RETURN TO CHANNEL

Search Captions & Ask AI

Simon Gault on Losing 32kg, MasterChef, and NZ School Lunch "Rubbish"

January 18, 2026 / 01:54:07

This episode features Simon Gault, a renowned chef and television personality from New Zealand. He discusses his career, personal life, and experiences in the culinary world.

Simon shares insights about his journey in the restaurant industry, including his time as a judge on MasterChef New Zealand and his experiences with various restaurants. He reflects on the challenges of balancing work and family life as a single dad to his daughter, Hazel.

Throughout the conversation, Simon talks about his health journey, including his diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and the lifestyle changes he made to reverse it. He emphasizes the importance of nutrition and cooking at home.

Simon also recounts memorable moments from his career, including cooking for celebrities and his experiences in the aviation world, particularly his love for gliding.

The episode concludes with Simon discussing his future aspirations, including his podcast and his commitment to promoting healthy eating and cooking.

TL;DR

Simon Gault discusses his culinary career, health journey, and balancing fatherhood with work in this insightful episode.

Video

00:00:00

Oh, good. You're here. Come on. This is

00:00:03

the center of performance. Whenever

00:00:05

there's a top performance in New

00:00:06

Zealand, it all comes from here. That's

00:00:08

Lisa Carrington. She's been doing that

00:00:10

for days. That's the boys who got the

00:00:12

hole in one in to

00:00:16

Finn. How's the performance going?

00:00:18

>> Top tier.

00:00:18

>> Nice. This is our generate room. In

00:00:21

here, you'll find our top performers

00:00:22

helping Kiwis maximize their Kiwi Saver

00:00:24

investments. Get in here, Finn.

00:00:26

Maximize. Generate. putting performance

00:00:29

first.

00:00:36

>> Simon go, welcome to my podcast and

00:00:37

thank you for the book. Tom, it's pretty

00:00:39

awesome to be here. Is it you um you

00:00:42

came in before and you said something

00:00:44

like um I know what your your game plan

00:00:46

is or something.

00:00:46

>> Yeah. Well, I know you make everybody

00:00:48

cry. I've been listening to your

00:00:49

podcast, mate. Come on.

00:00:50

>> Are you um I don't make everyone cry.

00:00:52

Are you are you an emotional guy in this

00:00:54

stage?

00:00:55

>> Well, I'm not telling you that until the

00:00:56

end. You'll find out.

00:00:59

Um, it's great to have you here today.

00:01:01

Have we met before? I don't know if

00:01:02

we've met before.

00:01:02

>> I don't know, but you know, I've

00:01:03

obviously seen seen you um and listened

00:01:06

to your podcast. When you get invited

00:01:08

on, you think you better do a bit of

00:01:09

research on the guy who's going to dive

00:01:12

into you, so yeah, I think I know a

00:01:14

little bit about you.

00:01:15

>> Yeah. Well, this is going to be this is

00:01:16

going to be a lot of fun. How how does

00:01:17

the um the phrase celebrity chef sit

00:01:20

with you?

00:01:20

>> No, I don't really like it. I mean, it

00:01:22

gets used, but

00:01:25

it's

00:01:27

Yeah. There's no way around it. But no,

00:01:29

I'm not a big fan of it. You know, what

00:01:31

does it mean? You know, just you lucked

00:01:33

out and got on TV and some people don't

00:01:35

never want to be on TV, right? But, you

00:01:38

know, I got asked and ended up doing it

00:01:40

and here I am. You know,

00:01:43

>> it it's funny, isn't it? Because I

00:01:45

suppose when people hear the name Simon

00:01:46

G, their reaction will be, oh, the

00:01:48

Master Chef guy, or oh, the the Brisco

00:01:50

guy. Um, but it's like that's both those

00:01:53

things are very very small strands of

00:01:56

your entire career.

00:01:58

>> Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, Master

00:01:59

Chef, I was a judge on there for 5

00:02:01

years, but out of that came other TV

00:02:04

programs. I did Chef on a Mission and

00:02:06

Descent from Disaster, a documentary,

00:02:09

and it opened up some amazing doors and

00:02:12

then into documentaries on health. um

00:02:15

where I was as as it turned I thought I

00:02:18

was going to be the host but it turned

00:02:19

out I was the guinea pig but you know so

00:02:22

then you know you end up on TV and then

00:02:24

you sort of you go somewhere like you

00:02:26

know it's been on BBC Asia or Amazon and

00:02:29

people go oh you're that guy that you

00:02:32

know you're the celebrity chef

00:02:35

>> so what does day-to-day life look like

00:02:37

for you these days you're not you're not

00:02:39

in the day-to-day running of restaurants

00:02:40

are you

00:02:41

>> not out of that normal hours

00:02:44

Yeah, within reason. I mean, I still do

00:02:46

cooking classes. I've got a deli in St.

00:02:49

John's and then a smaller one out in

00:02:50

Tanini in Oakuckland. So, it's kind of

00:02:53

like walking into a really cool kitchen

00:02:56

that's a shop. So, through my

00:03:00

restaurants years ago, I lived in Italy,

00:03:02

came back to New Zealand, couldn't find

00:03:03

these things that I wanted and started

00:03:07

bringing them in. You soon realize you

00:03:09

can't just bring one wheel of cheese or,

00:03:11

you know, you got to bring a bunch. So

00:03:12

by default I ended up in that business.

00:03:15

So now I'm doing cooking classes in

00:03:18

there for those that want to do it.

00:03:19

Corporates, you know, you get the the

00:03:21

CEO handstretching a pizza with his

00:03:24

forklift driver and or just people

00:03:26

public who want to come and learn how to

00:03:28

cook Sri Lankan or master how to cook a

00:03:30

steak, you know, and that that's my

00:03:32

game. So, it's kind of my restaurant fix

00:03:36

cuz, you know, I miss the restaurants,

00:03:37

you know, you know, lived and breathed

00:03:40

them all my life since I left school.

00:03:42

And I do miss that. It's good fun. But

00:03:45

the the deli is that sort of, you know,

00:03:47

it's like only do 10 people. So, it's

00:03:49

like 10 people coming for dinner.

00:03:51

>> They can bring their own wine.

00:03:54

>> I cook. They come around and get in if

00:03:56

they feel like getting their hands

00:03:58

dirty. And it it's really good. And then

00:04:00

I'm trying to do all of these things as

00:04:02

quickly as possible like you are in a

00:04:04

restaurant. You're sort of conducting an

00:04:06

orchestra with all these meals going

00:04:07

out. So it's full on and it's great fun.

00:04:09

And it's that's my restaurant fix.

00:04:12

>> You love the theater of it, don't you?

00:04:14

>> I do.

00:04:14

>> You like the drama of it.

00:04:15

>> I I It's like I remember when I first

00:04:19

thought I want to work in a restaurant.

00:04:22

I want to own a restaurant. is when I

00:04:24

was in a restaurant as a young kid and I

00:04:27

saw the head chef and it was kind of

00:04:28

like he was conducting this orchestra

00:04:31

that culminated in these amazing plates

00:04:33

of food and I'm like that's a bit of me.

00:04:36

You know, you got a team around you that

00:04:38

all work together in harmony and you got

00:04:41

to be that guy conducting that

00:04:42

orchestra. And I I do like that. I I

00:04:46

love it and I love, you know, the

00:04:48

service. You know, they say the service

00:04:50

time in a restaurant is where it all

00:04:52

happens. You know, your early bookings

00:04:53

are late, your late bookings are early,

00:04:55

everybody wants to eat at once, and it's

00:04:58

all go and and it's just great fun.

00:05:03

>> Yeah.

00:05:03

>> What What do you miss most and least

00:05:05

about the dayto-day of running a

00:05:07

restaurant?

00:05:09

>> Well, what do I the probably the hours?

00:05:12

I mean, I'm a dad. I'm a single dad, so

00:05:14

I've got a 12year-old daughter and you

00:05:18

know that restaurants and being a dad is

00:05:21

pretty hard work. I mean, I I literally

00:05:24

used to back in the day, uh, you know,

00:05:27

I'd get my daughter off to preschool,

00:05:29

race into work, do lunch service, come

00:05:32

home, pick her up, get dinner organized,

00:05:35

tuck her into bed, pay a nanny, go back

00:05:37

to work, and one night I was driving

00:05:39

home and the road, I live out South

00:05:41

Oakland on a lifestyle property. I'm

00:05:43

driving home and yet again, road works,

00:05:47

motorway detour, an extra 20 minutes.

00:05:50

And next morning I drove into work and I

00:05:52

said to my business partner, "Merry

00:05:53

Christmas. Here's half a restaurant."

00:05:56

And it's the best thing I ever did. Best

00:05:58

thing I ever did cuz I want to be

00:05:59

remembered as a dad.

00:06:02

>> Not and you know I'm an older dad. You

00:06:04

know I didn't have my daughter until I

00:06:05

was a bit older than most.

00:06:07

>> 4950.

00:06:08

>> Yep.

00:06:09

>> Did you think that ship had sailed for

00:06:10

you?

00:06:12

>> Yes, I did. Yeah, I did. And then when

00:06:15

she popped out, it was like somebody

00:06:16

just reached out, flicked the switch and

00:06:20

everything was different for me, you

00:06:22

know, like now looking after her was the

00:06:25

service that I loved in a restaurant.

00:06:28

There was something better, you know,

00:06:31

>> this beautiful little girl who became,

00:06:34

you know, my world. And, you know, do I

00:06:37

want to be remembered as that guy that

00:06:38

was always at work at night? I want to

00:06:42

be I want her to remember me as a dad,

00:06:44

not that chef guy.

00:06:46

>> I think one of the perks about being um

00:06:48

a dad um during middle age is you have a

00:06:51

greater appreciation of time and how

00:06:52

limited it is and how it's not not

00:06:54

renewable. So you realize that these

00:06:55

moments that you lose with Hazel, that's

00:06:57

her name, mate. You're not going to get

00:06:59

them back.

00:07:00

>> No, it crystallizes just how important

00:07:01

that time is. coming back and you know

00:07:03

even she's just turned 12 and you can

00:07:05

see the changes and I go oh I used to

00:07:08

get big hugs and all of those things you

00:07:10

know and they're sort of it's not so

00:07:12

cool now dropping off at school you

00:07:13

don't give dad a kiss goodbye you know

00:07:15

it's like somebody might see I got some

00:07:18

photos of her here I'm guessing this is

00:07:20

the cuddle the cuddle phase it is yeah

00:07:22

you do have some photos well done yeah

00:07:25

so it's yeah it must be quite sad as a

00:07:28

dad when it gets to that stage where you

00:07:30

know you're no longer They're like a

00:07:32

hero. They're everything.

00:07:33

>> Yeah. Although this weekend that's just

00:07:36

gone by, she said to me, "Dad, I'd like

00:07:37

to learn how to fly a glider." Cuz I fly

00:07:40

gliders and airplanes.

00:07:42

>> Well, that was like music to my ears

00:07:44

because I don't want to be that dad

00:07:46

who's going, "Come on, let's go and I'll

00:07:47

take you gliding. I'll take you flying

00:07:48

in an airplane, tip you upside down."

00:07:51

>> And when she turns around and says to

00:07:53

me, "I'd like to have a go at that." I

00:07:55

mean, that that put a smile on my face.

00:07:57

I mean, 12 years old and she's going,

00:07:58

"Can I learn how to fly a glider?" And

00:08:00

I'm like, "Hell yeah." You know, what

00:08:03

what an achievement that would be slowly

00:08:05

to catch that monkey and when she's old

00:08:07

enough to be able to fly solo on her

00:08:09

own.

00:08:10

>> So, the fact that she's interested in

00:08:12

something that I love

00:08:15

>> might be we'll see how we go, right?

00:08:17

>> Yeah. You see, your your love of flying,

00:08:19

that's something you got from your dad.

00:08:21

>> Yeah.

00:08:21

>> Um and I know you had a a particularly

00:08:24

close relationship with him. Um I've

00:08:26

seen some Facebook posts and Yeah. Yeah,

00:08:28

>> you just wrote some wonderful posts when

00:08:31

he passed last year. How how are you the

00:08:33

same and how are you different as a

00:08:34

parent to your dad?

00:08:36

>> Well, my dad's dad died when he was 7

00:08:39

years old. So, I believe I had an

00:08:42

awesome dad. I mean, you know, he spent

00:08:44

a lot of time with me growing up. He was

00:08:47

an airline pilot, originally an Air

00:08:49

Force pilot, but it later became an aim

00:08:51

pilot. So, and did the long distance to,

00:08:54

you know, the states and all over the

00:08:56

place. So, he was away a lot of the

00:08:58

time, but when he came back, he sure as

00:09:01

hell made up for it. If I'd been a dad

00:09:04

when I was younger, I think I would have

00:09:05

been pretty hopeless at it. But given it

00:09:08

happened to me at a bit older, you know,

00:09:12

I'm going all out to do a good job.

00:09:14

>> Why were you being hopeless at it? Just

00:09:16

too selfish?

00:09:17

>> Yeah, too busy. I lived in the

00:09:18

restaurants, so my my world was

00:09:20

restaurants, you know. I just love them.

00:09:22

So, I was there all day, every day. And

00:09:25

you know I loved it and yeah I don't

00:09:27

think I would have been very good at it.

00:09:30

Yes. So um if we go back to the

00:09:32

beginning so young Simon Gold it was

00:09:34

like a a career path roads. Um it was

00:09:36

either going to be cooking or flying.

00:09:38

Why why did cooking went out? I remember

00:09:41

talking to my dad about it. He said you

00:09:43

know if you go down the flying route

00:09:46

you're always going to be subject to

00:09:48

needing a medical. But if you do what

00:09:51

you love most as a hobby and maybe

00:09:54

second most as a career,

00:09:57

you can do both. So I I really did love

00:10:01

cooking more.

00:10:03

I love the idea of being a pilot, but

00:10:06

sitting on a flight deck for 12 hours

00:10:08

doing nothing didn't really appeal to

00:10:10

me. It was just a takeoff and landing

00:10:12

bit, and I like going upside down. So, I

00:10:15

thought I'm going to, you know, I'm

00:10:17

going to fly as a hobby and get into

00:10:20

cooking as a career. I'd probably be

00:10:23

somewhat better off if I'd gone the

00:10:25

flying track, but

00:10:27

>> Oh, really? Financially speaking,

00:10:29

>> really?

00:10:29

>> I think probably. Yeah. You know, chefs

00:10:31

don't get paid a lot of money. That's

00:10:33

why you've got really got to own your

00:10:34

own place and then really dig deep into

00:10:37

it and work out how you can make money

00:10:39

out of it. You know, it's not an easy

00:10:41

industry to make money. That's for sure.

00:10:43

Huh. Well, that's an astonishing thing

00:10:44

to hear because in terms of New Zealand,

00:10:46

like you you don't get much bigger than

00:10:48

Simon Gol in terms of name recognition,

00:10:50

I don't think in that industry.

00:10:52

>> I mean, I've done okay, but it was the

00:10:54

fact that we needed to have a bunch of

00:10:56

restaurants to get economy of scale,

00:10:59

>> which is, you know, the restaurants I

00:11:02

love most were, you know, my first

00:11:03

restaurant and probably my second

00:11:06

restaurant that where that only had one

00:11:08

restaurant, but in the end we had nine

00:11:10

that I was looking after. So, you know,

00:11:13

you you touch a lot of people, but you

00:11:15

don't really you're sort of putting out

00:11:17

fires all the time. You know, we were in

00:11:20

Queenstown, Wellington, Tao, and

00:11:22

Oakland. So, I was traveling a lot and

00:11:25

you're just going in to sort of put the

00:11:27

fires out and rescue things and not

00:11:29

cooking as much. So, I loved it and it,

00:11:33

you know, it did served me well. But um

00:11:37

you know I was very lucky and I had my

00:11:40

first restaurant when I was 22. But now

00:11:42

to buy a restaurant for these young

00:11:44

people. It's a hell of a lot harder.

00:11:47

>> You know it's you know borrowing money

00:11:49

is harder.

00:11:50

>> You know the cost to fit out a

00:11:52

restaurant's just massive now.

00:11:55

>> Yeah. Yeah. I I was quite shocked when I

00:11:57

found that out. So you started at 16 um

00:11:59

with um Tony Estel at his um legendary

00:12:03

Panel restaurant Antoine. I actually had

00:12:05

um Tony on the podcast about a year ago,

00:12:07

towards the end of last year.

00:12:08

>> He's the godfather.

00:12:09

>> Yeah. How um how was that? Did he throw

00:12:11

anything at you? Did he did he make you

00:12:13

bleed or cry? He talked himself up as a

00:12:15

as as a bad man in the kitchen.

