably would but um shorts jandal no
00:37:46
no no no singlets definitely not I think the best thing I tell you it seems reasonable the the worst day was always
00:37:53
Valentine's Day you'd go open the door and there were these young young people
00:37:58
but the girl look absolutely beautiful dress up and they the boy in a piece of crap you know like and sometimes just a
00:38:05
t-shirt so Beth would say sorry you know what they always had a shirt out in the
00:38:09
car it was quite interesting so they' go back but no look you can't have someone
00:38:15
dressed up in a dinner suit and someone sitting next to them in jeans and t-shirt it just didn't work I mean mind
00:38:20
you no I suppose people don't mind do they I mean I've been just we go to a
00:38:25
lot of three star Michelin and and France and Germany and places people still dress up to go to those it's quite
00:38:32
nice though um okay some of the other rules why no EOS why were you anti e PA oh that was just me I couldn't help
00:38:39
myself was it last day till the last day we still had the zipzap machine because
00:38:46
and then in February of the year we the year after well two months after we close end of checks end of all that sort
00:38:53
of stuff you had to have fos machines well you couldn't do business but they
00:38:59
yes so for anyone that doesn't know what you're talking about um the the zip
00:39:02
machine so you you put the credit card in there was like a transfer paper thing that went across um and then wow you had
00:39:09
that right till right up until 19 or 2022 21 wa what was it a was it a principal thing or you didn't want to
00:39:17
pay the Wind Cave money for the technology how to work it and I didn't I mean still can't do
00:39:25
computers I mean I love my phone I do everything with one thing I at restaurant was used with one finger get
00:39:30
in front of the computer I can't take with that but it became it seems so inconvenient but it became a thing
00:39:35
because and of course then you'd post them away and it took a few days to get
00:39:40
it back or even a week to get it back so but we also had still had signing rights
00:39:44
like people signed for their dinner that that's how many regular customers we had
00:39:48
and that was a third of our customers so we sent accounts to them but anyone else
00:39:53
they'd come up and they'd just look at especially younger they go what a that
00:39:56
thing you know but then PE Americans were the worst they would come in and go they'd get all that paper and they'd
00:40:02
make it take it all back and rip it all up in case we're stealing their credit
00:40:05
card it was quite interesting but but also I mean government people used to come and say you've got to have this and
00:40:12
why do what law is it makes me have to do that I mean I wrote checks until the last week we closed I mean I sort like
00:40:19
to write checks I don't understand this this stuff but it must what about people
00:40:24
that wanted to in the last couple years people that wanted to use their f using Apple pay oh God
00:40:31
no oh God no that didn't work but I think the funniest one which I really did do and I was in trouble for it for
00:40:38
quite a lot was we were plus GST and of course so every page I'd write GST exclusive was all printed because it's
00:40:46
illegal if you don't you can't do it so so many people tried to go to the
00:40:51
Communist commission say these people are ripping the C you know ripping us off but and even John ke he said you
00:40:57
know um this this GST I thought it's not my tax it's yours you know it's not my
00:41:03
fault we why why didn't wouldn't you include GST in the prices oh because it
00:41:07
would have looked too high right no one noticed it was put on afterwards right and and um no Wi-fi a there was no Wi-Fi
00:41:15
in the restaurant no in the end we did oh you did you caved well I needed it for my
00:41:20
phone we used to tell people no I think one night one night we had a group of young Asian people and they were
00:41:27
beautiful young people and they're all sitting around and they asked to see me
00:41:32
because they they said uh do you have Wi-Fi Wi-Fi Wi-Fi I said no we've got philp State we've got chicken we've got
00:41:40
this but sorry no Wi-fi they got up and left so they couldn't cope without you
00:41:46
know um yes so who was on the who's on the band list so Helen Clark was on the
00:41:51
she was banned I mean look she used to before did she ever go there yes she was there quite a lot I mean why did you ban
00:41:56
her oh I just don't like the labor party much I wasn't here as a custom well no
00:42:02
it was she didn't she didn't do any she didn't do anything to annoy me but I
00:42:05
just didn't like the way she was running in the country but she was there quite a
00:42:09
lot way before she was prime minister cuz you must remember when we opened the restaurant it was Norman Kirk so the
00:42:14
labor party have been part of Antoine for quite some time and um I can assure you the McAn whenever that was and [ __ ]
00:42:23
and all those people they knew how to spend the country's money coming into an
00:42:28
because they had been out of government for so long suddenly they little like little candy shop wasn't it
00:42:34
so um anyway so Helen did used to come and Roger Douglas was a huge customer but at least he went to the right side
00:42:40
in the end but so so so you you had the spig list but some of these people didn't
00:42:45
necessarily even know they were banned no well I don't think Helen probably did
00:42:50
and she probably she probably wouldn't want to go there anyway because she she
00:42:53
wouldn't like um she I mean she wouldn't like my politics at all but I'm quite
00:42:57
bit boast about them I mean even the National Party think I'm too too far jingus Khan for them then I said are
00:43:04
they not right enough for you anymore no God no I said to David Seymour you know
00:43:08
that when you get up to 20% you you'll need some new MPS he said even we're not
00:43:12
ready for you so who um kim.com he he was banned was he just totally banned yeah right oh
00:43:20
because he was a castom he did what did you have to do to get banned well he came he came into an one and anyway he
00:43:26
said on two seats or three seats and you that was fine I didn't have a problem
00:43:30
with that however the next time he came in his um his wife I think Mona at the time I'm not quite sure what her name
00:43:37
was but she rang and said he doesn't like your seats he wants to bring his own couch I he not bringing his own
00:43:42
couch and and I said we just he just can't come in here we're not letting him
00:43:47
come so no sorry you're not coming she said this is a democracy you have to him
00:43:52
I said is a democracy and I have my own rules and he's not coming anyway she
00:43:56
rang the newsp I did not ring the newspaper so of course it was a great story so of course I said well he's he's
00:44:02
just not coming here ever again so that was it so he was banned but um yeah he definitely and kiss like threw them out
00:44:09
well didn't throw them out they had to pay their bill but they were B oh the
00:44:12
banned um yeah Jean so Jean Simmons yeah and he's actually quite still around I
00:44:17
mean and he's quite um they still do stadium shows and quite political too in
00:44:21
in America or wherever he is but well he came in of course he one of the waiters
00:44:26
dbbl some water on us apparently very expensive shoes so he said well we're not paying the bill so I thought oh yes