00:12:18

>> Yeah, he's pretty tough. I think it

00:12:20

would be fair to say he makes Gordon

00:12:22

Ramsay look like a I remember the

00:12:25

well I went for an interview there

00:12:28

>> and all he wanted really to know is who

00:12:32

my parents voted for. And

00:12:36

so once I got that out of the way and I

00:12:38

clearly had the right answer, I was

00:12:39

offered an apprenticeship with Tony and

00:12:43

I'll never forget the first day I turned

00:12:45

up. He said, "Well, that you know, you

00:12:47

really got to be good at washing dishes.

00:12:49

So, I'm sending you down the road to

00:12:50

Louis Bar, which was in down the bottom

00:12:53

of Parnau Road above the Exchange

00:12:55

Tavern. And when I hear after 6 weeks

00:12:58

that you're the best kitchen hand in the

00:13:00

world, you can come back." So, that was

00:13:04

a bit of a let down cuz I thought I was

00:13:05

going to be cooking and conducting the

00:13:07

orchestra on day one, but no. Off to

00:13:10

wash dishes. And in actual fact, it was

00:13:12

the best thing that ever happened to me

00:13:13

cuz they are the most important person

00:13:15

in a kitchen. And if you can't do a good

00:13:17

job of that and be prepared to jump in

00:13:19

and help, then it's pretty hard to have

00:13:21

that orchestra firing on all cylinders.

00:13:24

So I did that and then finally it came

00:13:27

time that I was allowed into the

00:13:29

kitchen. One of the chefs said to me,

00:13:31

"Now when Tony comes in, you say good

00:13:33

morning chef." I'm like, "Yep, I can

00:13:36

manage that." So eventually Tony turned

00:13:38

up and I'm been set this task and it was

00:13:40

actually cutting some fish up for

00:13:42

something and he walks in and I say,

00:13:45

"Good morning, chef." All excited. It's

00:13:47

my first day. And he comes up and he

00:13:49

gets about that far away from me and

00:13:51

that's about an inch and says, "What?

00:13:53

What's so good about it?" Well,

00:13:57

that absolute You imagine I'm 16 years

00:14:00

old. I'm just out of school. That just

00:14:03

terrified me. I'd been totally set up.

00:14:05

He didn't like being called chef at all.

00:14:09

He he was Tony or Louie. And um he was a

00:14:14

hard taskmaster, but he was a

00:14:15

perfectionist. And

00:14:18

you know, it was really a privilege to

00:14:20

work for him. There were times that

00:14:22

there were tears. I remember one day I

00:14:24

cut a piece of I fillet for a steak tar

00:14:28

dish and I was in the back kitchen where

00:14:30

we did the duck and the soulets and the

00:14:32

vegetables and passed things through to

00:14:35

the front kitchen where Tony was and I

00:14:37

cut this piece of eye full put it on

00:14:39

this little silver tray and I passed it

00:14:41

through to the front kitchen thinking

00:14:43

job done well done Simon. Next thing you

00:14:45

know I out the corner of my eye I

00:14:47

realized that this thing was airborne

00:14:48

and it was heading my direction. Well, I

00:14:51

took about three steps back and caught

00:14:53

it underarm. Good cricketing skills. And

00:14:57

next thing I know, he's coming around

00:14:59

from the front kitchen round to the back

00:15:01

kitchen, grabs it off me, and throws it

00:15:03

at me again. I definitely didn't catch

00:15:06

it on the second attempt. The moral of

00:15:08

the story is don't cut the steak the

00:15:11

wrong size. Yeah, he was just a

00:15:14

perfectionist in every angle. But, you

00:15:16

know, he was like dad and his wife Beth,

00:15:20

uh, ex hairdresser, she was mom.

00:15:23

>> She she used to cut all our hair.

00:15:25

>> Um, she'd pick the bits up at the end of

00:15:28

the night after we'd been yelled at,

00:15:29

screamed at, or told off and bring us

00:15:32

all back together. you know, Christmas

00:15:34

Day, we were always open for lunch, but

00:15:36

we all stayed behind and there were

00:15:38

presents and,

00:15:40

>> you know, it was an incredible family

00:15:42

environment and he was an incredible

00:15:45

mentor and to this day a a great friend.

00:15:48

So, I'm so grateful for that start cuz I

00:15:51

was working in the best place in town,

00:15:54

>> you know.

00:15:55

>> Yeah, we had a um it was a wonderful

00:15:57

podcast actually. He um he's a tough nut

00:15:59

to crack. Um, but I think we got there

00:16:01

towards the end when he was talking

00:16:03

about the passing of his wife Beth and

00:16:04

how he still sometimes wanders around

00:16:06

the house and talks to photos of her. It

00:16:08

was really sad.

00:16:09

>> Yeah.

00:16:09

>> Um,

00:16:10

>> she was a beautiful lady. Beautiful.

00:16:12

>> She passed away and then he shut the

00:16:13

restaurant like shortly after that. It

00:16:15

was And that restaurant was like their

00:16:17

child. It was his It was his life. Eh.

00:16:19

>> Yep. He'd be there all day every day. I

00:16:22

mean, I worked there for 3 years and I

00:16:23

could count on one hand the services

00:16:26

that Tony wasn't there. And Beth was in

00:16:29

there every morning cleaning the

00:16:32

restaurant, doing the flowers, going

00:16:35

home, coming back in the evening,

00:16:36

sitting down at the table with a glass

00:16:39

of port at the end of the night, doing

00:16:41

the cash up, and we'd go and sit with

00:16:43

her. I mean, just incredible people. on

00:16:46

the opportunities that came out of that.

00:16:48

You know, I remember one day Tony came

00:16:50

out to the kitchen and we're just

00:16:51

cleaning up and when Elton John was in

00:16:54

town, he always wanted he din there

00:16:56

pretty much every night and he said, "Do

00:16:58

you want to come and meet Elton John?"

00:17:00

And the next thing you know, I'm sitting

00:17:02

next to Elton John in the restaurant

00:17:03

chatting to him about gliding. he was

00:17:06

really interested in gliding and um you

00:17:09

know next thing you know it's 3:00 in

00:17:10

the morning and then that week I went to

00:17:14

the concert and I'm telling all my mates

00:17:15

I was sitting having a drink with Elton

00:17:17

John the other night and they're like

00:17:18

yeah you're right but you know I really

00:17:21

was and you know Tony was very good at

00:17:27

all sorts of things like so what are you

00:17:29

doing with your money you know all your

00:17:31

friends are out in the weekends but you

00:17:33

have to work every night so you're

00:17:35

saving your money.

00:17:37

Give it to me. I'll invest it for you.

00:17:39

So he he invested Bryley shares for me.

00:17:42

He bought Taylor's 77 port. By the time

00:17:46

I finished my apprentichip, I had a

00:17:47

bunch of Brley shares and it was all

00:17:49

this Taylor's 77 port. And let me tell

00:17:51

you, that was a good investment. I mean,

00:17:53

I think I used to pay about $37 a bottle

00:17:56

for this Taylor's 77 port, the best port

00:17:59

of the century. And when I opened my

00:18:01

first restaurant, I was selling it in a

00:18:03

little glass for $25 a glass. So it was

00:18:06

a and be worth a little bit more now.

00:18:09

I've got about two bottles left, I

00:18:10

think.

00:18:11

>> Wow. Um yeah, that sort of style, the

00:18:14

Tony style. I feel like you couldn't get

00:18:15

away with it now in in 2025. It would be

00:18:18

called bullying or

00:18:19

>> workplace harassment or something. But

00:18:21

did did you did you take that into your

00:18:23

shifting style? Like were you tough on

00:18:25

your staff? I remember always thinking,

00:18:28

I'll never be like that. I'll always be

00:18:29

the nice guy. Well, when you first open

00:18:32

your first restaurant and there's no

00:18:35

money and you're working every hour

00:18:38

under the sun, you run out of patience

00:18:41

to go over and listen, dear. That's not

00:18:43

how you do it. You don't have time.

00:18:45

You're in the middle of service. It's

00:18:46

all rock and roll. So, yeah, I probably

00:18:50

picked up a few of Tony's traits.

00:18:55

You got to do what you got to do, I

00:18:56

guess. I actually I I yeah, we'll jump

00:18:58

around a bit here, but um this was I

00:19:01

believe when you're in Euro, which was

00:19:02

um a fine dining restaurant on um on um

00:19:05

Oakland's Harour. Um if if if a customer

00:19:08

complained about a meal, you'd get the

00:19:09

chef from the kitchen and bring them

00:19:10

over to the table and make them

00:19:11

apologize.

00:19:13

>> Well, they got to learn, right? You

00:19:15

know, it's one team, but we got to own a

00:19:19

mistake. You know, like if we stuff up,

00:19:22

you got to own it and try and fix it.

00:19:24

Because once they walk out the door and

00:19:27

they tell all their mates how bad it

00:19:29

was, if it was bad, you have that

00:19:33

opportunity. If they declare this issue

00:19:35

in the restaurant, go out and I'll tell

00:19:36

you what, if a chef comes out and says,

00:19:38

"I'm the one who made it. I'm really

00:19:40

sorry about that. What can we do to fix

00:19:43

this?" and hopefully they've already got

00:19:45

a solution. They walk out the door and

00:19:47

tell that story and that's a hell of a

00:19:49

lot better story than the steak was

00:19:51

overcooked or whatever it was. Right.

00:19:54

>> That's smart.

00:19:56

So, owning your own restaurant at 22,

00:19:57

did you were you able to do that with um

00:19:59

the money that you made through the

00:20:00

investments that you talked about

00:20:01

before?

00:20:02

>> Yeah. So, when I finished my

00:20:03

apprentichip, I went to England to work

00:20:06

and started in London and then moved out

00:20:10

of London. and I worked at a a

00:20:11

restaurant called Leath which was you

00:20:13

know top top restaurant in London at the

00:20:16

time and then went and did a head chef's

00:20:18

job when I should never have done it. Uh

00:20:22

I remember in the interview they said to

00:20:23

me um have you have you catered any

00:20:25

weddings?

00:20:27

And I said yep. I've never been to a

00:20:29

wedding let alone cater one. Had I done

00:20:32

buffets? Yeah. Well, we'd done a buffet

00:20:34

at tech when I went to tech, but I'd

00:20:36

never really done a buffet and I bluffed

00:20:39

my way into this job and I got the job

00:20:41

anyway. And then I worked in a castle,

00:20:43

Thornbury Castle, which was incredible.

00:20:46

But what you did back then is you bought

00:20:48

a car back to New Zealand if you had

00:20:50

some money. So, fortunately, the Bryley

00:20:52

shares thanks to, you know, Tony AOL had

00:20:55

gone up and I had enough money to bring

00:20:57

a Porsche 911 back to New Zealand

00:21:00

thinking I was pretty cool by the way.

00:21:02

And that was sold and that got me the

00:21:06

money to get into the restaurant with a

00:21:08

bit of help from my mom and dad.

00:21:10

>> It's an absurd thought now. E like from

00:21:12

the position of where you are now in the

00:21:13

stage in life like a man in his early

00:21:15

60s like a 22-y old opening a

00:21:17

restaurant. It's just it's crazy, right?

00:21:19

>> Yeah. Unthinkable. I probably in

00:21:21

hindsight should have worked in more

00:21:23

places. So I had to sort of do a lot of

00:21:25

self-learning after

00:21:27

>> after that cuz I'd only really worked in

00:21:30

four restaurants

00:21:32

and you know there was a lot of learning

00:21:35

along the way. I used to go and whenever

00:21:38

I could get away I would go to the

00:21:41

culinary institute of America and do

00:21:43

week courses or go and work in other

00:21:45

restaurants around the world to keep

00:21:48

learning. But once you got a restaurant,

00:21:50

you're in and you know that's where your

00:21:52

head's got to be.

00:21:54

>> Was that a success?

00:21:55

>> Was. Yeah, it was a good good

00:21:57

restaurant. Took it was a little old

00:21:59

house built in 1851 out in the Howit

00:22:01

Colonial Village at a gravel road to it,

00:22:04

but it was a cool restaurant

00:22:06

>> and it took a while to get noticed. It

00:22:08

was a real struggle to start off with.

00:22:12

And then somebody said I should start

00:22:13

entering cooking competitions and that

00:22:16

would help me get my name out there. So

00:22:18

I did that and fortunately I managed to

00:22:20

win them the competitions and suddenly

00:22:23

we started to get a bit of a name for

00:22:25

ourselves and then people came out and

00:22:28

>> you know some really cool interesting

00:22:30

customers who were great at spreading

00:22:32

the word and then we became sort of the

00:22:34

the hottest. It was back in the day of

00:22:37

fine dining restaurants. We were a fine

00:22:38

dining restaurant and yeah it was a it

00:22:42

was a good success. Yeah. M. So that was

00:22:44

like 394 years ago. When you when you

00:22:46

when you look back and think about that

00:22:49

version of Simon Gol, how how are you

00:22:50

the same and how are you different to

00:22:52

that kid?

00:22:54

>> I don't think I've changed. You know,

00:22:56

I'm not scared of taking a risk, but now

00:22:59

I'm

00:23:01

somewhat more nervous cuz I don't have a

00:23:03

you know, your time's limited.

00:23:05

>> Time is limited and you

00:23:08

>> Yeah. I don't need to lose anymore. I've

00:23:10

done my fair share of losing over the

00:23:12

years with different things I've punted

00:23:14

on and have not worked.

00:23:17

>> Um, you've mentioned some of the

00:23:19

overseas experiences you've had. I've

00:23:21

got a card here called Bits and Pieces

00:23:22

um, which sort of focuses on this. These

00:23:24

are just some random sort of things. So,

00:23:26

you worked as a um, a private chef for

00:23:28

one of the world's wealthiest people.

00:23:29

Can can you can you talk about that or

00:23:31

is that an NDA scenario? I

00:23:34

>> I can talk about it to a certain extent.

00:23:36

>> Who was it? Can you say who it was or

00:23:37

no? Yeah. He's the second wealthiest

00:23:39

person in the world at the time.

00:23:40

>> He was. Yeah. And when I first I I

00:23:43

wanted to work on a super yacht. So I

00:23:45

applied to an agency in Fort Lauderdale

00:23:48

and before you knew it, I was doing a

00:23:50

phone interview with the chief

00:23:52

stewardess from this big boat and a lot

00:23:54

of questions and this went on for a

00:23:56

couple of weeks until finally they, you

00:23:59

know, submitted some sample menus and

00:24:01

things and they said, "We're down to the

00:24:03

final seven chefs. we'd like you to fly

00:24:06

to San Francisco and cook a lunch and a

00:24:08

dinner for the owner. I still had no

00:24:12

idea who the person was. So, I thought,

00:24:16

why not got to go and do that? They

00:24:18

actually said to me, you'll need to pay

00:24:20

for your own ticket, but we'll refund

00:24:21

you when you get there. And I thought,

00:24:23

what have I got to lose? Let's go and do

00:24:24

it. So, I went and did it. And I was

00:24:27

given a list of all the foods that he

00:24:30

definitely didn't like. And I thought,

00:24:32

wow, you know, these other sick chefs,

00:24:35

what are they going to do? I thought,

00:24:36

oh, they'll probably use truffles this

00:24:38

and fagra that, and you know, they'll

00:24:40

try and show off with all the expensive

00:24:43

stuff. So, I looked at his list and

00:24:44

thought, well, he doesn't like broccoli.

00:24:46

I can make a really good broccoli pesto

00:24:48

and all these different things. So, I

00:24:50

decided to go completely the other angle

00:24:52

and use some of the things he didn't

00:24:55

like, keep it quite kiwi and not super

00:24:58

super flash. I knew he loved Japanese

00:25:02

food. So that that was part of the

00:25:04

brief. And I fortunately had employed a

00:25:07

Japanese chef in my restaurant, Golong

00:25:09

Key down on the vioideuct for me to

00:25:11

learn about cooking Japanese food. She

00:25:14

did all the staff meals. So I had a bit

00:25:16

of a clue about Japanese food. So I did

00:25:19

this lunch and dinner. Anyway, I got the

00:25:21

job and it turned out to be a guy called

00:25:23

Larry Ellison from Oracle.