00:44:33
you are so I came out and those theyes wear red trousers and very expensive red shoes I just couldn't help myself didn't
00:44:41
like to look like a chef much and uh he went I went out and he said well who are
00:44:45
you and I said I own the restaurant and um my shoes are just so expensive of yours and so I'm not it's only water is
00:44:51
not going to hurt you and he said well we're not going to we're going to go and
00:44:55
I said no you're not so I said said the door's locked and you can't get out and
00:44:58
that's all to it so I rang Lloyd Brown who was the lawyer for oh I think at one
00:45:05
stage Elton John and John Reed they had smashed someone in the face or John Reed
00:45:10
had and Lloyd Brown had actually stop their show so I said well Lloyd could you talk to these people so he spoke to
00:45:18
them or to the manager whoever it was and said you know the police will be coming and you will be arrested so you
00:45:24
won't be able to do the show for the next two days so they paid and went that
00:45:27
wasn't anyway so we won that one you love a Das don't you who any other um
00:45:35
people of um you wellknown people that were that were banned or what what sort of things did you have to do to get
00:45:40
banned there must have been all blacks over the years that got in trouble in you oh I quite like their
00:45:46
trouble no no they didn't get banned um uh I'm just trying to think who people knew if they were banned I
00:45:55
mean like someone one time I won't mention this person's name because he
00:46:00
probably he's quite a nice man these days but he used to sneak his own wine and and put it under the table I mean
00:46:06
we're talking you know wine Worth about5 or $20,000 and of course you know we we
00:46:12
sold wine at that price and he decided we're a ripoff he could bring his own I
00:46:16
thought whatever but he used to sneak it in he' buy a bottle cheaper and then of
00:46:20
course start pouring his own so Beth went down to the table and said I'm sorry you can't do that he said and
00:46:26
anyway he called her a scrubber or something and she she came and told me so I went down and said so I picked up
00:46:31
the wine just poured into the ice it was hugely expensive I just poured it all into the ice bucket and said out and
00:46:37
never come back well about 15 years later a very good customer came in for lunch and said I'm bringing so and so I
00:46:45
said no you're not he's not coming here he's got to apologize how many he 1520
00:46:50
probably 15 years he didn't come in at that time oh well I knew look I knew and
00:46:54
I knew his brother and all these people they were great customers but was never allowed in again so anyway so he was at
00:47:01
the door and I said to the other person well you can't come in either you can
00:47:04
have lunch by yourself but he's not coming in so anyway the next day he rang
00:47:08
and asked Beth could be there and he came and apologized so he's allowed back
00:47:11
but that was 15 years who who is it like a politician or the next book the next book oh my God that's an amazing story a
00:47:19
very well-known New Zealander it's amazing that you um banned someone for 20 years for for a boo crime and it was
00:47:25
it was pretty stupid though because spending a lot of money in the restaurant I just cut my nose to spite
00:47:29
my face there was another one that they had a bottle of a cam and he's one of my
00:47:33
best friends now and he bought a bottle of a Kim that probably about3 or $4,000 a bottle in those days and uh he was
00:47:40
with some wine merchants and people and wasn't they weren't the importers so of
00:47:44
course I knew they were going to say oh this is no good or whatever so anyway they drank half of it and then said um
00:47:50
oh this one's it's got no fruit it's no good anymore and I said well sorry you
00:47:56
drunk car foot so they said well I'll tell you what we'll pay you the wholesale cost I said no you can't you
00:48:03
just got to go I don't want you here anymore they said we'll never come back
00:48:07
oh I care it doesn't matter we're always false it doesn't really matter well they
00:48:10
didn't come back God I've done something terrible here but I took that bottle and
00:48:14
went down to the um Broadway Diner and drank it with a hamburger so we we enjoyed it but anyway the person now is
00:48:22
a very good friend of mine he said I said Well why'd you come back so I just
00:48:26
couldn't not come back I mean we missed your food we missed it all he said and
00:48:31
uh you're still wrong I said yeah but I won didn't I you came back but that was
00:48:35
two years later talking many many thousands of dollars over missed out on yeah so a a A5 or $20,000 bottle of wine
00:48:44
um does it like who's who's buying it is it like a like a a showing off um
00:48:50
situation or does it does it does it actually taste amazing does it taste any better one of them was um you know they
00:48:57
had 12 bottles of Shadow Margo for their wedding and I'm not going to say how it
00:49:00
is because that's I don't know whether it is in the book maybe it is I can't
00:49:03
remember but um they were having their wedding they were an international people and day 12 and we're
00:49:11
talking I don't know how much was about probably about $8,000 so it's $96,000 so
00:49:17
it's um for their wedding so no the people overseas people paid but a couple of new zealanders and
00:49:24
I think that was a little bit pretentious possibly but but you you you've tasted it does it
00:49:28
taste I used to save that sort of oh it tastes great but it taste that much better though than say a $50 bottle of
00:49:35
rock burn or well in your own mind it does of course it tastes better but you know like someone like Michael
00:49:43
brackovich I mean he's the master of wine and got and he's got the most amazing pallet he would he would know
00:49:50
the difference between good bad and otherwise you know but the average person wouldn't as I mean if you
00:49:56
suddenly one lotto and you see at Anne you can buy a $155,000 bottle of wine you'd probably oh this is good but you
00:50:03
would have no idea about of all tomorrow would probably be the same yeah what was
00:50:07
the um as someone that's been been through everything and Sen it all what was the best decade in business do you
00:50:12
think oh 80s really oh unbelievable I was so I was a like a school kid in palis north in the 80s and my parents
00:50:19
like every other New Zealander at the time um got into the the sheer market so they had sheares and um you know Telecom
00:50:26
Chase bry's just all the big companies and then the the stock market crash happened in ' 87 so and that was then it
00:50:33
turned to it was actually fine until 89 and then 90 the interesting thing is we used to I
00:50:40
used to laugh well didn't because I lost a lot of money in the stock stock market
00:50:44
but our customers were all those people you know like it was all paper money and
00:50:48
they were our customers and we're talking the people that own the businesses but then all of a sudden you
00:50:54
know you came in fact Beth and I were staying at the Supreme in Venice at the time and uh just being pretentious as I
00:51:02
was at the time and so we're sitting there and the waiter came down said oh you might like to read the English
00:51:07
newspaper and World stock crash and I said go we've got to go home we've got
00:51:11
to go home they said why that won't affect us I said oh really you know how many shares have we just lost