00:25:25

>> Oh wow. And Larry,

00:25:29

you didn't know about Larry in New

00:25:31

Zealand at that time. And anyway, I came

00:25:34

back to New Zealand and I rang a friend

00:25:36

of mine, Robbie Naymith, who had sailed

00:25:38

for, you know, the Sydney Hobart with

00:25:41

Larry and I said, "What's this guy

00:25:43

like?" And he says, "Great. Just don't

00:25:44

cook him a bad meal." You know, and he

00:25:47

said, "Just treat him like one of the

00:25:48

boys." And um yeah, so I went back and I

00:25:52

remember the first day I went back and

00:25:54

the the captain picked me up from the

00:25:56

airport and said, "Right, well, you

00:25:58

better get shopping because he's hopping

00:25:59

on with a journalist tonight. We're

00:26:01

doing a bay cruise, picking up from the

00:26:03

San Francisco yacht club, Bay Cruise. He

00:26:06

wants like a six course dinner and then

00:26:08

11:00 she's hopping off. The family's

00:26:10

hopping on and we're going sailing for 3

00:26:12

days. And by the way, you know, you

00:26:14

know, you're cooking for all the crew as

00:26:16

well." So it was just me in this this

00:26:19

tiny galley and I cooked the you know

00:26:23

got got busy in a big hurry and at the

00:26:25

end of the um the evening the chief

00:26:28

steward said you know Larry would like

00:26:30

to meet you properly and I thought this

00:26:32

would be interesting. She said he

00:26:33

doesn't normally ask for the chef to go

00:26:35

out. Okay. So anyway I get out there and

00:26:38

he said how are you? And I remember

00:26:40

exactly what I said. I said well I'm

00:26:41

I've just flown halfway around

00:26:43

the world and cooked you dinner.

00:26:45

And I could see the look on the chief

00:26:47

stewist is like, "That's it. You're

00:26:49

done. That was the shortest job in

00:26:51

history." Anyway, Larry says, "Pull up a

00:26:54

seat." And within 5 minutes, we're

00:26:57

talking about airplanes cuz he loves

00:26:59

flying airplanes. He has a whole bunch

00:27:00

of airplanes. Yeah, I could talk to you

00:27:02

all day about that. But yeah, this is

00:27:04

one of the best jobs I've ever had in my

00:27:06

life. It was incredible.

00:27:07

>> What What year was this? I feel like in

00:27:08

he's a big deal now. like um he he's on

00:27:10

the phone each week to Russell Coots

00:27:12

with Sale GP stuff, but I feel like in

00:27:14

New Zealand um we sort of first became

00:27:16

aware of Larry and Oracle during the

00:27:18

America's Cup.

00:27:19

>> Yeah. So it was about 2001, but he

00:27:22

wasn't in the America's Cup at that

00:27:24

stage.

00:27:25

>> Um so

00:27:27

>> Wow.

00:27:28

>> Yeah.

00:27:29

>> Good dude. Much to do with him.

00:27:31

>> Awesome guy. Yeah, you got to see him

00:27:33

cuz I ended up cooking at his house and

00:27:35

on the boat. So, that was a a pretty

00:27:39

cool gig. Uh, it was amazing. I remember

00:27:42

one day I'm cooking at the house and he

00:27:43

comes into the kitchen halfway through

00:27:45

lunch and says, "You're going flying

00:27:47

this afternoon." I'm like, "Who's

00:27:49

cooking your dinner?" He said, "Ah,

00:27:50

we'll worry about that later." And uh,

00:27:53

so I turn up out at the airport and the

00:27:57

pilot's there and he opens the hanger

00:27:59

doors and you could I was in my chef's

00:28:00

jacket and you could see, "Oh god, I got

00:28:02

to take the cook for a fly." And this is

00:28:05

quite funny really. So he opens up and

00:28:07

there's all these cool airplanes in

00:28:09

there. And he says, you know, what do

00:28:10

you want to go for a fly in? And there

00:28:12

was there was a jet fighter, there was a

00:28:16

um a pit special, there was a Palatus

00:28:19

PC7, which is a turbine rocket ship that

00:28:23

military air forces around the world

00:28:25

used to train their pilots. And I said,

00:28:28

"Oh, I've flown I used to own a pit

00:28:30

special cuz I'd had one previously."

00:28:35

And I said, "But I'd like to go in

00:28:36

that." You could see him sort of, "Okay,

00:28:38

well, you fly. If you can fly a pit

00:28:40

special, then you must be reasonable

00:28:41

because that's a high performance

00:28:43

aerobatic airplane." So he briefed me

00:28:46

on, you know, getting rid of the canopy

00:28:47

and said, "You can sit in the front."

00:28:49

And anyway, we go for a fly and

00:28:53

talks me about it all. I'd never flown a

00:28:55

turbine airplane before, so this thing

00:28:57

was a rocket ship. Anyway, I'm sitting

00:28:59

in the front and take off. Have to stay

00:29:01

low cuz it's very close to San Francisco

00:29:03

airport. fly out to this place called

00:29:04

Half Moon Bay to do some arerobatics.

00:29:07

Cuz obviously I'm an arerobatic pilot,

00:29:10

having owned a pit special. And he said,

00:29:12

"Oh, show me some arerobatics." So I was

00:29:13

just sort of getting a feel for it. Um

00:29:16

flying it around and this guy in the

00:29:18

back was getting a little impatient

00:29:21

and he said, "Do you want me to do some

00:29:23

arerobatics?" And I'm like, "Okay." So

00:29:26

anyway, I thought, "Bugger you." So, I

00:29:28

pointed the thing at the ground, got

00:29:30

some speed up, pulled up vertically, did

00:29:32

a vertical roll on the way up, stall

00:29:34

turn over the top. He never told me

00:29:36

you're not supposed to do stall turns in

00:29:37

a turbine, and then a vertical roll on

00:29:40

the way down, and all I can hear from

00:29:41

the back seat is, "FUCK."

00:29:45

We became very good friends. Larry comes

00:29:48

into the kitchen that evening, big smile

00:29:50

on his face, saying, "I hear you're

00:29:52

quite good at arerobatics."

00:29:54

And he said, "You can have an hour a

00:29:55

week in it. go fly it an hour a week.

00:29:58

And that was great. That was like, you

00:30:00

know, million multi-million dollar

00:30:02

airplane that I was having a play in

00:30:05

with um courtesy of Larry. He was

00:30:07

amazing guy. I mean, he loved food. The

00:30:10

only thing that he ever decided what he

00:30:12

was having was breakfast. Real food. He

00:30:15

loved Japanese food. Uh

00:30:19

I I really enjoyed it. you know, we'd go

00:30:21

to somewhere like uh Alaska or um you

00:30:25

know, all these crazy places, Mexico,

00:30:27

and so the first thing I'd do is get

00:30:28

into a hotel and try and learn the local

00:30:30

cuisine and overnight, which is pretty

00:30:33

hard to do. Then Larry would turn up and

00:30:35

I'd do my version of it. So, yeah,

00:30:38

awesome, awesome guy to work for. You

00:30:40

probably only ever cook him one bad

00:30:42

meal. I guess he's a hard taskmaster.

00:30:44

You know, we you hear about him with the

00:30:46

sailing and things, you know, he doesn't

00:30:47

like losing. He likes winning. And I

00:30:50

remember one day we were in Bora Bora

00:30:52

and it was going to be a challenge

00:30:54

between the guests and the crew were

00:30:56

these outrigger races and you know this

00:31:00

young crew of all these fat guys except

00:31:02

for the chef right super fit guys. I

00:31:05

thought well cream Larry and his old

00:31:07

boys. Well not with Larry mate. He had

00:31:10

it all worked out. They creamed us. You

00:31:13

know Larry and his old mates just nailed

00:31:16

us.

00:31:17

>> So yeah he's in his 70s now. He still

00:31:19

looks amazing though, eh?

00:31:21

>> It's incredible. When you've got

00:31:22

opportunities to do things like that,

00:31:24

why would you want to bother like owning

00:31:25

your own business, owning your own

00:31:27

thing, your own restaurant?

00:31:27

>> Well, your life's on hold when you're,

00:31:29

you know, floating around on a boat and

00:31:31

you, you know, one day you're on the

00:31:32

boat, the next day you're at his house.

00:31:34

I mean, terrible.

00:31:36

>> It's cool at the time. I mean, it's

00:31:38

amazing,

00:31:39

>> but it's, you know, it's fullon hard

00:31:41

work that, you know, there's very little

00:31:43

time off. I loved it and but your life's

00:31:47

on hold and I wanted to get back and get

00:31:51

my own restaurant again.

00:31:53

>> So, I've got a bunch of names here. Um,

00:31:55

according to the internet, these are

00:31:57

celebrities you've cooked for. So, we'll

00:31:58

we'll get these names out there and

00:31:59

we'll see if there's a story behind them

00:32:01

or not. Um, Bill Clinton,

00:32:05

>> don't know if I can tell, can I tell

00:32:08

you? Time's passed. But Bill Bill

00:32:10

Clinton was coming to the boat and we

00:32:13

were um supposed to be he was going to

00:32:16

be on board and got a list of all the

00:32:19

things that he liked as well. So I was

00:32:21

definitely not going to do what he

00:32:22

didn't like. Anyway, uh he never turned

00:32:26

up. It didn't turn up. So that was a

00:32:30

that's as short as that story goes.

00:32:33

Well,

00:32:33

>> that was a dead end. Okay. Um MJ Michael

00:32:35

Jackson.

00:32:36

>> No, haven't cooked for Michael Jackson.

00:32:39

Bono.

00:32:40

>> Bono? Not that I can recall. No.

00:32:43

>> Tiger Woods.

00:32:44

>> No.

00:32:45

>> Tom Cruz.

00:32:46

>> No.

00:32:47

>> Really?

00:32:47

>> No. Sorry.

00:32:48

>> The internet has got this very wrong.

00:32:49

>> Really? Have you been using chat GPT?

00:32:51

>> You may have been chat GPT. I tried

00:32:54

numerous sources. You never know what

00:32:55

you're going to get. Is there any names

00:32:57

that you can drop?

00:32:59

>> Oh, there's loads of names. I can't even

00:33:01

really talk before from Antoons. Was a

00:33:03

great story.

00:33:04

>> Elton John's pretty cool. Um, I worked

00:33:06

for Simon Fuller. Well, didn't work for

00:33:09

him. I had sold my restaurant on the VA

00:33:12

when we won the America's Cup and was

00:33:14

asked to cook on a super yacht in the

00:33:16

Bay of Islands for 5 days. And this guy

00:33:19

got on, didn't know who he was. And then

00:33:21

somebody said to me, you know, he

00:33:23

manages the Spice Girls. And anyway, he

00:33:26

was the same age as me. We got on really

00:33:28

well that did this 5 days cooking. And

00:33:29

then he said, I'm having a tax year out

00:33:31

from the UK. do you want to come and

00:33:32

have a holiday in the UK in Italy? He's

00:33:35

going to Italy for a year. Would I like

00:33:37

to go and have a holiday? And I was

00:33:39

like, yep, that was pretty quick. So I

00:33:41

went over there. So that was a pretty

00:33:43

cool experience, you know. You know, he

00:33:46

managed the Spice Girls, Annie Lennox,

00:33:48

Steve McManam, the famous soccer player,

00:33:51

Liverpool soccer player. So that that

00:33:54

opened some doors. And you know, Simon

00:33:56

Fuller just the greatest guy ever. You

00:33:58

know, you sort of hear of all these pop

00:34:01

idols and things and managers. You hear

00:34:04

about drugs. You know, Simon couldn't be

00:34:06

further from that.

00:34:08

>> You know, this absolute gentleman. You

00:34:09

never see him in the media. That's

00:34:11

probably why Chat GPT isn't linked me to

00:34:13

him. But that was an incredible year

00:34:16

where I, you know, there was a chef in

00:34:19

every villa that we stayed at for the

00:34:21

year who I would just learn from and go

00:34:24

shopping with and point at things cuz my

00:34:26

Italian was no good. and you know come

00:34:29

home, watch them cook it and that was

00:34:31

just an incredible year. And there were

00:34:32

some pretty cool people that came and

00:34:35

stayed with us through that year which I

00:34:39

thoroughly enjoyed.

00:34:40

>> Oh, like well known people.

00:34:45

>> What's your next question? Like

00:34:47

>> I'm not a name dropper, you know. I

00:34:49

thought I did pretty good with El and

00:34:51

John.

00:34:51

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the Larry Ellison

00:34:53

stuff was good. What is it? Is it just

00:34:55

um Yeah. Is is it like an unspoken code

00:34:59

that you just don't talk about these

00:35:01

things or

00:35:01

>> Well, also I've forgotten. I mean, we

00:35:03

had the guy who was Captain Kirk into my

00:35:06

last restaurant. Oh, William Shatner.

00:35:08

>> Yeah. William Shatner. I just forget

00:35:10

their names. You know, we've had lots of

00:35:12

people over the years. You know, when we

00:35:14

were at Antoine's, there was royalty

00:35:16

that came in. I'll never forget doing um

00:35:20

Sir Michael Fay's wedding on Mercury

00:35:22

Island with Tony Estol. Wow.

00:35:24

>> Sorry, not his wedding. He did his

00:35:26

wedding at his home, but we did his a

00:35:28

big birthday party for all them him over

00:35:30

there and it was like a whole Mash

00:35:32

theme.

00:35:33

>> Uh just like on MASH, you know, the TV

00:35:35

program. So, you know, I've been very

00:35:38

lucky over the years to cook for some

00:35:41

amazing people. But for me, everybody's

00:35:43

amazing that comes in. You know, my job

00:35:45

is to put a smile on their face, put my

00:35:47

heart on a plate, and let them dissect

00:35:49

it. and hopefully they walk out going,

00:35:51

"That was pretty bloody awesome."

00:35:55

>> Um, I suppose on the the uh the other

00:35:57

end of that spectrum, um, an amazing

00:35:58

experience, but nothing glamorous about

00:36:00

it at all. Um, I think this was just for

00:36:02

a TV show. You spent time on um like a

00:36:05

gas rig, Maui, which is like 56ks off

00:36:09

the coast of Tatanaki. Um, yeah. Yeah.

00:36:12

What's that like? Well, the most

00:36:13

terrifying thing was doing the training

00:36:16

in the helicopter in the pool for it.

00:36:19

You know, if you went down in the

00:36:20

helicopter going out, you have to do all

00:36:22

these things before they let you on the

00:36:24

gap gas platform. I've never had anxiety

00:36:28

like it in my life. And if I think back,

00:36:32

you know, I just I'd built myself up to

00:36:34

this massive terror about being strapped

00:36:37

into this helicopter that went into the

00:36:39

water, then was tipped upside down, and

00:36:41

you had to escape. You had to stay in

00:36:43

the seat for x amount of seconds and

00:36:46

escape. So that was bloody terrifying at

00:36:50

the time, but when I look back on, what

00:36:52

was I so bloody worried about? You know,

00:36:54

>> and then we went out to the gas

00:36:56

platform. It was for a TV series called

00:36:59

Chef on a Mission. So I did I was, you

00:37:02

know, fantastic um on Bendigo High

00:37:04

Country Sheep Station on one of the

00:37:06

episodes. I was the last person to

00:37:09

interview Shrek, you know, the sheep.

00:37:11

>> Sheep.

00:37:12

>> Yeah. Before he passed away. Um, but you

00:37:17

know that that was exciting out on the

00:37:19

Maui gas platform because I had to cook

00:37:22

for all these guys and they didn't think

00:37:26

much of a celebrity chef. Let me tell

00:37:28

you, you know, they're hard asses, these

00:37:30

boys that work out on these gas

00:37:32

platforms. So, it was no big deal that a

00:37:35

celebrity chef had come along. That's

00:37:37

why I hate that word celebrity chef. So,

00:37:38

they were a tough audience. So, I had to

00:37:42

get out there and do things on the gas

00:37:44

platform. The weather was atrocious and

00:37:47

we were down there and I was doing this

00:37:49

welding underneath the gas platform and

00:37:51

I assisted with painting on deck and

00:37:53

then had to get into the kitchen and

00:37:55

cook and they had an assistant for me.

00:37:58

Well, he got so sick he was next to

00:38:01

useless he was didn't even come out of

00:38:03

his room.

00:38:05

So, uh yeah, and we went out. Another

00:38:08

one I did was out on a telly's fishing

00:38:11

troller. Same sort of audience. tough to

00:38:14

please. Did a girl's boarding school.

00:38:17

They were easier to please. Went to

00:38:19

police college. Did all the things you

00:38:21

do at police college. Had to do the

00:38:23

swimming in the pool. Swim down, get the

00:38:25

brick and get in and fight with the

00:38:28

batons and go out on on the patrol in a

00:38:32

police car. I remember the guy on the

00:38:34

first night. He said to me, "Oh, it's a

00:38:35

Tuesday night. Be pretty quiet with the

00:38:37

minutes. We had the siren going. We're

00:38:39

off to Pora. This guy wanted to kill us

00:38:41

with a golf club he had at the garage.

00:38:43

He was on drugs and Yeah, that was that

00:38:47

was that was a fun thing to do. You've

00:38:51

lived so many lives, eh?

00:38:52

>> Yeah, I've been I've been lucky.

00:38:54

>> You've done a lot.

00:38:54

>> Yeah. Yeah, I have been lucky with Yeah.