00:51:17
unbelievable anyway so it was fine for 898 8889 then 1990 we used to look out the window in the early days you saw
00:51:26
rolls-royces and Ferraris and Porsches and then suddenly in 1990 they were all little Toyotas and Al
00:51:35
you know suddenly they' all lost their money and Ann went from a huge turnover
00:51:40
down to about $8,000 a week which is a and we that's when we I I think that was
00:51:45
when I finally learned how to run a business because we had probably about 12 staff and we had to go right down to
00:51:52
about four and that's you know and we just we surv but we were Treading Water
00:51:57
the whole time but it was it was a huge let down because up until then I mean you've never seen like I the good
00:52:05
stories I love is you know you get people in and they'd see what the other people were drinking and so we'll have
00:52:09
something better than them I mean we can you imagine we just went mad on that sort of stuff you know what's he
00:52:15
drinking over there and I he's having ss oh can we have something better of course we just happen to have plenty of
00:52:21
that here that's amazing isn't it so um yeah cuz you you went through you went
00:52:27
through so much stuff so there was there was that the global financial crisis the
00:52:30
co time but yeah the ' 80s was the ' 80s was the I had actually also opened
00:52:36
another restaurant in the in the '90s and that was um that was down in the city with other partners and it was
00:52:44
turning over suddenly it things started coming right again but and antoan was up
00:52:49
and running again but I couldn't be in two play that was the worst thing I've
00:52:53
ever done was go and open that restaurant because um it was turning over so much money but there were so
00:52:58
many staff and I and the owners weren't there and you can imagine you know people run rif and we went into
00:53:06
Liquidation in that restaurant but we I did pay all the bills but it took me probably took me five years to pay my
00:53:13
share of it but our suppliers were all antoin and that little restaurant up in Parell paid for all of that over five
00:53:19
years but they gave us time to do it so you know that's why an was such and it was just a a phenomenal little little
00:53:28
business you know it's but it's a oneoff people just it will never happen again
00:53:32
no it won't happen again so in the most um hedonistic uh years of the 80s um
00:53:39
like did you turn a like a blind eye to cocaine use and things like that oh yeah
00:53:43
I definitely didn't do that I could I it was there I mean it was happening in the
00:53:47
restaurant all the time of course I didn't care they just drank more and eight more didn't really worry me that
00:53:52
much and they left their $100 notes on the toilet however it's very it's very easy I can see how people
00:54:00
really got into that and that's one thing I did not do I mean obviously things happen but um I did not get
00:54:07
because I'm look I would have been into it like there was no tomorrow if I had a
00:54:10
started or you just got an addictive personality can't help it you know like
00:54:14
I do love drinking but I have managed to keep I don't haven't put my hand up you
00:54:18
and say hi my name's Tony but so many of my staff have and friends have and um so
00:54:24
I'm very lucky on that aspect I think let's talk about some of the um celebrity uh clientele so I mentioned
00:54:30
before Suman Hillary uh yeah was he like a did he communication was he wasn't a
00:54:36
regular but he lived in rera but and he in June used to come in um because that was she was Mrs mgre too beforehand she
00:54:44
was a wonderful customer but he they would just come in for family family dinners and um but not hugely but every
00:54:53
now and then someone would bring him in as a as a cele and um he was just such a downt earth
00:54:59
lovely man we had so many of those people but his wife was June she I think she's just passed recently she was
00:55:05
unbelievable and she and Beth got on like a house on fire Rod Stewart oh I Lov rod rod he's and Rachel of course
00:55:13
they were in the early days they used to yeah and and the book you call her like
00:55:16
the ice cream girl or something the I know she was on the trumpet all I can remember her looking ice
00:55:22
cream so you yeah when did so did you metet him through various decades like in the 70s ' 80s 90s like Elton John was
00:55:30
a very early customer and of course he then bought Rod stewarton but then when Rod married Rachel they came to New
00:55:36
Zealand more and they were very good customers I mean think Rachel his sister and her mother used to come on so it was
00:55:43
a family sort of thing but um afterwards I think it was quite funny because I mean Rachel was quite amazing
00:55:51
and then when Penny Lancaster it's roll on a few more years when Penny Lancaster
00:55:55
came across Rod went up to about her armpit and he came to the RO he pretended he'd never been there it was
00:56:01
very interesting which do you think maybe he just didn't remember like if you're going to a couple hundred
00:56:06
restaurants a year maybe you just don't yeah but I thought he came in there so
00:56:10
often I mean we got up to a bit of Mischief you know with with him and I think with Rod Stewart um Elton John and
00:56:17
George Benson on one night I mean that was so they yeah he knew that but anyway look maybe he he's old maybe he just
00:56:24
forgot you maybe yeah that's right there was there one night where you ended up
00:56:29
having doing an all ID with those guys so it was you George Benson rod and and Al and then of course if you're doing
00:56:36
enough this Jeff maybe it's possible you don't remember the next day yeah maybe
00:56:40
but it was 6:00 in the morning and of course Beth arrived to she vacuumed and did all the silver and cleaned every she
00:56:45
set up the whole restaurant every morning so she arrived and she said oh finally I'm going to catch him he's not
00:56:50
he's not coming home but he's up to some mischief and of course she walked out
00:56:53
there and there's us four sitting out in the courtyard she just turned around
00:56:56
went home but Cliff Richard was both he was in town at the same time and they were trying to ring him they called him
00:57:02
the bionic Christian of course so he didn't want to be anywhere near them but
00:57:05
the next day and of course Beth was she was so in love with Cliff Richards she thought he was amazing and she had been
00:57:12
to his concert that night and so um the next day the doorbell rang and there was
00:57:17
Cliff Richard so she was a a pig in the proverbial I might say but those I mean we they used to come in look they they
00:57:24
would come in after their shows and of course I'd just get rid of the customers
00:57:28
and if anyone thought I'd just get the F the fire hose out and just wash them all
00:57:32
down outside tell them to go away but what do you mean you get rid of the customers so say they they coming in
00:57:38
after a show so say 11:00 at night so oh you got the we just made sure that the people that were there wouldn't be in
00:57:44
you know not cuz I never allowed people to have photographs taken with these people so and they could come in and
00:57:50
they would just not be bothered you know that yeah and so many that's why people
00:57:54
came because they could come in and no one would a deer go and ask them for a you know they just went they just didn't
00:58:01