00:38:57

>> So, Euro on Oakland's waterfront. Um,

00:39:00

very very successful restaurant. So, um,

00:39:03

what's the story with that? So, a good

00:39:05

mate of mine, Leo Mallaloy, it's his

00:39:07

restaurant.

00:39:07

>> Leo's restaurant. Yeah. So he he opens

00:39:09

it and he hires you as the as the chef.

00:39:12

Yes,

00:39:12

>> it's important. He he pumped a lot of

00:39:14

money into it, like over a million bucks

00:39:15

at the time, which is a huge amount. So

00:39:17

you need a good chef.

00:39:18

>> Um, was that the first time you met him?

00:39:22

>> That was the first time I met him. Yes.

00:39:24

He he asked me if I'd like to go and

00:39:26

open this restaurant with him and,

00:39:29

you know, do a year's contract.

00:39:32

>> What did you know about him?

00:39:33

>> Not Not much at all. Nothing at all. and

00:39:37

I didn't want to do the job. I'd sort of

00:39:39

had a restaurant down in the vioaduct

00:39:41

and I was like, "No, I'm not really

00:39:42

interested." I kind of thought it was

00:39:43

like reheating the soule. I've been

00:39:45

there and done the waterfront. And he

00:39:47

kept pestering me and pestering me and

00:39:49

finally invited me to a lunch and I

00:39:51

turned up to this lunch and just Leo and

00:39:53

all these hot birds. And I'm okay, you

00:39:57

know, this is not too bad. You know, he

00:39:58

was seemed quite a character. And I

00:40:01

never forget cuz I'd only recently come

00:40:03

back from being overseas

00:40:05

and

00:40:07

I'm sitting next to this girl. I said,

00:40:08

"What do you do?" And she says, "It was

00:40:10

April her." And it was the dumbest thing

00:40:13

to say cuz she, you know, she was

00:40:14

famous.

00:40:15

>> Yes. Sports presenter, former net

00:40:17

baller.

00:40:17

>> Yeah. Yeah. Like quite somewhat more

00:40:20

famous than I'd ever be. And so that was

00:40:23

all a bit of humor. But anyway, he kept

00:40:25

offering more and more until finally I

00:40:26

said, "Yes, this is too good to be true

00:40:28

really." And the great the thing that

00:40:31

really appealed to me is that he said,

00:40:33

"Look, let's do all this wood cooking."

00:40:35

So I went off to Texas to find the best

00:40:40

wood grilling, cooking, rotisseries that

00:40:43

you could. And that was pretty exciting.

00:40:45

And the toilets at Euro were the big

00:40:47

talk of the town. You know, Leo is has a

00:40:51

great vision. He's very good. You know,

00:40:55

he's crazy as well. He's absolutely

00:40:57

nuts. Yeah, he's bonkers, but he is a

00:41:00

very clever guy.

00:41:02

>> I, you know, high respect for him and,

00:41:06

>> you know, he could dial it down

00:41:08

sometimes. But I enjoyed my year there

00:41:12

with Leo. It was good.

00:41:15

>> Yes, we we've been mates for over three

00:41:16

decades. I I got to know him just in

00:41:18

Palmer North when he just opened his

00:41:20

first place, The Fat Lady's Arms. So,

00:41:21

and we've been friends ever since then.

00:41:23

He's one of those friends I I often have

00:41:25

to justify my relationship with him to

00:41:27

people.

00:41:28

>> Yeah.

00:41:28

>> But he's one of the most loyal people

00:41:30

you could ever meet.

00:41:30

>> He is. And a lot of people say to me,

00:41:32

"What was he like to work for?" And I

00:41:34

remember early on we were shortly about

00:41:37

just about to open. And he threw his

00:41:40

toys out of the cop big time. And I

00:41:42

said, "Well, go find another chef." And

00:41:44

I started walking off down the down the

00:41:46

warf. And Leo will hate hearing this

00:41:48

story if he listens to this, but he came

00:41:50

running after me. And I never had a

00:41:52

problem with Leo from that day onwards.

00:41:55

He, you know, the

00:41:56

>> the benchmark was set and I loved what I

00:41:59

did for Leo. And you know, he is

00:42:01

creative. He gave me a Donna Haybook and

00:42:04

said, "This is the sort of food I want."

00:42:06

I'm like, "Okay, I could, you know, he's

00:42:08

he's the guy paying the bills, right?"

00:42:10

>> And you know, after years, I ended up

00:42:12

being a shareholder in Euro. And after

00:42:15

Leo sold it and, you know, that's a

00:42:17

whole another story. and was involved

00:42:19

with Euro for years.

00:42:22

>> Yeah. According to the internet, uh

00:42:23

turnover at Euro was like $6 to7 million

00:42:26

a year at its peak.

00:42:27

>> Yep.

00:42:27

>> Would that be right?

00:42:28

>> Yeah, that would be right.

00:42:29

that's a lot of money for food and

00:42:30

drink, isn't it?

00:42:31

>> Yeah. Was a successful restaurant. It

00:42:33

was busy. I remember um

00:42:36

uh

00:42:38

what's the cup? The racing cup.

00:42:40

Melbourne Cup. You know, that was just a

00:42:42

huge day. The revenue on that day just

00:42:44

was nuts. I hated Melbourne Cup because

00:42:47

it was just full on and it was everybody

00:42:50

showing off to everybody and they

00:42:53

weren't really there for the food, you

00:42:54

know.

00:42:55

>> Mhm.

00:42:56

>> And um you're at Euro. Did that overlap

00:42:58

with Master Chef? Were you the Master

00:43:00

Chef guy when you were still at Euro?

00:43:02

>> Yes. Yes, I was still involved with

00:43:05

Euro. So, we had a bunch of restaurants

00:43:07

then.

00:43:07

>> Mh.

00:43:08

>> And yeah, I was asked to do Master Chef.

00:43:11

In fact, they asked me to audition for

00:43:12

it, but I was going overseas to do a I

00:43:15

think a guest chef spot in a hotel in

00:43:19

Asia and I couldn't do the interview and

00:43:23

I came back and then they rang me and

00:43:25

said, "Oh, we've they'd been in and

00:43:27

filmed something

00:43:29

before that and it never went anywhere."

00:43:32

So, they had some footage and they

00:43:34

watched that and that was my audition to

00:43:35

become judge on Master Chief. And I'd

00:43:38

never heard of Master Chief. I didn't

00:43:39

know what it was or anything about it.

00:43:41

And that was my first TV gig apart from

00:43:45

Good Morning Television which didn't

00:43:47

start very well actually. Um I had a bit

00:43:49

of a disaster on that. They asked me to

00:43:52

go and cook on Do you want to hear the

00:43:54

story?

00:43:54

>> Oh yeah. Yeah.

00:43:55

>> Everybody likes I love a disaster. Yeah.

00:43:57

Yeah.

00:43:58

>> I was asked to go and cook on Good

00:44:00

Morning Television. You had to fly to

00:44:01

Wellington and take your food and they'd

00:44:03

have all the pots and pans in a kitchen

00:44:04

there. So off I go turn up with my

00:44:07

polytorian box. Never been on TV before

00:44:10

in my life

00:44:12

and it's live. So you do one segment and

00:44:14

then everything cooks and then they come

00:44:16

back and you finish it off in the second

00:44:18

segment. And I was doing a whole roast

00:44:21

chicken dish. And they had this pot

00:44:24

there and I was sealing the whole

00:44:26

chicken cuz I wanted to get a little bit

00:44:28

of caramelization mayard effect on the

00:44:30

outside of this bird before I cooked it.

00:44:33

And I'm sautéing it round in this pan

00:44:35

and I'm listening to this. It wasn't a

00:44:37

pan. And it was sort of a shallow pot.

00:44:40

And suddenly I realized it was making

00:44:41

all these noises. And I realized that

00:44:43

this is one of these ones that you don't

00:44:45

actually put on a gas hob.

00:44:48

It's just for going in the oven. And it

00:44:50

was creaking. I thought, my worst

00:44:52

nightmare is about to happen. This is

00:44:54

going to crack or something. So I

00:44:57

quickly reached down, grabbed another

00:44:58

pot, put the other pot up there, picked

00:45:00

this pot with the whole chicken in with

00:45:03

both hands, lifted it up, tipped it

00:45:06

upside down. and the chicken fell into

00:45:08

the pot and the new pot and this bad pot

00:45:12

just exploded and went absolutely

00:45:15

everywhere and it's live TV. So, I just

00:45:17

carried on as if it was all intentional.

00:45:19

Nothing had happened. And as soon as we

00:45:22

went to the break, the the producer came

00:45:25

downstairs and said, "THAT WAS GOLD

00:45:27

TELEVISION. GOLD TELEVISION. Do you want

00:45:29

to come back next week?"

00:45:31

That's how I got into doing Good Morning

00:45:33

TV. Threw a complete stuff up. Oh,

00:45:36

that's why I suppose live TV. What

00:45:37

happens? Is it is it online anywhere? Is

00:45:39

it still on YouTube or

00:45:41

>> I've got no idea. It should be, right?

00:45:42

It's a good blooper moment.

00:45:44

>> Yes. So then Master Chief came along um

00:45:46

and you were a judge for the first five

00:45:47

seasons in that time. Um helping create

00:45:50

the careers of Nadia Lim and Chelsea

00:45:52

Winter who both phenomenally successful.

00:45:56

>> Yeah, it was uh it was a cool

00:45:58

experience. It was a lot of cold food to

00:46:00

eat.

00:46:02

>> I you know I really enjoyed it. I didn't

00:46:05

know what to expect really. Just sort

00:46:08

of, you know, turned up for the first

00:46:10

day and sort of got briefed and away we

00:46:12

went and it seemed to go pretty well the

00:46:15

first season and they asked me back for

00:46:17

the second season and so it went on for

00:46:19

5 years and I really enjoy. I love what

00:46:22

it did for kids in New Zealand. You

00:46:25

know, the number of kids when you'd go

00:46:26

out and they got inspired about food and

00:46:30

I think

00:46:31

>> you know that we need that. We need

00:46:32

Kiwis cooking. We don't do enough

00:46:34

cooking. We're very good at buying jars

00:46:36

and packets and things that are just

00:46:39

full of e- numbers and preservatives and

00:46:42

rubbish in them. But we actually want to

00:46:44

do some cooking. You know, you get young

00:46:47

kids. I I never forget out of Master

00:46:49

Chef, lots of other things happened for

00:46:52

me. you know, suddenly the speaking

00:46:54

circuit opened up or

00:46:56

>> I was cooking in Wellington at a

00:46:59

Westfield shopping center and I used to

00:47:01

challenge people out of the audience to

00:47:03

come and make an omelet against me. And

00:47:06

the idea was that they would normally

00:47:09

win, right? And it would be fun. And I

00:47:12

never forget this one kid comes up and

00:47:14

he was probably 13 years old and he

00:47:18

cooked an omelette against me and won.

00:47:20

So I gave him a cake mixer as the prize.

00:47:24

So he, you know, his mom went off with

00:47:27

his box that was almost as big as him. I

00:47:29

was back there a couple of years later

00:47:32

and he came up to me and said, "Do you

00:47:34

remember me?" And I said, "Oh, not

00:47:36

really, but remind me." And he opened

00:47:38

this book up and in this book he had a

00:47:39

photo of everything he'd cooked using

00:47:41

this cake mix and written a recipe. And

00:47:44

his mom said to me that, "You know,

00:47:45

we've brought him here today because

00:47:48

you're his hero." his dad died and

00:47:51

you're his hero. And to cut a long story

00:47:55

short, all these years later, I I've

00:47:58

sort of become like a dad for him. He

00:48:00

ended up working in one of my

00:48:01

restaurants. He went off the rails. We

00:48:04

sort of talked about it and we stay in

00:48:06

touch all the time. And in fact, we he's

00:48:10

now living in Sydney. I was over in

00:48:12

Sydney. I took him out for dinner.

00:48:15

And if that's what Master Chef brings

00:48:17

along that, you know, that's been so

00:48:20

rewarding for me. And, you know, I get

00:48:22

on Father's Day, he sends me this these

00:48:24

texts that make you cry. You know, it's

00:48:26

just amazing. And, you know, now he's in

00:48:28

his late 20s and, you know, got this

00:48:32

great girl and, you know, he's going

00:48:34

places

00:48:35

>> and not cooking either, by the way. He's

00:48:37

not cooking, but you know, he did that

00:48:39

for a period of time. But, you know,

00:48:41

>> what what do you think was special about

00:48:43

him? What was the link that that meant

00:48:44

you kept in touch, you know, cuz see

00:48:45

there's there's people in your life that

00:48:47

you have some sort of contact with and

00:48:49

you know often you just sort of drift

00:48:51

apart.

00:48:52

>> Why is this one different?

00:48:52

>> I think in restaurants you do end up

00:48:56

mentoring people a lot more

00:48:58

>> because you need somebody good. So you

00:49:00

want to help them get as good as

00:49:02

possible and you want them to take over

00:49:04

at some stage so you don't have to be

00:49:05

there. So, you're always looking for

00:49:08

that person who's got that extra 5%

00:49:11

magic, that little spark. And he just

00:49:14

had that. I remember when um I got out

00:49:17

of all the restaurants with this group

00:49:19

called the Nourish Group, and we had a

00:49:20

restaurant in Wellington called Prafter,

00:49:22

and we were doing a big finale dinner

00:49:24

down there cuz it was my last time. And

00:49:26

I made James, this young fellow, the

00:49:29

head chef on the night. you know, when

00:49:32

you see good in somebody, you know, I've

00:49:34

got a lot of chefs that have worked for

00:49:35

me that are now, you know, top chefs,

00:49:38

you know, one of the the head chef at

00:49:40

Paris Butter used to work for me.

00:49:42

Michael Meredith used to work for me

00:49:44

years ago. You know, they've, you know,

00:49:46

they've way surpassed me. But, you know,

00:49:48

you you help them on their journey,

00:49:50

whatever it is, whether it's telling

00:49:52

them off or inspiring them, whatever it

00:49:55

is. Like Tony Esto told me off. That was

00:49:58

at the time bloody horrible, but a good

00:50:00

thing. when you look back on it.

00:50:03

>> So that's an example of one amazing

00:50:05

thing that came out of Master Chef. Um

00:50:07

but yeah, how was the overall

00:50:09

experience? So it started in 2010, so

00:50:10

you would have been in your mid-40s at

00:50:12

the time. Um and this is when free to

00:50:14

wear TV was a massive thing in New

00:50:15

Zealand. The ratings on this show were

00:50:17

phenomenal. What what's it like like

00:50:18

being sort of, you know, entering middle

00:50:20

age and becoming like a household name?

00:50:22

Did you did you cope okay with the fame

00:50:24

and the recognition?

00:50:25

>> Well, you don't have a choice really. I

00:50:27

mean, you know, you start and you don't

00:50:29

think you'll become well known, but

00:50:31

then, you know, you do and people are

00:50:33

like come up to you and chat to you like

00:50:35

they know you and you sort of think, "Do

00:50:38

I know them?" And then they'll walk off

00:50:39

and then they'll suddenly remember how

00:50:41

they know you. They don't actually know

00:50:43

you. They know you from television.

00:50:45

They'll come around and go, "Oh, sorry.

00:50:46

I realize who you are now." And you know

00:50:49

that sort of grew and grew and you know

00:50:52

lots of signing and you know now it's

00:50:54

sort of dropped off a bit really which

00:50:57

has been good because I kind of wanted

00:50:59

that like I've stay I've hidden away for

00:51:02

the last I don't know how many years

00:51:05

really since Hazel came along cuz I want

00:51:08

to be a dad and I didn't need that

00:51:10

limelight. I remember my ex-wife did,

00:51:13

you know, hated that whole limelight

00:51:16

thing, you know. I mean, whenever we'd

00:51:18

go somewhere, you know, I somebody would

00:51:20

come up and want to talk to me. And I'd

00:51:22

go, well, this is my wife and introduce

00:51:24

her and then just normally just hand her

00:51:27

the phone and say, "Could you take a

00:51:28

photo of us?"

00:51:30

>> And that went down like a cup of cold

00:51:32

sick. And I remember one night it really

00:51:35

didn't work out very well because

00:51:38

the limit had been hit. So, you know,

00:51:40

with Hazel, my daughter, I don't want

00:51:42

her, you know, it's bad enough even now,

00:51:44

but she's now growing up a bit and, you

00:51:47

know, I'm starting to do podcasts again

00:51:50

and looking at, you know, another run.

00:51:54

Uh, you know, to just tee things off is

00:51:58

is my plan.

00:52:00

>> Yeah. Well, it's great to have you in

00:52:01

here. Gez, we've been going for 15

00:52:02

minutes. We haven't even talked about,

00:52:03

you know, the the it's out of the

00:52:06

kitchen stuff really. Yes. Yeah. So, you

00:52:07

just mentioned your ex-wife. So, that's

00:52:09

You've only been married the one time.

00:52:10

>> Yeah.

00:52:10

>> So, that's um Hazel's mom.

00:52:12

>> Yeah.

00:52:13

>> Um and if my facts are correct, um she

00:52:16

used to be a customer at Euro. You'd see

00:52:18

her. You quite liked her. You gave her

00:52:20

free puddings.

00:52:21

>> That's true. I did. Yeah. I tried very

00:52:23

hard to smoo her.

00:52:27

>> Yes, I did.

00:52:29

>> Yeah. Um Yeah, that's something you and

00:52:32

I have got in common. We're um we both

00:52:34

had um an unsuccessful marriage. Um

00:52:36

Yeah. How how do you reflect on that?

00:52:38

It's sucks, eh?

00:52:39

>> It sucks. And at the time it really

00:52:42

sucks. I mean, when when it all sort of

00:52:44

falls apart around you

00:52:47

>> and you know it and people don't realize

00:52:51

that haven't been through it. People

00:52:52

that have been through it get it and

00:52:54

they're supportive and understanding.

00:52:57

>> And those that haven't, oh, we can be

00:52:58

friends with you and your ex-wife. And

00:53:00

I'm like, really?

00:53:01

>> Yeah. The dynamics are hard. And no one

00:53:04

goes into these things thinking it's

00:53:05

going to fail. Yeah,

00:53:06

>> you know, you go into it and it's till

00:53:08

death do us part. So, anything less than

00:53:10

that feels like a fail.

00:53:12

>> Oh, I definitely failed in that regard.

00:53:14

And uh did you how sorry?

00:53:18

>> Well, you know, prioritizing work.

00:53:21

>> My eyes got the better of me. Okay.

00:53:23

>> Um

00:53:24

>> and

00:53:26

you know,

00:53:27

>> it's a big admission.

00:53:28

>> Yeah, my eyes got the better of me. And

00:53:31

we had a lot of great times, don't get

00:53:33

me wrong,

00:53:34

>> but I think, you know, I was a celebrity

00:53:38

and girls like celebrities, but then

00:53:41

they realized that actually you're just

00:53:43

a normal bloke underneath it all. And I

00:53:45

think that's probably where it went down

00:53:48

the track. But, you know, Hazel has got

00:53:50

an awesome mom and you know, I have

00:53:53

absolutely no regrets and um you know,

00:53:58

that's how it ends up.

00:54:00

>> Were you unfaithful or just a big flirt?

00:54:02

>> No, I don't think I was a big flirt or I

00:54:04

definitely wasn't unfaithful.

00:54:06

>> No.

00:54:06

>> No.

00:54:08

>> Yeah. It's tough. These these things are

00:54:10

complicated. Life's complicated. Hey, I

00:54:12

find as I get older, you realize there's

00:54:13

there's less black and white and way

00:54:15

more gray than what anyone thinks. It's

00:54:17

tough. Yeah, it's tough, but you know,

00:54:19

there's a lot of people that go through

00:54:21

it and

00:54:22

>> what needs to when there's children

00:54:24

involved, you've got to be diplomatic

00:54:27

and really good at it, right? So, and

00:54:30

the interesting thing is, you know, now

00:54:31

Hazel's grown up, she has no

00:54:33

recollection of ever her mom and dad

00:54:36

being together. So, it's just normal to

00:54:38

go from one house, so she spends a week

00:54:40

with her mom and a week with me.

00:54:42

>> And, you know, she's got the best of

00:54:44

both worlds. She's got a great mom and

00:54:46

she's got a great dad and get two lots

00:54:49

of everything, right? So, she's probably

00:54:51

a little too spoiled, but there you go.

00:54:53

>> And how's how's your relationship with

00:54:54

the ex these days?

00:54:55

>> Good.

00:54:56

>> Yeah.

00:54:56

>> Good. Cool. As long as I kill with

00:54:58

kindness.

00:55:01

>> Well, you learn what it takes.

00:55:02

>> Yeah.

00:55:02

>> Yeah. So, Hazel. Yeah. Um, you became a

00:55:05

dad at about 50. She's now intermediate

00:55:08

age. Um,

00:55:10

do you get roped into lots of school

00:55:11

things?

00:55:12

>> Like I like because of your celebrity

00:55:15

status. Not I'm not doing like just

00:55:17

being a dad on a school camp as a

00:55:19

>> you know occasionally. Yeah. I've been

00:55:22

in to talk about you know on their

00:55:24

careers day you know talk about

00:55:27

what it's like to be in a restaurant. So

00:55:31

>> um

00:55:32

>> yeah that's that's sort of about it. Um,

00:55:35

there's been talk of me going in to do

00:55:37

some cooking classes in this school that

00:55:40

she's got when they've got this kitchen

00:55:42

that's better than any kitchen I've ever

00:55:44

worked in. So, I probably should go and

00:55:46

do it at some stage

00:55:47

>> and have a bit of fun with them.

00:55:49

>> What So, yeah. What What does your day

00:55:51

look like with her now when she's with

00:55:52

you? Are you there for the the school

00:55:54

drop off in the morning? You there for

00:55:55

breakfast and there in the afternoon

00:55:57

again?

00:55:57

>> Yep. Yep. I'm up in the morning and

00:56:00

we're getting ready for school, school

00:56:01

drop off and then pick up and everything

00:56:05

else that comes along with it.

00:56:06

Gymnastics classes and all those sort of

00:56:08

things, which is which is great. I love

00:56:11

it.

00:56:11

>> I absolutely just love it. And I think I

00:56:15

mentioned earlier, you know, she said to

00:56:16

me that she'd like to learn how to fly a

00:56:18

glider. Don't know whether she's told

00:56:20

her mom that yet, but

00:56:23

you know, that's that's pretty exciting.

00:56:25

And a lot of people go, "Oh, you 12's

00:56:27

way too young." But we'll just get her

00:56:28

up in the air and see I've taken her

00:56:31

power flying and um first time I took

00:56:34

her, you know, I said, "Oh, go and fly

00:56:36

over your mom's house and we're going

00:56:37

around and around and around and she

00:56:40

couldn't see her mom who was standing

00:56:42

out in the middle of the road." And

00:56:44

finally she saw her and I thought,

00:56:45

"Right, we've gone around and around a

00:56:47

lot here." And we went off and then she

00:56:50

said, "Dad, can we do a roll?" So I did

00:56:52

a roll and then I looked at her and she

00:56:53

was white and I thought, "I need to get

00:56:56

this thing on the ground." in a big

00:56:58

hurry. My dad had said to me, "Whatever

00:56:59

you do, don't do any aerobatics on the

00:57:01

first flight with her and I didn't

00:57:02

listen to that." But we've since been

00:57:04

flying and she's an ace now. Loosens off

00:57:06

a strap, flies it round, loves going

00:57:08

upside down.

00:57:10

>> Yeah. Yeah. So, your dad, Brian Gol.

00:57:12

>> Yeah.

00:57:12

>> Um that's where the love of flying come

00:57:14

from, which seems like it's a been going

00:57:15

to be passed down to another generation.

00:57:17

Um and you lost your dad in June last

00:57:21

year.

00:57:21

>> Yeah.

00:57:22

>> 2024. So, who was Brian Gold?

00:57:25

He was the most awesome dad in the

00:57:28

world. And I was lucky that uh what he

00:57:31

did for a living ended up being my

00:57:34

passion. And when I wanted to learn how

00:57:37

to fly, I remember him saying, and I

00:57:38

guess I'm sort of deviating onto the

00:57:40

flying thing. But uh you know, he said,

00:57:43

"If you want to learn how to fly, get

00:57:45

yourself out to the gliding club and

00:57:47

learn how to fly a glider, and that will

00:57:49

make you a better pilot." And he had

00:57:50

really nothing to do with my flying and

00:57:52

was not really interested. It was kind

00:57:54

of like do it on your own. And

00:57:57

eventually once I became a glider pilot,

00:58:00

he came out and started getting

00:58:02

involved. And then eventually I said to

00:58:04

him, you know, "Dad, you're you're

00:58:06

really good at this. How about you teach

00:58:07

me how to fly powered airplanes?" Which

00:58:09

he did. And then he sent me solo in a

00:58:14

Harvard,

00:58:16

which is an ex Air Force Harvard,

00:58:20

>> 49 years after head

00:58:23

>> flowning it in the Air Force in the same

00:58:25

Harvard.

00:58:26

>> And that was a pretty cool dad son

00:58:29

>> experience to do. And then with my love

00:58:33

of flying, I bought an airplane called a

00:58:36

Mustang with three other guys and

00:58:40

brought it to New Zealand and super high

00:58:43

performance, fastest piston engine

00:58:45

airplane in New Zealand like a real

00:58:48

weapon. And that's when I said to dad,

00:58:51

could you test fly it for us? Which he

00:58:54

did. And then he taught us all how to

00:58:55

fly it. And then eventually, so he did

00:58:57

all the air shows in it originally going

00:58:59

around and displaying it at, you know,

00:59:01

Wanuker Air Show and all the big air

00:59:03

shows. And then he taught me how to do

00:59:06

that. But those trips away together,

00:59:09

flying and poor weather conditions,

00:59:12

great weather conditions. It was just

00:59:15

the ultimate fatherson thing to do.

00:59:20

>> And I'm so grateful for him. And you

00:59:23

know, he worked in the the import

00:59:25

business that we started to supply my

00:59:27

restaurants. He ran that after he

00:59:30

retired. Uh he worked until the day he

00:59:33

had a stroke actually. And yeah, the the

00:59:36

most incredible father, supportive,

00:59:40

>> so grateful.

00:59:40

>> Yeah. I've got a photo here. I don't

00:59:42

know what the plane is in the

00:59:43

background, but it's a photo of you and

00:59:44

him.

00:59:45

>> That's the Harvard that he sent me solo

00:59:48

in. Yeah.

00:59:49

>> Yeah. Yeah, it seems like it was a

00:59:50

really special relationship and um

00:59:52

ultimately it was motor neuron disease.

00:59:54

>> Yeah.

00:59:54

>> That that got him. What does that look

00:59:56

like in real terms?

00:59:57

>> What is mo neuron disease?

00:59:58

>> Horrendous.

00:59:59

>> Yeah.

00:59:59

>> Yeah. Horrendous.

01:00:00

>> Is that where your body just stops?

01:00:02

>> Yeah. Everything stops working. So in

01:00:05

the end, unfortunately, you know, he was

01:00:08

uh bedridden and couldn't do it. But you

01:00:12

know, my dad being his dad when he found

01:00:14

out that he had motor neuron disease and

01:00:17

heard the outcome cuz eventually you you

01:00:19

know, you can't swallow, you can't you

01:00:21

can do nothing. It's a horrendous way to

01:00:25

die and he took advantage of the

01:00:30

assisted death

01:00:32

and that takes some balls, right?

01:00:35

>> And so he was straight on to that and

01:00:39

yeah, that was

01:00:41

And you know with thank you to

01:00:46

our leader David Seymour,

01:00:49

not leader but you know who brought that

01:00:51

in because

01:00:53

>> you know that would have been it was bad

01:00:55

enough to watch what it was and I

01:00:57

remember when dad said you know it was

01:00:59

scheduled for 6 weeks away and things

01:01:01

started to decline. He just looked at me

01:01:02

and said make the call.

01:01:06

>> Um how did that look? The reason I asked

01:01:08

this, I I had a lady on the podcast last

01:01:10

year called Tracy Hickman and um she we

01:01:12

did the podcast. She she chose to go the

01:01:14

same way. She had um

01:01:16

>> I heard her. He just did it on the

01:01:17

beach, right?

01:01:18

>> Yeah. Incredible. Yeah. Went went to the

01:01:19

beach, had a Bluetooth speaker, had some

01:01:22

friends there, and um everything went

01:01:24

exactly the way that she planned it,

01:01:26

which is perfect cuz she was a planner.

01:01:28

>> Um Yeah. How was it for your dad? So I

01:01:31

sort of imagined that when someone did

01:01:32

this it was going to be in like a I

01:01:34

don't know like a cold sort of cold sort

01:01:36

of doctor's surgery or something.

01:01:38

>> It was hospice in Manora and they do the

01:01:41

work of angels. They are incredible.

01:01:44

Hence I try and help them with

01:01:46

fundraising when I where I can.

01:01:48

>> Uh the people there were just

01:01:52

angels. That's the only way you can say

01:01:53

it.

01:01:54

>> They were incredible.

01:01:56

Uh we were all around him. The night

01:02:00

before I went and got a bottle of wine,

01:02:02

put a straw in the glass and uh

01:02:09

is that when your your sister was there?

01:02:10

She was singing Ava Maria.

01:02:13

Is that a different occasion?

01:02:27

That's the silence where you get me

01:02:29

right.

01:02:32

>> I think that's good though. It shows the

01:02:33

impact.

01:02:35

Yeah.

01:02:38

must have been so proud of you.

01:02:41

Well, he was an amazing singer. He

01:02:43

actually did a record and he sang opera

01:02:45

and was

01:02:48

you know he was a great golfer

01:02:51

both uh you know he played off of you

01:02:55

know I think he was a one handicap uh

01:02:59

one or two uh his brother was a great

01:03:01

golfer who became captain of Saint

01:03:03

Andrews he loved golf and he was a great

01:03:05

singer and my sister ended up singing as

01:03:09

well and she's a great singer so yes

01:03:11

there was that song sung and

01:03:15

it's pretty hard to talk about.

01:03:17

>> Well, it's still quite recent. It's like

01:03:19

a year and a bit.

01:03:20

>> Yeah.

01:03:21

>> But you kind of hope it's um It's always

01:03:23

hard to talk about, I guess, cuz it

01:03:25

means he's still Yeah.

01:03:26

>> Yeah. Yeah. It'll always be hard to talk

01:03:28

about it. And um it'll always get me

01:03:30

probably.

01:03:31

>> Um

01:03:32

>> When do you miss him most?

01:03:36

>> Oh, all the time. like, you know, I

01:03:37

often think about him and um

01:03:42

you know, life life has a limit. We're

01:03:44

all going to die, right? So, you just

01:03:46

got to get on with it. But I've got so

01:03:47

many incredible memories and stories

01:03:50

and, you know, just just good things

01:03:53

that are, you know, he wouldn't want me

01:03:56

sitting here bloody crying. He'd want

01:03:57

me, you know, he he would hate me

01:04:00

talking about him, you know. Yeah. He's

01:04:03

the most humble guy. Um, you know, I've

01:04:06

had so many people who he taught how to

01:04:08

fly the 747

01:04:10

400 for in New Zealand. He was a

01:04:12

training captain who said, "You know

01:04:14

what? Your old man didn't know about

01:04:15

flying those things. Wasn't worth

01:04:17

knowing."

01:04:18

>> And um, you know, I think I had a have a

01:04:21

legend of a father in the aviation

01:04:23

industry. You know, super highly

01:04:26

respected

01:04:27

>> and you know,

01:04:30

they were a team, my mom and him. You

01:04:32

know, I've got an incredible mother

01:04:34

who's tells me everything every day and

01:04:36

she's normally bloody right.

01:04:40

>> Yeah. Is she still around or is she

01:04:42

>> She's she's still around kicking and she

01:04:44

tells me she's passed a used by date,

01:04:46

but she's, you know, they have, you

01:04:49

know, both my sister and I and even

01:04:52

Hazel is the granddaughter of, you know,

01:04:55

we've been very lucky. And that's why

01:04:57

family is so important to me. We have a

01:04:59

very tight-knit family

01:05:02

>> and you know that's what family's about.

01:05:04

Sitting at a dinner table breaking bread

01:05:06

and

01:05:07

>> being on one another's side even when

01:05:09

you've done something wrong, you know.

01:05:12

>> Yeah. Um you were your mom and dad

01:05:14

married till the end.

01:05:15

>> Yep.

01:05:15

>> Yeah. 66 years.

01:05:18

>> Right. Yeah. They were

01:05:20

>> together a long time. Yeah.

01:05:22

>> Yeah.

01:05:22

>> How's she coping?

01:05:24

>> She she's done pretty well, I think. um

01:05:27

you know she was a full-time carer in

01:05:29

the end. So when suddenly that role

01:05:32

disappears it's pretty hard.

01:05:34

Unfortunately my mom has a uh a disorder

01:05:37

called neuropathy which is where your

01:05:40

legs suddenly don't work and things. So

01:05:45

she's got a little tough road ahead of

01:05:47

her at the moment. But um

01:05:49

>> she's driving and still telling me what

01:05:52

I should and shouldn't do. So things are

01:05:54

good. Is she right?

01:05:57

That's the goddamn problem, isn't it?

01:06:00

>> Yeah. This is um It's wonderful though,

01:06:03

like losing your first parent at the age

01:06:04

of 60.