and but sometimes people would hear you know um you know who's up at Ann's so I
00:58:06
had this huge fire hose so of course they used to if they were out there ping and through the fence i' just go out and
00:58:12
wash them all down they all went so oh like media like pepperazzi and stuff oh yeah yeah you wouldn't have
00:58:18
been lowed I would have I would I would have given you a good drink of water um yeah Alton so yeah you you almost had
00:58:26
like a like a romance with him like a friendship so he yeah you met him um when he was heterosexual yeah well
00:58:33
apparently when he married well after he was when he married rata actually he he
00:58:39
had a second wedding at Ann's after he had the one in Australia but um he used
00:58:44
he came in there way before that with Hudson and Hall it were they were um well I think everyone knows who Hudson
00:58:50
or Halls were they were the TV Cooks in New Zealand and they G like gay shs I remember them briefly as as a as a kid
00:58:57
and this was when homosexuality was so God this is hilarious because um they used to anyway they knew ton from
00:59:05
England because they were from they' had been in England and so they he used to
00:59:09
stay with them around in Brighton Road which where they had a house and then they would come in for dinner and so
00:59:15
they in they introduced Elton to Antoine's and then he started coming back every time he came to New Zealand
00:59:21
that was the first place he came to so me we and I mean he was this so much in fact you know he was he just but he
00:59:31
also some interesting things I mean I think in the book alen cars mentioned they and a couple of our wait one of our
00:59:38
waiters went off off to um America and then he was shipped off to England to Alton and then they they dumped him in
00:59:48
Venezuela I mean he was but Alton was just such a neat person was he yeah I mean but he came what just fun to be
00:59:56
around you you him you had him in his party years though like he's he's so I
01:00:02
reckon now he would say oh I don't remember Ann you know he doesn't want to
01:00:05
know now that he's married to David of course he would say oh no that never happened all that sort of stuff but I
01:00:11
mean he was in party mode in those days I mean like they all were and they used to all come to anons and it was but it
01:00:17
was it was just their place I mean Phil space Phil Collins was actually probably
01:00:23
the he was the kindest nicest person ever came there and he you know they just wanted to be by themselves they
01:00:31
didn't want people around them you know cuz they every time they go out they
01:00:35
just SW swamp with people I mean and that was the other thing you had to ring the doorbell to get in so you just
01:00:41
couldn't just walk in if you saw people there so and they and we had three rooms
01:00:45
we could hide them you know like K [ __ ] you I mean Dar all C she was a great anwin person when she was governor
01:00:52
general she used to ring me and say chef can I come and cuz she would just get the driver and she would walk up the
01:01:00
alleyway and go and sit by herself and have lunch just to be away from people you know it's it was just that sort of
01:01:06
place yeah geez if those walls could talk eh yeah I should have actually I saw something once you know had
01:01:13
microphones under the table that's I could have been very wealthy um what about um you dismissive
01:01:19
celebrities any celebrities that came in and you were instructed not to interact
01:01:23
with them at all or they didn't want anything to the staff or just anyone that was just sort of underwhelming like
01:01:28
they were famous but they just sort of laed Charisma or no not anyway I most people that were we knew they were
01:01:36
coming and they knew where they were going but I mean we weren't that sort of
01:01:40
restaurant I mean I don't can't think of anyone apart from kiss that I just
01:01:44
thought were awful didn't like their music either so it didn't really matter
01:01:49
but I I think I'll tell I'll tell you who um well I want to keep calling him
01:01:54
Steve Austin you know the B mcmah what he came in and he was with as they all do with this very young they're now new
01:02:02
young people and um he came and he sat there and I was the only one that knew who he was and I thought I can't really
01:02:09
say it so I went and said hi and he goes how do you know that I said I think I'm
01:02:12
the age that watched the biionic man but the the um the staff said Who the hell's
01:02:18
that never seen anything like that but I sat with him and just talked and he was
01:02:22
just so pleased that someone recognized it's quite interesting you know because
01:02:26
no one kidss wouldn't I mean he's he's old yeah and Freddy Mercury oh now he
01:02:32
was a dream was it why so oh he was just so so much fun and once again of course um I
01:02:39
think he quite liked the waiters because we had very goodlooking waiters in there yeah but he he was just
01:02:46
an easy person to serve I mean once again you know they change when they come into that situation they're not on
01:02:53
stage M oh what about um did you ever know poking horn was he a customer M yeah yeah apparently he's banned from
01:03:02
places now he if if the methew was um as it's reported he wouldn't have had much
01:03:08
of an appetite I wouldn't imagine no he I don't think he was doing anything like
01:03:12
that I mean he was a casual customer he wasn't but it'd be quite interesting um
01:03:17
I don't know I have to think whether i' ban him he's been exonerated sort of
01:03:21
mind he still got a case coming up yeah um and some some politicians David longy
01:03:27
he used to no he was no David long you know people say you know I don't like
01:03:31
labor or don't like anything like that but David longy was in the early days
01:03:34
was a very very good customer and then he in fact yeah he was he was actually a great but he used to eat a lot as you
01:03:44
can imagine then suddenly he didn't so oh CU he got the um the gas sleeve thing
01:03:49
yeah and um he but he never came well yes he used to come on with his wife and then I think he had a new wife didn't he
01:03:57
I mean yes I think he then married someone else speech some Naomi Naomi was his wife
01:04:05
somebody anyway but he didn't he then did not come as a customer I mean but in
01:04:10
the early days he was there quite a lot and um moldon was here a cust oh yeah they all dear all beggy I loved them
01:04:17
yeah I I by the way I love mentioning these names because it just um it just highlights I think just how long you in
01:04:23
business it's incredible well mold was um in in fact I Beth and I got on very
01:04:27
well with he and theia and or Dame theia and we used to travel down to gizman to
01:04:33
in in the planes to actually launch the blue boats with with the people so but he was a huge customer but but he was a
01:04:41
customer in Wellington when I was in there at The Coachman he was a big orini customer at the time and that's when he
01:04:47
was playing games with all sorts of people but then he came to Antoine and I used to have you know the little piggy
01:04:54
money box I used to have it sitting up on a mirror and even I could not believe people throw things at him because he
01:05:00
wasn't the most popular prime minister I might say however he felt comfortable in
01:05:04
Land once yeah um what about um Winston was do you know Winston Peters was he a cast yeah in the very early days I mean
01:05:12
he was everyone was in love with Winston you know that's when he was married to I
01:05:16
forgot which I think his first marriage and he was at Antoine's a lot and he was
01:05:23
everyone was in love with him you everyone thought he was going to be the biggest prime minister we've ever seen
01:05:28
in our life and so he and we're talking right at the beginning so and then right
01:05:33
up until till he sided with labor he was also a customer um or did you ban him did you I probably it could have been
01:05:44
next especially when he he went with the other side I mean really I couldn't I
01:05:48
couldn't he didn't come back then so I don't think I would have let him in
01:05:53
anyway I reckon you talk a big game I reckon um yeah I don't know I I feel like you would L A lot of these people I
01:06:01
feel a lot of it tongue and cheek I mean I mean look I liked it when they thought
01:06:05
they' being banned because then I but it wasn't me it was actually the media that
01:06:09
does all this has nothing to do with me I just look people just knew they weren't welcome yeah I mean I mean I was
01:06:15
standing in that Chef's bar and there was all the people I mean I'd just
01:06:20
go they knew damn well I didn't want them anywhere near me but I mean they were all customers but
01:06:26
towards the end I let you let anyone because you want the money but but I think no I don't know who I would be now
01:06:35
I mean really it's it was just fun yeah yeah yeah yeah that's the impression I
01:06:41
get it's kind of like sticking away yeah well what about luxon was he is he um
01:06:44
you know luxon yes I do yeah he wouldn't be a great customer he doesn't drink drink any alcohol does he
01:06:51
seem like Mr Trump came once to an because you know when he was trying to buy the casino the railway station he
01:06:56
was out here and of course he didn't get it but he came into the restaurant and
01:07:00
um he didn't drink I said oh God no can't have him he not going to make any
01:07:04
money he drinks Coca-Cola for God's sake he's he's never drunk in his life I
01:07:08
believe no he doesn't I think I saw an interview with him his brother was an
01:07:11
alcoholic a really bad one yeah he's got a bad diet well I can't remember what he ate
01:07:17
but he ate um he likes drinking Coca-Cola and eating pies cheeseburgers cheeseburgers and Fri well he couldn't
01:07:23
have got there once but he um yeah well you I would never ban him of course because he's so controversial
01:07:32
I love people like that but um oh Christopher luxon he's a good man I I had him at home for dinner and it was a
01:07:39
someone paid $20,000 to have dinner at my house with Christopher luxon I said well looks like you're coming to my
01:07:45
house for dinner whether he wanted to or not he had to put his hand up I mean $20,000 is a lot of money and we had him
01:07:52
for had him home for dinner and the mayor of foram was also the person that paid the 20,000 was allowed to invite a
01:07:59
couple of people and I thought oh this will be interesting anyway it was a great night and Christ lexon doesn't
01:08:05
drink so he doesn't drink alcohol but he does like eating which is good and uh
01:08:10
anyway he's he's a he's a nice man I wouldn't ban him but my favorite of course is Erica
01:08:17
Stanford now she is the best who's that Erica Stanford she's the minister of
01:08:21
immigration and and um education now she is a sta is she why oh she's just so
01:08:28
bright and so out there and you know she she lives and breathes politics she will
01:08:33
be prime minister one day you wait and see um couple of other bits and pieces so in 2012 you were um you made on the
01:08:40
The Queen's birthday on yeah for the the o o nzm um yeah what are your Recollections of that time well it was
01:08:49
incredibly humbling yeah it was actually but because you know a little old a little
01:08:55
old cook from from north New Brighton coming to ockland and then getting an ozm which is a very high honor and for
01:09:04
cooking which yeah was I got a lot of criticism for accepting that because you know you
01:09:10
know all sorts of reasons you know why would they give it to you I mean there always there's always people that hate
01:09:15
you for doing things but um that was great for the industry and it was you know and it was Jerry I call him Jerry
01:09:22
Jerry was a good customer oh the governor general and it was actually neat having him give it to me so that
01:09:27
was fantastic anyway that's um it was a great honor and uh I'm very proud to get
01:09:35
that and it was very humbling I thought oh maybe I should pull my head in a bit that's what be said said do you think
01:09:42
it's now time you might be nice to people yeah whatever yeah it's and and
01:09:46
reflection with um you what's happened since then you know in particular with
01:09:50
Beth like it must um mean even more now that you know she was around and she was
01:09:54
healthy to you to this EOL yeah and we've got some we've got some good um I
01:09:59
mean I'm at the a lot with aut now and i' I'm an H Mentor there and I do all
01:10:05
sorts of things with the kids and raise money for the aut now and um I just love
01:10:09
going there with all those kids because it's they are the future and we've
01:10:14
really got to get that up and running again you know cuz we need people in the industry because the hospitality
01:10:20
industry is in it's in Freefall at the moment and it really does need a big boost so we've got to get into schools
01:10:27
and tell you know get parents CU hospitality's had a very bad rep if bad wages bad you know it's it's not a great
01:10:36
industry to be in but it's it's been changed so much now you don't have to do
01:10:40
20 hours a day you know you can do a normal day work now and if you're I mean
01:10:47
I just I just love doing I mean I was just so lucky that I had you know 65 years of doing a job I absolutely loved
01:10:56
I mean must be nothing worse than doing a job you hate and going to work every day hating it you know where I didn't
01:11:02
ever have that feeling I just loved every minute of it yeah as I said earlier it's like one
01:11:08
of your one of your two big loves in life yeah yeah um there's one thing you
01:11:12
talk about in the book and um yeah the eating disorder during your 30s um yeah why did why did you decide to conclude
01:11:19
that in the book was that was that one of those things that you had an internal battle with with you whether you're
01:11:23
going to share that or not or was that the eating yeah the eating disorder yeah so during during your 30s
01:11:29
um yeah sounds like it was a very odd eating disorder you like you just you just eat raw meat chew it up and chew
01:11:36
bacon chew raw steak chew not I never chewed raw chicken I couldn't quite bring myself to do but I would cook it
01:11:41
and then Che but just spit it out so I just lived on the juices of those meats it's like a diet you created for your
01:11:48
almost like the vampire diet well it was something like no it wasn't like that it
01:11:51
was actually I had read in you know anorexia was huge at the time and I had read how
01:11:57
someone um was so it would become a disease and they used to tape up their doorways so the the calories couldn't
01:12:06
get through to them and I thought that couldn't happen so I decided I'd see
01:12:10
whether does happen so I just stopped eating didn't drink alcohol I for a long
01:12:16
long time and then just drank water and chewed chewed raw meat and things and I lost so much weight I got down to