01:06:06

>> Yeah.

01:06:06

>> Like it's how things are supposed to go.

01:06:08

>> Yeah. Exactly.

01:06:09

>> It's not It's not easy.

01:06:10

>> Yeah. Well, my dad was 90, right? And

01:06:13

you know, he was flying airplanes until

01:06:14

he was 79 at air shows. I remember he'd

01:06:18

taxi in

01:06:19

>> to and the crowd line would be there and

01:06:22

all the crowd would go up to see the

01:06:23

airplane. and you pull his helmet off

01:06:25

and everybody go, "Oh my god, he's a

01:06:27

freaking granddad. Look at how old he

01:06:29

is." And he just been flying past at 350

01:06:33

knots, pulling up and doing loops and

01:06:35

rolls and things, you know.

01:06:37

>> And where's it? Um where's your knife

01:06:39

with his with his wings on?

01:06:41

>> Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. Wow. So, yeah,

01:06:45

I said to dad before he passed away that

01:06:48

I wanted something special that could go

01:06:51

in the handle of a knife and he gave me

01:06:53

his Air Force wings. And uh a Oakland

01:06:59

guy called Willie and his wife Angela

01:07:02

make these beautiful knives called Kiwi

01:07:05

Blade knives. And so they did this

01:07:08

project. So the handle is in the same

01:07:10

color as his Air Force uniform and the

01:07:13

wings are in the handle. So it's an

01:07:15

everyday knife that will last for

01:07:17

centuries that one day I'll hand down to

01:07:20

my daughter. So you know we have all

01:07:22

these things that we get from our

01:07:24

grandparents or parents that just end up

01:07:26

in a drawer. Might be cufflinks or Air

01:07:29

Force wings or whatever it is and they

01:07:31

disappear and you never look at them.

01:07:33

And I just wondered,

01:07:35

you know,

01:07:37

>> is that something you think about? you

01:07:39

think about him when you use that knife?

01:07:41

>> Yeah, every time I look at the

01:07:43

>> wings, I think,

01:07:44

>> wow, that's pretty cool. Unfortunately,

01:07:46

you never got to see it,

01:07:48

>> but uh

01:07:51

>> Yeah. What does your mom think of it?

01:07:54

>> Beautiful

01:07:54

>> was her words. I mean,

01:07:56

>> yeah.

01:07:57

>> Yeah. Everybody who sees it goes, "Wow,

01:07:59

what a cool idea." And you know, I use

01:08:02

it every day. It's not one of those

01:08:03

knives that you bring out for show. It's

01:08:06

just

01:08:06

>> it's an everyday knife. and I call it my

01:08:09

wingman, you know.

01:08:11

>> So,

01:08:12

>> that's cool. Thank you. I know this this

01:08:15

stuff's um not easy to share, but I do

01:08:17

appreciate you sharing it today.

01:08:19

>> Pleasure.

01:08:20

>> It's really cool.

01:08:21

>> Yeah. Well, it cements it all back,

01:08:23

isn't it? You care. And

01:08:25

>> um you know, I've had a very lucky life.

01:08:28

A lot of amazing opportunities have come

01:08:30

my way

01:08:31

>> and you know, I'm grateful for all of

01:08:34

it. But it ain't over yet, right? Fat

01:08:35

lady hasn't sung. No way. You're Yeah, I

01:08:38

mean, you're in great shape. I said this

01:08:39

when you arrived. I said, "Shit, you're

01:08:41

looking good." And uh you accuse me of

01:08:42

making a fat joke.

01:08:45

I can't remember exactly what you said,

01:08:46

but yeah. Um yeah, let's talk about the

01:08:49

health for a little bit. So, am I right

01:08:51

in saying your your mom um was diabetic

01:08:54

as well?

01:08:55

>> No, but it ran in the family.

01:08:57

>> Okay.

01:08:57

>> Diabetes. And uh you know, I

01:09:00

progressively got bigger and bigger

01:09:03

>> just as a result of your lifestyle and

01:09:05

job.

01:09:05

>> Yeah. just, you know, eat, grazing all

01:09:07

day, you know, tasting food all day in

01:09:10

the restaurants and then getting home at

01:09:12

late at night. Probably had couple too

01:09:15

many drinks, opening the fridge door and

01:09:17

going better eat something.

01:09:20

>> Never really sitting down often for a

01:09:23

meal and then getting up and doing it

01:09:25

all again. And

01:09:27

um you know, it wasn't you know, she

01:09:30

said, "You need to be careful. you need

01:09:32

to lose some weight cuz diabetes runs in

01:09:35

the family. And of course, I just

01:09:36

ignored it until one day um I'd done

01:09:39

some blood tests for an insurance thing

01:09:42

I wanted to get and they said, "We can't

01:09:44

ensure you because you've got type 2

01:09:45

diabetes. You better go and see your

01:09:47

doctor." Well, no, they didn't say type

01:09:49

2 diabetes. They said, "You've got high

01:09:51

blood glucose levels." So, I went along

01:09:53

to the doctor. Sure enough, and then

01:09:56

they start prescribing you medication,

01:09:59

but I was still into the restaurants and

01:10:02

you know, I pretty much ignored it

01:10:04

because they give you these tablets,

01:10:07

right, to take

01:10:09

and you know, did Master Chef, you know,

01:10:11

and embarrassed to talk about it

01:10:14

>> because you eat your way to diabetes yet

01:10:17

it is genetic and you're predisposed to

01:10:20

it. But you know and type 1 diabetes is

01:10:24

very different right? So that's

01:10:26

completely different thing to type 2

01:10:28

diabetes. So you know basically I was

01:10:30

overweight unfit and had eaten my way to

01:10:35

type two diabetes. So I was highly

01:10:37

embarrassed about that. So I didn't tell

01:10:38

anybody. You know my family knew but you

01:10:41

know nobody you know it wasn't something

01:10:43

I wanted to talk about. In hindsight

01:10:45

should you have been embarrassed about

01:10:46

it

01:10:47

>> in hindsight? No. Cuz I guess I'm

01:10:49

talking about it right now. I like and

01:10:51

it wasn't until I actually changed

01:10:53

doctors to a guy Tom Doo who I went all

01:10:58

through school with who was a doctor and

01:11:00

he said you know what you should change

01:11:02

and come to me as a doctor and he said

01:11:04

and when you make your first booking do

01:11:06

it just um right before lunch

01:11:10

so I thought we're planning on going out

01:11:12

for a lunch right so you know sure

01:11:14

enough I I booked this doctor's

01:11:16

appointment and I'll never forget being

01:11:18

in the surgery and it is Hazel was

01:11:22

almost one

01:11:24

>> and he said to me, "Do you want to walk

01:11:26

down the aisle with your daughter?"

01:11:29

>> And he said, "You know what? Cuz the

01:11:31

rate you're going, you're not going to."

01:11:33

He said, "You're on the maximum dose of

01:11:35

metformin for this type 2 diabetes. You

01:11:38

probably eventually go blind. You

01:11:41

probably might even get a foot chopped

01:11:42

off

01:11:44

or a leg as it progresses. You won't die

01:11:48

of diabetes, but you'll die of a related

01:11:50

effect from the type 2 diabetes

01:11:54

and you know, you probably end up having

01:11:55

to go to the hospital, go on a diialysis

01:11:57

machine,

01:11:59

you know, multiple times a week

01:12:02

at which age I I sort of said, I guess

01:12:05

lunch is off.

01:12:09

>> Scared straight.

01:12:10

>> Yeah. I went hopped in the car and I was

01:12:13

absolutely shell shocked and it was

01:12:15

exactly what I need to be told. You

01:12:17

know, it was, you know, he had some

01:12:20

pretty stiff words as I walked out the

01:12:22

door. It was like something along the

01:12:25

lines of, "Pull your finger

01:12:27

out."

01:12:28

>> So, I went home and I Googled

01:12:32

reverse diabetes. Reverse diabetes.

01:12:35

There's got to be, you know, some silver

01:12:37

bullet out here. So then I found this

01:12:38

place in Nevada that said they could

01:12:41

reverse diabetes. So I thought I better

01:12:42

do a bit of research on this. So found

01:12:45

some YouTube clips and it just looked

01:12:47

like a bunch of hippies sitting around

01:12:49

smoking a bunch of joints. I thought,

01:12:52

well, maybe that's not the place to go.

01:12:55

So then I continued looking and then I

01:12:58

found this place in the UK that believed

01:13:01

they could help with tire type 2

01:13:03

diabetes and I found a YouTube clip of a

01:13:05

guy kind of looked just a bit like me

01:13:08

who was singing its praises and said got

01:13:10

him off all the medication. So I rang

01:13:12

them and said, "Hey, I'm in New Zealand.

01:13:14

I'd like to come up." They said, "Oh, we

01:13:16

don't really deal with it anymore

01:13:17

because you got to have a nurse and all

01:13:20

this sort of things and doctors." And I

01:13:22

said, "Well, what would it take for you

01:13:24

to do it?" So they came back to me and

01:13:26

said, "So long as I paid the extra." And

01:13:28

back then I was like master chef. It was

01:13:32

I just finished the fifth season. So,

01:13:35

you know, I I could afford it. And they

01:13:37

said to me, "You need to come for

01:13:39

minimum four weeks, but if we need you

01:13:41

for 8 weeks, you'll have to stay 8

01:13:43

weeks." I'd never taken eight weeks off

01:13:45

in my life,

01:13:46

>> you know, eight weeks.

01:13:49

And anyway, with some discussion with my

01:13:52

ex at the time, it was decided that I

01:13:55

should do it. So, I went there and I'll

01:13:58

never forget arriving into London,

01:13:59

getting some friends. I had been seen. I

01:14:01

like had this last supper. I turn up at

01:14:05

this place the next day and it was like

01:14:07

checking myself into

01:14:09

I don't know what because you know it

01:14:11

was this old sort of villa sort of

01:14:15

castley looking place and it was just

01:14:18

the only people that were there when I

01:14:20

walked in was just people in I felt like

01:14:23

I was checking myself into a funny farm

01:14:25

and you know the bed was terrible and

01:14:28

then next morning and I come down and

01:14:30

it's just raw food and juices and and

01:14:34

take me into a room and it's all these

01:14:35

beautiful people. I'm the only big guy

01:14:37

there. It's all people that are detoxing

01:14:39

and actresses and writers and creator,

01:14:42

all these sort of beautiful people there

01:14:45

who are just doing the detox.

01:14:48

>> And they said to me, "You're going to

01:14:49

have a personal trainer. You're going to

01:14:53

be doing yoga. You're going to be doing

01:14:55

meditation."

01:14:57

And I'm like, "You're kidding me. I

01:14:59

mean, I'd never been to a gym in my

01:15:01

life." um you know and yoga and

01:15:04

meditation. What a croc of I

01:15:06

thought this is going to be ridiculous.

01:15:08

And you're going to be doing these

01:15:09

sauners and you're going to be doing all

01:15:11

this stuff and then we're going to be in

01:15:12

the lounge each night and we're going to

01:15:13

teach you about fats and superfoods and

01:15:17

it's going to be all raw food. I'm like

01:15:20

awesome. Here I am. Chef's the version

01:15:23

of hell for a chef.

01:15:25

>> Yeah. And I remember the first day when

01:15:27

I ran on a running machine and you you

01:15:30

won't cope with this at all. Well, I

01:15:31

couldn't even run 2 minutes. I couldn't

01:15:33

even run 2 minutes. I went to the first

01:15:37

um yoga and I'm down the back of the

01:15:40

class and let me tell you, Dom, the view

01:15:42

was really good from the back of the

01:15:43

class. So, I was starting to think,

01:15:44

"This isn't so bad." And

01:15:48

about, you know, a fair way into the

01:15:50

classes, the trainer was going, "Imagine

01:15:53

you're floating." And I'm like, "Oh my

01:15:55

god, what a load of crap." Anyway, I

01:15:58

persevered with it and the long story

01:16:02

short is that at the end of it, I was

01:16:05

running good on that running machine and

01:16:07

this guy is going, "You're doing it for

01:16:09

your daughter." I had tears running down

01:16:11

my face

01:16:14

and you know, at the end of it, I was

01:16:17

off all the medication.

01:16:19

I lost a lot of weight just in the four

01:16:22

weeks. After four weeks, they said,

01:16:24

"You're done. you've done great.

01:16:28

And then because I'd taken the eight

01:16:30

weeks off, I met Hazel and my ex-wife in

01:16:33

Los Angeles. And I just went on a

01:16:35

mission to learn more about superfoods,

01:16:37

fats, and learn all about this. And LA

01:16:40

is just the greatest place on the planet

01:16:42

for, you know, all these juice bars and

01:16:45

things. And it changed my life, you

01:16:48

know. Um, I was far more aware of food.

01:16:52

I was never eating bad food, you know. I

01:16:54

wasn't a McDonald's guy or, you know,

01:16:57

occasionally I'd have a Georgie pie on

01:16:59

the way home, but you know, I wasn't a,

01:17:01

you know, I didn't eat bad food. I was

01:17:02

just eating at the wrong time. So, I'd

01:17:04

learned all about fasting. I learned

01:17:06

about microbiome, our gut health, and,

01:17:09

you know, how it affects us,

01:17:12

communicating via neurons to our small

01:17:14

brain, and, you know, um, nutrition.

01:17:19

Learned all this stuff. came back to New

01:17:22

Zealand and put a healthy menu on at

01:17:24

Euro made the big mistake of telling

01:17:26

everybody it was healthy so nobody

01:17:27

wanted to come and dumb mistake or and

01:17:30

all I did was actually go right let's be

01:17:32

conscious of the carbs with everything

01:17:34

and the fats that I was using not that I

01:17:36

was ever using bad fats but you know I

01:17:39

was tailoring it to something that I

01:17:41

thought everybody would love and that

01:17:43

was a huge mistake so I had to quickly

01:17:46

reverse and put another menu on but and

01:17:49

then you know they asked me cuz I'd lost

01:17:51

a bunch of weight at this time was asked

01:17:53

if I would um actually go get back a

01:17:57

step because whilst I was there I

01:18:00

remember they asked me to do a list of

01:18:02

all my you know things that were most

01:18:06

important to me. So obviously family was

01:18:08

at top and then there was work and all

01:18:10

these things and I remember this woman

01:18:12

saying to me, "Do you know what

01:18:14

>> I'd like you to do now? I'd like you to

01:18:16

do a pie chart of how much time you

01:18:19

spent on everything." So then it was

01:18:21

here was this pie chart and it was just

01:18:22

all this work and very little for

01:18:25

anything else. And then she said to me,

01:18:26

"Do you know you is there a reason why I

01:18:29

haven't put health on there

01:18:32

or exercise?"

01:18:34

>> I didn't put any of that on there, you

01:18:36

know. I just had never occurred to me.

01:18:38

Most people listening to this will go,

01:18:39

"You serious?" You know, but it had

01:18:42

never occurred to me. So that was a big

01:18:45

eye opener. And then we talked about uh

01:18:48

you know the master chef thing and how I

01:18:51

was eating all this cold food. Not not

01:18:53

that the cold food is a problem but I

01:18:55

was just eat again. You know when you'd

01:18:58

start you got so much food to taste. Is

01:19:00

this really good for you?

01:19:03

And that's when I decided that actually

01:19:05

Master Chef was not good for me and I

01:19:08

came back and you know quit. Never been

01:19:12

on TV and Zed since. So, it went down

01:19:16

like a probably a cup of cold sick. I

01:19:18

don't know. Maybe they were ready to

01:19:19

move on. Who knows? But, so then I was

01:19:23

asked if I would do um a documentary

01:19:26

called Why Are We Fat and be the host on

01:19:28

it. So, I was quite excited about that

01:19:30

because it was going to be this

01:19:31

opportunity to travel around the world

01:19:32

and meet the world's experts on all

01:19:36

different facets of the science behind

01:19:40

losing weight. You know, we all know

01:19:41

diets don't work. They work in the short

01:19:44

term. Everybody puts more weight on.

01:19:45

Diets do not work. Science works. So, I

01:19:48

was really excited cuz I'd started this

01:19:50

journey about, you know, superfoods,

01:19:52

fats, and, you know, fiber and what your

01:19:56

gut likes and doesn't like and all of

01:19:58

that sort of thing. So, I was on this

01:20:00

mission like, "Yeah, I'll I'll do this."

01:20:03

I remember the first day I turned up to

01:20:04

this doctor's surgery for the first

01:20:06

filming and they said, "Could you just

01:20:08

take your shirt off and get into your

01:20:09

undies?" And I'm like, "Hey, I'm the

01:20:11

host."

01:20:13

Nope. I was the guinea pig and the host

01:20:17

who would interview people and that was

01:20:22

>> it's conf confrontational.