01:12:24
probably 50 kilos or something I mean I was like a toothpick and I but I looked in the
01:12:31
mirror every day and thought I was fat and Beth just one day she said to me I got out of bed and she's off for God's
01:12:39
sake and I said what she said you know those bells and people and all that you just look like that all you can see was
01:12:45
my bones and rub and I had thought I was fat so I'd actually totally Gone Lulu I
01:12:52
was buying I was going to helstein to buy a kids clothes because I just thought I was fat all the
01:12:57
time so it was a I start it started off me just thinking whether it could happen
01:13:02
but it came became an obsession and I just got I was just talked out of it by everybody
01:13:09
and as you can see I'm definitely not anorexic now it was no no but you I'd
01:13:15
say you're you're spelt now like you're in you're in you're in good shape but
01:13:18
you obviously maybe still have some sort of like Body Issue images like you yeah
01:13:23
totally why didn't you why why didn't you get any canceling is it just yeah I
01:13:28
mean you were in your 30s at the time so this was like what 40 40 years ago I suppose this was in the 80s was it just
01:13:33
not a thing or well you just didn't talk about thing you definitely didn't talk
01:13:36
to people about it I mean look everyone talks about things like that now you've
01:13:40
got to talk to people but I didn't I just became obsessed with the whole thing and um and I but even now I mean I
01:13:49
think probably I really do think I've got to start maybe I should go running
01:13:55
you think but I said I wasn't going to say that but I don't know I sometimes I
01:13:59
wonder if I'm running away from something you can over analyze everything can't you but it was just
01:14:06
yeah I just still think I mean I am I'm pretty vain I mean I like to look good I
01:14:12
like to dress buy good clothes and stuff and but I think it's quite good when you
01:14:17
get to geriatric old age isn't it isn't it quite good to sort of still take an
01:14:21
interest in yourself 100% 100% yeah I think it's a good thing to pride in your
01:14:25
appearance but why um yeah so there wasn't like an intervention or anything yeah because Yeah you mentioned um like
01:14:31
Beth even you made some remark one day about you looking like you're from you
01:14:35
one of the World War II concentration camps so was there no sort of intervention from family or friends or I
01:14:41
don't have family up here there only Beth but but customers started asking Beth and so Beth actually talk me out of
01:14:48
it she just said you got to stop this and anyway it took it took a long time but then I started eating I was being
01:14:54
sick because you weren't used to eating but then I'm I can assure you I do eat lots
01:15:00
now was that a a tough decision for you to include that in the book or yeah I didn't want to but I I thought well it's
01:15:07
quite it was part of me so yeah I didn't really want to put that in there but
01:15:12
Geraldine actually she's done a very good job she she's actually written at
01:15:16
how I talk and that's a good ghost writer yeah and she's I mean I've known
01:15:22
her for so many years I mean she I mean go she's a communist compared to me I
01:15:27
might tell you and she will even admit that and she said I just can't believe
01:15:30
that I'm writing this book for someone that I loathe everything he thinks in
01:15:34
politics but we became very good friends and she became part of me and she she did a good job of that I'm very happy
01:15:42
for what she's done I I think that's um a healthy relationship if you can have
01:15:46
different um strongly different political views with someone but still you know find some some common ground or
01:15:51
even have a healthy debate about politics but I feel like that's lost a lot like there's a lot of people that
01:15:56
say well if we're not on the same page politically then we just cannot oh it's
01:15:59
quite amazing I mean I mean I've got divide's huge I've got a couple of
01:16:02
people that just we just do not discuss Politics As We punch each other in the face I mean it's that well I find it
01:16:09
quite funny really but I must admit I am probably a little bit weird when it comes to my political views and um how
01:16:17
like how are you at the moment are you good are you in a good place yeah yeah y I'm actually I've
01:16:23
come I must admit I get very lonely sometimes you know you especially if you're by yourself and um there's no one
01:16:31
around um I find when I fly back from Europe by myself I you've got a lot of
01:16:36
time to think and then you think oh really but then I just get into work again and just
01:16:43
get it because I I just have to do work I mean I don't think I'm a good person
01:16:47
just to sit around doing nothing and I really do I mean I'm just so excited about all this food food production and
01:16:54
stuff we can do because that's just that means I go to work every day again you
01:16:57
know all that sort of stuff so I think I probably do need that um because as I said I don't have a lot of hobbies I I
01:17:04
love collecting wine and doing stuff like that but that's not constructive you end up drinking it I think you're
01:17:10
doing all the right all the right things like keeping yourself busy I think that's um that's key isn't it and also
01:17:15
having things to look forward to but yeah I amum I know you don't you don't want or
01:17:21
care for anyone's like um Petty or sympathy but I felt sad for you reading the book especially you know so you shut
01:17:26
the restaurant and then you go to the Middle East and it's your first Tri trip
01:17:29
without be so you've got this um this um you know this two huge lifelong loves um
01:17:35
and you and Beth had this remarkable travel adventures together you went on the Concord you went on the orang orang
01:17:40
express you went on QE to and suddenly here you are in this um you the the yeah what should be the the best and most
01:17:48
enjoyable decade of your life you know in your' 70s and you've you've done all
01:17:51
this hard work and you've you've got enough money to do these things and
01:17:54
suddenly you have to do it on your own and it it sucks and that's a hard one
01:17:58
but I have very very I've got Beth and I traveled with a couple anyway but we've
01:18:03
done forever and um and I I still travel with them so I wouldn't do it by myself I just
01:18:11
would find that too I've got to be with people because I I mean after Beth passed um these people took me to all
01:18:18
the places that Beth and I used to go to like the or um to Venice to um all the all the great restaurants and great
01:18:26
hotels that we always wanted to be at they took me on without me knowing they took me on to all those places which was
01:18:32
quite hard because Beth wasn't there and we were staying in the same places but I
01:18:36
think that was good therapy that was actually yeah made me realize you are by yourself now but these are they great
01:18:43
memories and I just I mean that was a very hard eight weeks I think it was but but since see and I'm we go away now and
01:18:51
we just go to different places and it's just a different thing but I it's still
01:18:55
by yourself and it's very hard to I just can't can't get my head around being
01:19:03
with someone else if you know what I mean because it's just which I suppose one day it might but I really but I
01:19:10
quite like my own company that's no that's great that's a really great thing yeah I wanted
01:19:17
to I was going to ask that but I wasn't I wasn't sure if it was an inappropriate
01:19:21
question or not but about yeah like finding love again because it's yeah like I'm trying I'm probably projecting
01:19:26
here but if I was in your position maybe I'd feel a little bit of guilt or whatever even though you shouldn't well
01:19:30
I would yeah but it's what Beth would probably want wouldn't she she well I
01:19:34
think she'd want me to go out and do something else but or get someone else but it's still only nearly it's it's
01:19:41
only still short time and I'm she's still with me and I mean I've tried to
01:19:48
get um take photos not have so many photos but I can't they've got to be
01:19:54
there because she and every time I do something I fig maybe I should not be doing it's you know okay okay okay okay
01:20:03
you know I'm getting it in the air again so I mean and as long as that happens I'm
01:20:09
not going to go with anyone else anyway so but I mean see well to me that is you're like you're not you're not ready
01:20:13
to like she's still you know holding such a big space in um you know in your
01:20:18
heart well you know I'm decorating the apartment at the moment and she think
01:20:21
what and I I can't get this why'd you buy that that's not right you know and I'm
01:20:26
thinking so I just talked to her I said well excuse me that's what's going up
01:20:29
and that's all there is to it but um do you you actually you actually talk to
01:20:33
her yeah and I know that's probably a bit weird but I do no know I mean I sometimes sit there and I'm trying to do
01:20:41
something or I've got to go and do a speech or something and I I ask her what
01:20:45
do you reckon and then I I sort of know she's saying don't talk crap you know
01:20:51
you know it's not true don't tell it you know or something so yeah so I think it
01:20:55
probably is still too raw I mean obviously she's not there but when you've been with someone since you're in
01:21:00
your God like teens or whatever it was and you're with them for 50 years and
01:21:04
you you you're in the process of growing old with them like you know what her
01:21:07
answer is going to be to totally any situation how how long but thanks for being so open about this today um I'm
01:21:14
sure it's not how how long was it that you could talk about this stuff without
01:21:17
without getting emotional I'm getting emotional stuff sometimes I someone asked me something the other day and I
01:21:23
just had to walk away because just every now it's like a a wind you know it comes
01:21:27
to you and you think oh God I can't do this um but I think the good thing with
01:21:34
her being there is saying get on with it you know that's what she used to just
01:21:37
get on with it like i' she'd seen me practicing a speech in front of a mirror
01:21:42
and she'd say oh for God's sake stop looking at yourself you know that sort
01:21:45
of thing you know just do it you know you can do it you know so that's all that positivity is very good for me so
01:21:51
who who sitting on your shoulder as you mentioned in the beginning of the book that's um in in some way what's keeping
01:21:56
you from just being in this moping State and just carrying on it's what she literally what she would want well it's
01:22:02
making me get out of bed in the morning and also go and look I mean with this new company I mean I'm getting quite
01:22:07
excited about it because suddenly people are coming to you and say you know would
01:22:10
you endorse this or would you that gives me something to get my teeth into and um
01:22:15
but the food production thing I really want to get that going because and that'll be sort of like a Paul Newman
01:22:20
type thing it'll go to charity afterwards and all that sort of stuff so it's you know it just gives me something
01:22:25
to do and I think that's what I have to do you've got to give back yeah yeah so
01:22:29
you you've done well out of the business you've done all right y oh don't want
01:22:33
for anything no I'm very very lucky what you know how we you know it's well you
01:22:37
say luck it's a lot of hard work though yeah but did pay off you know like um I
01:22:42
didn't I mean I'm a great I can't help myself spending but Beth was actually
01:22:46
the tuck away one so thank you B for that yeah you like me winning a lot on blowing damn lot but I and I no no I've
01:22:57
been fortunate that it's worked out very very well for me yeah are you proud of
01:23:02
yourself yeah sometimes I think you know you shouldn't be but it's a kiwi thing
01:23:07
he it's it's quite interesting sitting here talking to you because I'm I'm 51
01:23:10
now so you know I'm I'm like a generation behind you but I still grew up in that generation where you know me
01:23:16
mental mental unwellness wasn't a thing and you couldn't as a guy you couldn't
01:23:20
show any sort of emotion you couldn't talk about these things but you're from
01:23:23
like the generation before me which was even worse it was terrible yeah yeah and
01:23:28
I yeah you're right because it's I sort of think you know you're not
01:23:33
you can't you can't blow your own trumpet that's exactly what comes into
01:23:37
your mind you know so you were lucky that's why you're doing all right but
01:23:40
you can't say to yourself well I can't say to myself well you know you actually
01:23:44
deserve that you know because I think no you probably deserve a smack around the
01:23:48
L for being such a prick for the last 25 years but I'm quite easy to dismiss that
01:23:53
one I might tell you yeah yeah yeah and any regrets part for stabbing that kid in the foot that that's actually that
01:23:59
comes back to haunt me sometimes because this St I mean he was said he it was just just one of those things but I'm
01:24:08
really pleased that he really did well for himself and every now and then I think probably did him a favor really
01:24:14
shocked him into going and doing something which it's a very cruel way of making someone do something but
01:24:21
regrets see I wanted to be a school teacher and they very early days and then I thought no I don't I don't regret not
01:24:28
being that I just think I I mean got at 15 through gra care I got you know out of a situation where boys did not cook
01:24:38
into one of the best jobs you could ever have in the world you know and it was you know like cheffing was a a sexy
01:24:45
thing to do in the end but in the beginning you know you you know you didn't talk about it or your family
01:24:50
didn't talk about because you know boys just didn't do that sort of thing and
01:24:54
I mean there's a whole generation of people coming up now that I don't understand other people don't understand
01:25:00
but you've got to include them you know they are that's a new that's what life's
01:25:04
about and so I hope we've actually learned something from our parents or our grandparents cuz they were just but
01:25:12
they were in a different world you know there were Wars or all sorts of things and there was nothing you know nothing
01:25:18
to do but have children yeah yeah cuz you that's something we we didn't even didn't haven't even touched
01:25:25
upon but um yeah you and your dad didn't speak for many years cuz he didn't
01:25:28
approve of you um being a being a chef I suppose it was considered more like a female thing being in the kitchen yeah
01:25:35