01:20:24

>> Yeah, it was pretty confrontational. And

01:20:26

you know, I'm like, well, I guess

01:20:28

everybody's going to know I got diabetes

01:20:30

or had diabetes, right? Like it's, you

01:20:33

know, I'm going with it. So, and I've

01:20:36

never looked back, you know.

01:20:37

>> What was that like going public with it?

01:20:39

Was there an outpouring of support at

01:20:41

the time or?

01:20:42

>> No, I don't think anybody cared. I think

01:20:43

it was me that was more worried about

01:20:45

it. You know, I think I'd built it up

01:20:48

to, you know, I look back at photos of

01:20:49

me now and go, I really was grossly

01:20:53

overweight. I was gross. I mean, I'm 32

01:20:56

kilos lighter than what I was then.

01:20:58

>> Wow.

01:20:58

>> That's a lot of weight, right?

01:21:00

>> So much weight. You must feel so much

01:21:01

better. That's so much less weight to be

01:21:03

carrying around.

01:21:03

>> Yeah. And you know, unlike you who runs

01:21:06

every day, you know, I've never loved

01:21:08

that. You know, it's never been me. But

01:21:11

and that's why I've really enjoyed

01:21:13

helping people now get better sleep. I

01:21:17

mean, sleep is massive. We don't teach

01:21:18

people how to sleep at school. We should

01:21:20

be,

01:21:21

>> you know, it's so important for us. And

01:21:24

there are so many ways that we can help

01:21:26

with sleep. I'm so strict with my

01:21:28

daughter about, you know, when she stops

01:21:29

using her phone in at night and not

01:21:32

having the phone in the room and reduce

01:21:34

those blue lights and the all the little

01:21:37

things we can do because when we go to

01:21:40

sleep, we're slowly filling this gas

01:21:42

tank up in our frontal cortex. And if we

01:21:45

don't get a good night's sleep, we wake

01:21:48

up in the morning and the gas tank's

01:21:49

only half full. And then we're on our

01:21:51

way home going, I just don't want to

01:21:52

talk to anybody else anymore. I'm like,

01:21:54

I'm tired. I'm done. Yeah, I'll just get

01:21:56

takeaways or I'll open that jar of crap

01:21:59

sauce and pour it over some pasta and

01:22:03

you know, so

01:22:06

it w it was an incredible experience

01:22:08

doing the whole program and what I

01:22:11

learned. And then we did another one

01:22:12

called how we eat. So we went to Turkey

01:22:15

and Greece and looked at the whole

01:22:17

Mediterranean diet. We hear about the

01:22:19

Mediterranean diet, right? How good it

01:22:21

is. But, you know, when you actually

01:22:23

hear the real truth about it, 30% less

01:22:26

cancer than we get in New Zealand, 50%

01:22:29

less heart disease, one ninth the amount

01:22:31

of diabetes. They live to be older,

01:22:34

they're having fun when they're older,

01:22:36

they're drinking and partying when

01:22:37

they're older, whereas we're all slowing

01:22:40

down and our joints don't work and all

01:22:42

that sort of thing. The Mediterranean

01:22:44

diet's the way to go. So, we were going

01:22:46

into universities and going to slow slow

01:22:50

um cities where they just had all the

01:22:52

things that weren't highly processed and

01:22:55

refined. It's why you hear a lot of

01:22:57

people go, you know, when I eat good

01:22:58

pasta, I don't feel bloated. You know,

01:23:03

our flour here is so refined and you

01:23:05

know, kids, you've started me in here,

01:23:07

Dom, but you know, like

01:23:08

>> I love the passion.

01:23:09

>> We we send our kids to school with a

01:23:12

with white bread sandwiches. There's one

01:23:15

gram of fiber in white a slice of white

01:23:18

bread. There is no nutrition. It's

01:23:20

rubbish. We send them to school with a

01:23:22

little red packet of raisins. May as

01:23:24

well fill it up with sugar. Why not put

01:23:26

some goji berries in there? Use a

01:23:28

sourdough bread.

01:23:29

>> You know, let's start feeding our kids

01:23:32

better. You know, we we're the second

01:23:35

most obese nation in the world and our

01:23:37

kids are the second most obese kids in

01:23:39

the world. So, we got to start looking

01:23:42

at what we eat. And I'm so passionate

01:23:45

about that now and trying to help people

01:23:47

and and you know I piss some people off

01:23:49

at what I say.

01:23:50

>> You know that's why I've just started

01:23:51

this podcast with Kate. We've called it

01:23:53

the fork. Can I get that plug in for my

01:23:55

podcast?

01:23:56

>> You know forking good podcast where

01:23:58

we're talking about waste and you know

01:24:01

expiry dates on food and best before

01:24:04

dates and educating on that. And my

01:24:06

mission is to get people cooking again.

01:24:09

I don't need to be in a restaurant

01:24:10

making this beautiful prissy plate of

01:24:12

food. have been there, done that. I just

01:24:14

want us cooking food and you know using

01:24:17

olive oil to cook. The old science told

01:24:19

us, "Oh no, don't use olive oil, use

01:24:20

avocado and coconut, you know, olive

01:24:24

oil, extra virgin olive oil is so good

01:24:27

for us to use

01:24:28

>> for our cooking drizzled on everything.

01:24:31

The average kiwi consumes about 200 mls

01:24:34

of extra virgin olive oil a year. In the

01:24:36

Mediterranean, where I just told you all

01:24:37

the stats, how much healthier they are,

01:24:39

the average person's consuming about 25

01:24:42

L.

01:24:42

>> Wow.

01:24:43

>> It's massive. The tomatoes that they

01:24:46

consume versus what we do here, you

01:24:49

know, we're about 8 kilos a year. Over

01:24:51

there, they're 40 something kilos. And

01:24:53

it's the lycopen and tomatoes that helps

01:24:56

fight cancer.

01:24:57

>> You know, we need to be cooking with

01:24:59

more spices, ginger, turmeric, and

01:25:02

garlic. You know, top things that help

01:25:04

fight cancer. So, I'm passionate about

01:25:06

that.

01:25:07

>> Well, I can I can take or leave tomatoes

01:25:09

here, but in Croatia a few years ago, I

01:25:12

had some tomatoes and they were real

01:25:13

flavorsome, but you put them in your

01:25:15

mouth and bite into them and they just

01:25:16

like an taste bud explosion

01:25:18

>> because they vi ripened on the vine as

01:25:21

opposed to the supermarkets here buying

01:25:23

something that is nowhere near ripe. So,

01:25:26

last forever on the shelf

01:25:28

>> and they've got very little flavor. We

01:25:30

all know when somebody's growing

01:25:31

tomatoes and they ripen on the vine,

01:25:34

they're just sweet and delicious, right?

01:25:37

>> So,

01:25:39

>> so I guess so when you when you went to

01:25:42

the UK, which seems like it was a

01:25:43

circuit breaker and like a like a game

01:25:46

changer in terms of your life. So, at

01:25:47

that point, you had you had a lot of

01:25:49

money, but you had very little time. Why

01:25:50

why didn't why did you go there and not

01:25:52

look at, you know, just getting some

01:25:54

elective surgery?

01:25:56

I went for the appointment to the guy

01:25:59

and the before I changed doctors. My

01:26:02

last doctor keep telling me you need to

01:26:04

lose weight

01:26:06

and he gave me a uh formula to start

01:26:10

drinking. And I went home and looked at

01:26:12

all the ingredients on that. And this is

01:26:14

before I really got into this. I'm going

01:26:17

to change my life. And I looked at

01:26:18

that's just I'm not I'm not drinking

01:26:20

that. And then he suggested that I get

01:26:22

some surgery. And I went along there and

01:26:25

the guy said to me, you know, do you

01:26:26

really want to do this? You're a chef

01:26:29

and once you get this done, food will

01:26:33

never be the same for you. And it was at

01:26:35

that exact around that time that Tom

01:26:39

Doo, Dr. Tom Doo, my old school buddy,

01:26:42

said, "Come and see me."

01:26:44

>> And that's when, you know, when he

01:26:47

really read me the riot act. And I guess

01:26:50

more doctors should, but because we were

01:26:52

mates, he could do it what he could say

01:26:55

really what he think. And I listened

01:26:58

>> and it got my attention. So

01:27:01

>> it was a game changer. What was the

01:27:02

question?

01:27:04

>> I know. Yeah. Why didn't you just go the

01:27:06

easy way and go for I don't know if it's

01:27:07

the easy way that maybe that's harsh on

01:27:09

people that have done it, but you I mean

01:27:10

you had the money and you had very

01:27:11

little time. Why didn't you just get

01:27:13

surgery?

01:27:15

>> Because of that exact thing. you know,

01:27:17

the doctor saying to me that it will

01:27:19

really affect your career with food if

01:27:21

you do this cuz you won't be able to eat

01:27:23

much. And basically, they tie your

01:27:25

stomach up, make it a quarter of the

01:27:27

size, and you can't put as much in. And

01:27:29

I love food. You know, life's too short

01:27:31

for twigs and berries.

01:27:33

>> You know, we got to, you know, food's my

01:27:36

life. I love it. You know, wherever I go

01:27:37

away, the next plan is where we're going

01:27:39

for dinner.

01:27:40

>> You know, that's that is my life. I love

01:27:44

it.

01:27:44

>> Yeah. You are so passionate about it,

01:27:46

eh? Uh, you just your eyes light up when

01:27:48

you when you talk about talk about food

01:27:50

and the dining experience. Um,

01:27:53

>> yeah. Did Mike Hoskin make a fat joke

01:27:55

about you on stage at an event?

01:27:57

>> He did. He did. Yeah. And I got to thank

01:27:59

him for what did he say? Uh, I won, it

01:28:02

was the Ernston Young Entrepreneurs

01:28:06

winners and I won a category

01:28:09

and he basically introduced me as the

01:28:12

fat chef and you know I didn't like it

01:28:16

much at the time but it it resonated

01:28:18

with me. It was like my doctor saying it

01:28:20

you know he said it in front of hundreds

01:28:22

of people everybody laughed and I was

01:28:25

the fat guy you know I was. So, he

01:28:28

wasn't telling a lie. And um I, you

01:28:33

know, I'd thank him for it if ever I saw

01:28:34

him. You know, it was a good call. It

01:28:37

kind of made me go that's how people are

01:28:39

seeing me. Because you you look in the

01:28:41

mirror, but you know, it's not until

01:28:43

you've lost weight

01:28:44

>> that you look back at photos photos and

01:28:47

go, "Wow,

01:28:49

>> that's a big difference."

01:28:51

>> What does it mean now on for day-to-day

01:28:54

living with diabetes? Like have have you

01:28:56

re re are you on medication or have you

01:28:58

reversed it?

01:28:59

>> I take some medication for my heart and

01:29:01

things like that but I eat in an 8h hour

01:29:04

window and you know 16 I fast

01:29:08

timerestricted eating so I've had

01:29:11

nothing to eat today. Um yeah what's the

01:29:13

time now? I've got no clue.

01:29:14

>> Oh my god it's almost 1:00 in the

01:29:16

afternoon.

01:29:16

>> Yeah but I'm not missing it at all. You

01:29:18

know it's I'm used to it. So I eat in an

01:29:20

8 hour window maximum. Um, sometimes,

01:29:23

you know, I I say to everybody, 80% of

01:29:26

the time we should be really good and

01:29:28

20% of the time we can be as naughty as

01:29:30

all hell, right? But, you know, just cuz

01:29:33

I eat in an 8 hour window doesn't mean I

01:29:35

eat twigs and berries, right?

01:29:37

>> And I might have a nice omelette for for

01:29:40

my first meal of the day, but it might

01:29:41

be at 2:00 in the afternoon perhaps, you

01:29:44

know?

01:29:45

>> So, that's kind of my secret weapon. And

01:29:48

because I'm still educating and helping

01:29:51

people with this, it's always top of

01:29:52

mind for me. And I'm always researching,

01:29:55

looking for the new science that's out

01:29:57

there. And you know, even starting to

01:30:01

learn more about mental health. And you

01:30:04

know, if somebody sleeps poorly,

01:30:08

>> they remember

01:30:11

more of the negative stuff than they do

01:30:13

of the positive than the impartial stuff

01:30:16

>> from a conversation. All this

01:30:18

culminates, right? You know, sugary

01:30:20

drinks culminate in depression and all

01:30:23

of these things. White bread is the

01:30:25

devil.

01:30:27

You know, I'm not a greenie. You know,

01:30:29

I'm not and I'm not a twigs and berries

01:30:31

guy. I'm not vegan. I'm not a

01:30:33

vegetarian.

01:30:35

Everything within balance, right?

01:30:38

>> And I I like it and I'm learning more

01:30:40

about it.

01:30:41

>> How's your mental health been?

01:30:44

>> Good, I think. Good, I think. I mean,

01:30:46

I'm going through a pretty interesting

01:30:48

time with business at the moment. It's

01:30:50

tough. I mean, my core business supplied

01:30:53

restaurants and everybody said to me

01:30:54

when co, "Aren't you glad you didn't

01:30:56

have a restaurant?" I said, "Well, try

01:30:58

having a business that supplies them." M

01:31:00

>> so it's been incredibly tough. So you

01:31:03

know we're probably uh 50% down from CO.

01:31:07

So hence why now you know I have a deli

01:31:09

and we now supply people nationally.

01:31:12

They can go on to my website

01:31:13

coltsdally.co.nz and Zed and we deliver

01:31:15

it to their door. And you know, I'm

01:31:18

about I'm the guys who's finding the

01:31:20

secret weapons for your pantry that make

01:31:22

things taste great with a little drizzle

01:31:24

of or a shake of or you know, that sort

01:31:27

of thing and doing the cooking classes.

01:31:30

So, yeah, it's I mean, how's my mental

01:31:32

health? I think I'm okay. I think I'm

01:31:35

because I'm sort of reading about it all

01:31:37

the time. You you start checking

01:31:39

yourself. I should probably come running

01:31:41

with you. That's probably the thing I'm

01:31:42

missing, but I wouldn't be able to keep

01:31:44

up.

01:31:45

>> Oh, no, no, no. I'll slow down for you.

01:31:48

You gave me a copy of your book, um, No

01:31:50

Half Measures, which, um, yeah, came out

01:31:51

in 2019. You can still buy it online

01:31:53

now.

01:31:54

>> You can buy it on my website,

01:31:56

doley.co.nz.

01:31:57

>> Yeah.

01:31:57

>> Yeah. There's, um, a quote in there that

01:31:59

I really like. People see my name on

01:32:00

products in the supermarket and they

01:32:02

think I'm a multi-millionaire. If only

01:32:04

they knew. Fail fast, fix fast.

01:32:07

>> That's sort of like your mantra. What

01:32:08

does What does that mean to you? Fail

01:32:10

fast, fix fast. Well, you got to see

01:32:12

when it's not working and fix it. And

01:32:15

too often we keep we keep going back to

01:32:17

the battle with the same guns and we

01:32:20

keep losing the battle. So, we got to go

01:32:23

with new guns. And you know, I remember

01:32:26

I did a ketchup that had no added

01:32:30

refined sugar to it. Kids loved it. It

01:32:33

was just like, you know, your hind sort

01:32:35

of watties type ketchup without all the

01:32:38

rubbish in it. Everybody loved it. got

01:32:41

it into the supermarket, spent a fortune

01:32:45

developing it and getting it there and

01:32:47

it was a dismal failure because

01:32:49

unfortunately it costs more and you

01:32:52

unfortunately a lot of healthy things do

01:32:54

cost more and it was like do we just

01:32:57

keep pushing this or do we go didn't

01:32:59

work done back the truck up

01:33:02

>> move on what's the next thing we can try

01:33:04

and do

01:33:06

>> what's been your biggest business win

01:33:08

>> biggest business win Yeah.

01:33:12

>> As in winning awards or

01:33:13

>> No, as as in successes.

01:33:17

>> You you're you're very open talking

01:33:18

about your your your fails, but there

01:33:20

have been like a lot more wins than

01:33:21

fails. At least from an outsiders

01:33:22

perspective.

01:33:23

>> Oh, it was a pretty good feeling when we

01:33:25

got uh Euro into the top 50 in Condon

01:33:28

magazine. I I was pretty excited about

01:33:30

that. I think Euro was a great success.

01:33:32

I started Juvoy Steakhouse and uh with

01:33:35

the guys that I was in business with in

01:33:38

Wellington uh sorry Oakland and

01:33:40

Queenstown. I love Jvoy Steakhouse.

01:33:42

>> It's still going. It's iconic.

01:33:43

>> I don't know what it's like. I haven't

01:33:44

been back. I should go back and have a

01:33:46

look. But I haven't been there over 10

01:33:48

years. But

01:33:49

>> why don't why don't you go back? Is it

01:33:50

is it like an ex-girlfriend sort of?