well in those days you know there had Christ Church there was United Services and I forgotten what the other Hotel was
01:25:42
and when I decided I might like to cook I went along to see them and they would have been 14 at the time and they so my
01:25:50
mother took me when we had dinner at this hotel and had these SA AES and Dreadful stuff whatever it was and and
01:25:57
they told me there'll be a seven-year apprenticeship and I thought I can cook
01:26:01
better sausages and I'm only 14 why would I want to wait seven years and seven years later I own my own
01:26:07
restaurant so I mean it was one of those things so but I mean it was a bloke thing you know like my father was a I
01:26:16
mean he was a great cricketer he was a a fantastic father look I'm not knocking
01:26:20
him for that at all but he was he just didn't understand what I wanted to do
01:26:25
and his friends would have you know they were just as bad they were just BLS that
01:26:31
didn't like so I just left home so 15 I mean I look at 15 year olds now I think
01:26:38
God I was actually I was up in Wellington working when I was that age and these kids you know they're like
01:26:45
children still so I suppose I was a child you know yeah yeah and it's worth pointing out like you in a different
01:26:51
Island and um yeah North Island or South Island back then it was like you might as well have been in a a different
01:26:54
country um yeah there were no phones you couldn't just me message home to get
01:26:59
them to transfer some money or they send a telegram that's what what we sort of
01:27:03
talked about before like you setting up that Dairy when you were 17 setting up this business in panel which became your
01:27:07
lifelong passion at the age of 22 it's um it's incredible um yeah uh what about
01:27:14
Legacy what's what do you hope your legacy will be as a like a and in the New Zealand calary scene well i' would
01:27:20
like to think you know there's a lot of people think I'm this oldfashioned fat
01:27:24
you know but this grumpy old bastard grumpy old bastard you know you know I don't know
01:27:30
what I think someone called me actually I was at the aut and a girl came into a meeting and um I looked at her I thought
01:27:36
i' would never employ you in my whole life and she called me a misogynist and
01:27:40
I thought oh I probably am I mean really I said what does that mean anyway and and I said you know I wouldn't I
01:27:46
wouldn't employ you in a million years looking like that so of course everyone
01:27:49
around the table's go oh God you can't say that you can't say that and I
01:27:53
thought no I wouldn't and I still wouldn't but I would I just think kids I
01:27:59
mean I've I'm going to be part of the you know even when I'm gone I'll be part
01:28:03
of the aut and I've got culinary people that will all come from industry that
01:28:08
will manage the funds that go in there and it's got to be for kids and it's got
01:28:12
to be for the cooking side of things so I'd just quite like to think that in 50
01:28:16
years time there because they they just they opened a theater under BS and my name uh in at the aut and i' just like
01:28:24
in 50 years time to think that it's still going because you've got to know
01:28:28
the basics Before You Can Be Clever you know and that's what we really do are
01:28:33
teaching and that's why I just love the aut because there some very good tuts
01:28:37
there and they they just want these kids to do well and it's I mean some amazing
01:28:43
young kids when when I did the food production there these I don't think they'd ever met anyone like me because
01:28:48
that's oh Chef it's time for a break you're not having a break excuse me you
01:28:51
don't have breakes you know you're going to go for the whole eight oh got no no
01:28:56
you're not having one you know if you want to just go and don't come back but
01:29:00
you know what they were amazing they just wanted to do it and they were so excited you know and without bashing
01:29:05
them up I mean like you know I try and say to people you know when you're in a
01:29:10
restaurant situation you can't suddenly say oh I've done four hours I've got to
01:29:14
go and have a break I mean you're in the middle of cooking you don't just ask
01:29:17
hold on customers I'll be back in 20 minutes after I've had my [ __ ] or my
01:29:21
coffee I mean it just doesn't work that way but it's I would just like the kids
01:29:26
to look at and look and see what I have done and that it's possible for anybody
01:29:31
to do it and it is there's no doubt about that I love that that's a great answer
01:29:37
this has been way less swearer than what I was say you know I can I have got a fa
01:29:41
mouth if you push that button is it is it just after you've had like a couple of roses or no it's after
01:29:47
I've had seven shots of coffee instead of just three okay um oh one like one to
01:29:52
finish with we'll finish with the the old classic dinner party one if you could invite say five people to a dinner
01:29:57
party alive or dead who would they be well they' definitely be Elton John M um
01:30:02
Phil Collins um John Key probably Christopher lexon he he still has to prove himself a
01:30:11
little bit but I think he's on the right track Erica Stanford definitely and then
01:30:16
how many is that are you have as many as you want anyway we can make the table I
01:30:20
might bring kiss over Just for kicks just so you put some water on Jan Simon's shoes again but I I'll tell you
01:30:28
there someone that um which I haven't mentioned actually s black all those years ago she used to live at when she
01:30:33
was in New Zealand she used to live at the White heren Lodge around the corner and I used to cook for her every she'd
01:30:38
either come in and cook she was was the most amazing downto earth person you I think she influenced me quite a lot cuz
01:30:45
she's just a you know nobody that did it fantastically I mean you couldn't
01:30:50
understand the word she was saying when she was talking but you know my family probably came from the same area as her
01:30:54
so you know she was just an amazing person that you know just wanted to talk to you and um yeah so I'd have to invite
01:31:03
her and definitely invite Donald Trump he would have to be at my dinner party because you know we could get rid of the
01:31:09
people early just no um no red caps oh I quite like I see you got a bit of red there no but I mean um would you let
01:31:16
them through the uh you know the the door with a with a cap on oh totally but I know he have to take his hat off once
01:31:23
he got in but I'd like like everyone to see him walking up with the head someone
01:31:26
just came came back from from America and they bought they I'm sorry it's such
01:31:31
a silly little present but it's a block of chocolates with Don Donald Trump he
01:31:37
said I just bought it for your Lolly Jazz just to piss everybody off it's the
01:31:41
best chocolate people tell me it's the best chocolate I I quite like watching
01:31:45
like comedians do impressions of a m it's very easy to imp personate he's the
01:31:48
easiest person in the whole world you China China I just love all that stuff when of my friends said to me it's the
01:31:53
best chocolate I've ever had I don't know is as well it's the hand hey um Tony EST thank you so much
01:32:01
for your time today mate I've really enjoyed it and um yeah congratulations on an epic career and life and and
01:32:06
business hey thank you for having me let's hope it keep keeps going on H oh 100% I'm sure it will cheers man great