01:33:52

>> Yeah, probably. Yeah, you sort of been

01:33:53

there, done that. And you might they

01:33:55

might make it better than what you had

01:33:57

it so that would just annoy me.

01:33:59

>> No, it wouldn't. I'd be I'd be happy.

01:34:01

But no, you I don't know. It's like been

01:34:03

there, done that. It's like trying to

01:34:05

reheat a soule, you know, they don't

01:34:06

rise.

01:34:07

>> Is it um odd for you when you go into a

01:34:09

restaurant like a restaurant that you've

01:34:11

either had an association with or even a

01:34:13

restaurant that you've got no

01:34:13

association with? Like do you do you

01:34:15

notice everyone sort of like sits up

01:34:17

straight? Do you know what I mean? Or

01:34:19

they're sort of on edge cuz oh

01:34:20

it's Simon Gold. You do you do get a bit

01:34:23

of that. But I don't go into a

01:34:25

restaurant to be that critical guy. I'm

01:34:27

not, you know, I go to a restaurant to

01:34:29

enjoy it and just like everybody else

01:34:32

does and I'm probably way more forgiving

01:34:34

than anybody else if something doesn't

01:34:36

go right cuz I know what it's like on

01:34:38

the other side.

01:34:40

>> Um,

01:34:41

>> you got a bit of compassion. You're not

01:34:43

the master chef judge.

01:34:44

>> Yeah. Occasionally, if I see a waiter or

01:34:46

waitress or somebody that's serving

01:34:49

something from behind the counter and

01:34:52

they're doing a disservice to the owner,

01:34:54

I won't be shy to say something.

01:34:57

because the owner is not there to see it

01:34:59

and

01:35:00

>> you know what it's like.

01:35:02

>> I feel like I owe it to the whoever does

01:35:04

own it and I don't know is to actually

01:35:06

say something. So I might be a little

01:35:08

harsh sometimes then but you know I'm

01:35:11

trying to support restaurants. I've got

01:35:13

I've started doing uh what I call road

01:35:16

hooking in the mini

01:35:19

videos for um Instagram of a restaurant

01:35:22

I go to. And if it's not good, I don't

01:35:24

even ever edit it and put it in. They're

01:35:26

very amateur-ish, but you know, the last

01:35:28

one I did, it's had over 80,000 views.

01:35:32

>> I saw one on social media this morning,

01:35:33

um a restaurant on Richmond Road.

01:35:35

>> Yeah.

01:35:35

>> Yeah.

01:35:36

>> Yeah. They got a a thousand new

01:35:38

subscribers in a weekend to their

01:35:41

Instagram page. So, if I can help in

01:35:43

little ways like that, I love to do it,

01:35:45

you know, to show people there's some

01:35:47

great things that we have in New

01:35:50

Zealand.

01:35:51

>> Um, what about your biggest or most

01:35:53

painful failure? Is that the the stock

01:35:55

cap thing?

01:35:56

>> Oh, the stocks. Yeah. So, uh, we

01:36:00

launched a concentrate stock and we were

01:36:04

very excited because when we're when I

01:36:06

was on Masteref and I'm going have to be

01:36:08

careful with this. They were sponsored

01:36:10

by Campbell and I never rated it and I

01:36:13

don't I want can't speak on behalf of

01:36:15

other judges but I didn't rate it and I

01:36:19

thought wonder if I could make a stock

01:36:21

that's better than that. So we came up

01:36:23

with a stock concentrate that comes in a

01:36:25

pouch and you take it home and you just

01:36:28

squeeze it into hot water and you can

01:36:30

drink it like soup. No E numbers, no

01:36:33

preservatives and when it once it's open

01:36:37

you can put it in the fridge for months.

01:36:38

sort of last and last and last cuz it's

01:36:40

real whereas you other stocks liquid

01:36:44

stocks you left to throw away after 3

01:36:46

days. So we launched we were launching

01:36:49

that 2 days before we learn launch we

01:36:52

had a cap failure. So the entire lot and

01:36:54

this was going into every super every

01:36:56

countdown in New Zealand. So we had to

01:36:59

throw the whole lot away and start

01:37:00

again. So that was

01:37:03

horrendous cost and

01:37:06

>> like what if you had to put a figure on

01:37:07

it? couple of hundred grand.

01:37:09

>> Oh yeah. And of course the cat people

01:37:12

blamed the package

01:37:15

the the the tightening of it. It was

01:37:17

overtightened and everybody blamed

01:37:20

everybody and we ended up carrying the

01:37:22

can. So we had to pull the launch back

01:37:27

launch again. But you know we're in most

01:37:28

supermarkets around New Zealand with our

01:37:30

gouls stock which is beef, lamb, chicken

01:37:35

and vegetable. And people who use them

01:37:38

absolutely love them. They're

01:37:40

>> price similar to the competitive stocks,

01:37:44

but you can keep ours if you don't use

01:37:46

it all for much longer. So the little

01:37:48

tiny sachets make 2 L. So biggest fail

01:37:53

to start off with. Probably one of the

01:37:55

most proudest things that I've done

01:37:58

that's actually in the supermarket. That

01:38:00

is fantastic. I so wish the ketchup was

01:38:02

still there

01:38:03

>> because you know the amount of ketchup

01:38:06

that is consumed in New Zealand when you

01:38:08

think most ketchup bottles are almost

01:38:11

50% sugar.

01:38:12

>> It was a great thing for this country

01:38:14

but we just couldn't make it work.

01:38:16

>> Have you started making money on the

01:38:18

stock yet? Have you

01:38:20

>> not a scent but we're still going. Well,

01:38:23

we are today. We are today. Like a

01:38:26

little bit more loyalty out there.

01:38:28

Please, people, if you can, please.

01:38:30

Where do I look?

01:38:31

>> And what about the um the Brisco

01:38:33

collaboration at How does that come

01:38:35

about? You're everywhere in Bris.

01:38:37

>> Yeah. So, I was asked by Rod Duke if I'd

01:38:40

like to do a range with him, and I

01:38:43

thought this sounds cool because, you

01:38:46

know, it's something everyday New

01:38:48

Zealanders can afford to buy cuz, you

01:38:50

know, obviously there's a lot of

01:38:51

specials at Brisco. Most people buy on

01:38:53

special. And when they showed me the

01:38:57

sort of products that they were going to

01:38:58

do, I thought, "This is really great

01:39:00

quality stuff that everybody can

01:39:02

afford." And I've been in there for

01:39:05

years now with Bristo, you know, from

01:39:08

everything from pots and pans and knives

01:39:10

and tea towels, aprons, plates, glasses,

01:39:16

and that's been a really fantastic

01:39:19

collaboration with Brisco.

01:39:22

>> Yeah. How do you feel when you go to a

01:39:23

Brisco? iconic New Zealand store and

01:39:25

your name's on this whole range.

01:39:27

>> I tell you when I feel really good is

01:39:29

when I go to a restaurant and I pick the

01:39:30

plate up and it's one of mine cuz I

01:39:32

think somebody's bought some, right?

01:39:35

Going in into the store like Hazel was

01:39:38

saying, "Dad, you know, faces on

01:39:39

everything." But some of the some of the

01:39:42

original packaging is still there. And

01:39:44

she said, "Dad, that's your fat face."

01:39:49

>> Oh, that's awesome. Seems like you have

01:39:50

a really good relationship with her.

01:39:53

real good mates.

01:39:54

>> Yeah, I'm dad,

01:39:56

>> you know. I'm not one of these people

01:39:58

who's asked to be mates. I'm dad there.

01:40:00

And

01:40:01

>> she's a cool kid and she's my world. I

01:40:04

love it a bit. And I just love seeing

01:40:06

her grow,

01:40:08

>> fall, get up,

01:40:10

you know, she's an absolute joy to a

01:40:13

mother and myself and grandparents.

01:40:16

>> Yeah, that's No. No more kids for you.

01:40:19

>> No, I've been there, done that. I mean,

01:40:22

you're younger than Barry Soap, I think.

01:40:24

>> You would you would you ever get married

01:40:26

again or No, that that's done as well.

01:40:28

Or

01:40:29

>> No, no. No, that's too risky.

01:40:34

>> Yeah.

01:40:35

>> Lost a lot of money on the last one.

01:40:36

Can't afford to do that again.

01:40:39

>> I um I watched an interview with Russell

01:40:41

Crow yesterday. I think he's exactly the

01:40:42

same age as you, 61. And um he was asked

01:40:45

in this interview like uh will you get

01:40:46

engaged or married? And he goes, "No, me

01:40:48

and my girlfriend, we're extremely

01:40:50

happy. Why would we ruin it with a

01:40:51

wedding?

01:40:52

>> Yeah, exactly.

01:40:52

>> I thought it was a great line.

01:40:54

>> Um, so the book's called No Half

01:40:56

Measures. Uh, what does that mean to you

01:40:58

personally, that saying?

01:41:00

>> It means to me that I'm not doing it

01:41:02

half

01:41:04

>> I always try and

01:41:07

excel. I remember saying to all my team

01:41:10

in the restaurants, you know, people

01:41:13

pass a lot of restaurants to come to our

01:41:15

restaurant. It's not like we're the only

01:41:17

ones. So they're consciously driving or

01:41:19

walking past restaurants and if they're

01:41:22

to come to ours. So if they go into that

01:41:25

restaurant and they're having a perfect

01:41:28

day and everything goes swimming well so

01:41:31

they get 100% peak performance out of

01:41:33

their experience there. How are we going

01:41:36

to differentiate ourselves? We need to

01:41:39

find that extra 5% magic. We need to be

01:41:42

at 105 to make people realize that it

01:41:45

was worth coming that extra distance.

01:41:47

And if that's just when they walk in

01:41:49

looking up and going, "Hey, how are

01:41:51

you?"

01:41:52

>> Doesn't matter what it is. We need to

01:41:54

find that extra 5% magic with whatever

01:41:57

we do. So to me, that's what no half

01:41:59

measures are. Let's do it as well as we

01:42:02

can because sure enough, your

01:42:04

competitors trying just as hard, if not

01:42:07

harder. M I I feel like that is um has a

01:42:11

bit like the impression I've got from

01:42:12

this this podcast. That's how you've

01:42:14

lived your life. It's like your guiding

01:42:15

star like just doing everything to the

01:42:18

absolute best of your ability.

01:42:20

>> Try to try to My problem is I say yes

01:42:23

too much. I should I need to Everybody

01:42:25

tells me I need to start saying no to

01:42:27

everything. But I love I I love the

01:42:29

challenge of things. I I I really enjoy

01:42:32

the challenge

01:42:34

>> and don't like it when I don't do as

01:42:37

well as I'd like to. But

01:42:39

>> what would you say are your best and

01:42:41

worst habits?

01:42:43

>> Best and worst habit.

01:42:44

>> I had um I had sir sir Steve Hansen on

01:42:47

the podcast a few months ago and he he's

01:42:49

got a theory that for most people um

01:42:50

their greatest strength is also their

01:42:52

greatest weakness. So I wonder if um if

01:42:54

if you like one of your best and worst

01:42:56

habits is saying saying yes to

01:42:57

everything. I I think that would be I

01:43:00

mean I've got something coming up this

01:43:02

weekend where it was a charity thing.

01:43:04

What I do this cooking thing with dads

01:43:07

and their child son or daughter and I

01:43:11

thought that's a cool thing. And so then

01:43:14

I quickly wrote down a menu and sent it

01:43:16

off to them. And now I'm thinking I

01:43:19

got to work all the recipes out and get

01:43:22

it all organized. So, you know, it's a

01:43:24

charity again. It's another thing I do

01:43:26

for nothing. But

01:43:27

>> um yeah, I I say yes way too easily and

01:43:30

then end up stressing out or carrying

01:43:33

the consequence to deliver on it. And of

01:43:36

course, I want to deliver well on it, so

01:43:37

I'll you know how

01:43:39

>> Yeah. I'll go all out.

01:43:40

>> What are you most afraid of?

01:43:45

>> What am I most afraid of?

01:43:52

not having enough money to relax when

01:43:55

I'm a bit older,

01:43:57

>> you know.

01:43:57

>> Are you on track?

01:43:59

>> You You're not going to stop working.

01:44:00

Eh, what what are your thoughts?

01:44:01

>> I love No, I love working, but I you

01:44:03

know, I I love traveling and yeah, I

01:44:06

hate to go bust and you know, you're

01:44:09

hearing this all the time now, right,

01:44:11

with restaurants and different business.

01:44:14

It's tough and I'm not immune to it. So,

01:44:17

you know, at the moment it's it's

01:44:19

stressful and you know, I would yeah,

01:44:22

that would be the thing I'm most afraid

01:44:24

of is going bust. So, it's not about how

01:44:26

much money it's, you know, just need to

01:44:28

be comfortable

01:44:29

>> and not go bust.

01:44:31

>> So, you know, I'm working hard on all of

01:44:33

those things at the moment.

01:44:35

>> Four more years until the pension cuz

01:44:37

that's not that's not going to go far

01:44:38

though, is it? A few hundred bucks a

01:44:40

week.

01:44:40

>> No. No.

01:44:41

>> Um, you'll keep working until until the

01:44:43

day you drop.

01:44:44

>> I think so. I mean, you know, I like

01:44:46

projects. I love projects and I love,

01:44:49

you know, I'd love, you know, people say

01:44:51

to me, will you do another restaurant?

01:44:52

And I say, never say never. You know, if

01:44:54

some young person came up and I thought,

01:44:57

this is the right person to back in a

01:45:00

restaurant where they're running it, but

01:45:01

I'm just a support role.

01:45:04

I' I'd like to do that. Maybe if the

01:45:06

right person came up, you never know. My

01:45:09

daughter might say, I want to do a

01:45:10

restaurant. Hopefully not, actually. But

01:45:14

>> so you're okay with her her gliding.

01:45:17

>> Yeah, I'm okay with the fine, but I

01:45:18

don't want her to have a restaurant life

01:45:20

because it's a killer. You know, it's

01:45:22

antisocial. It's hard work and not a big

01:45:25

enough routine.

01:45:25

>> Well, that's good. As apparent, you got

01:45:27

to have your boundaries. Yeah. What

01:45:28

about regrets?

01:45:30

>> Regrets? Um,

01:45:33

yeah, there there is a couple. Um, I

01:45:35

remember Kevin Roberts had said to me,

01:45:39

"Want to help you into a restaurant in

01:45:41

New York?" And I said, "No." And also

01:45:45

Simon Fuller was keen to do a restaurant

01:45:48

in London and I said no. Because it was

01:45:51

the Kiwi in me wanting to come home. But

01:45:53

I would have loved to have done either

01:45:55

of those to go, "Yeah, I did that."

01:45:58

>> For a guy whose worst habit is saying

01:45:59

yes to things, you cocked those ones up,

01:46:01

didn't you?

01:46:02

>> Yeah. It's the two that cuz I do love

01:46:05

New Zealand. New Zealand is home and I I

01:46:07

love it. And both of those sort of

01:46:10

offers were at a time that I hadn't been

01:46:12

here for a while. So

01:46:14

>> So after everything you've been through,

01:46:16

um the restaurants, the products, the

01:46:19

fame, the failures, what is it that

01:46:21

you're still hungry for?

01:46:25

>> H

01:46:28

more time to go gliding and flying

01:46:30

probably.

01:46:32

>> Yeah. Yeah. What is it about gliding?

01:46:34

I'm intrigued about gliding. The only

01:46:35

person I I know and I don't even know

01:46:37

him that glides is Richie Mccor.

01:46:39

>> Yeah, Richie is a a very good glider

01:46:42

pilot or sail planes. So, most people

01:46:46

think a glider just goes up and flutters

01:46:48

down, right? But the actual reality of

01:46:51

it is they're heavy high performance

01:46:55

machines that can go massive distances.

01:46:58

So there's a great Kiwi soaring glider

01:47:02

pilot called Terry D'Lore. They call him

01:47:03

the master of the wave. Very good friend

01:47:05

of mine and flies a lot with Richie

01:47:07

Mccor too. And he took off in Omar in

01:47:12

the morning and flew to the bottom of

01:47:15

the South Island and that evening landed

01:47:19

in Drury in South Oakland in a glider.

01:47:23

I mean that's the entire length of the

01:47:27

South Island and almost up you know to

01:47:31

Oakland Drury landed there and then had

01:47:34

a few days and then flew to Cape Banger

01:47:36

and back in a glider you know they can

01:47:39

go phenomenal distance and from a

01:47:43

competition point of view once you get

01:47:45

skilled enough you know they have these

01:47:48

fantastic competitions how fast can you

01:47:50

fly around the course And invariably

01:47:53

they're faster than you could do it in a

01:47:55

little 172 Cessna. You know, they're

01:47:58

fast, high performance. They're

01:48:00

beautiful to look at. They're they're

01:48:01

just sleek, graceful machines. It's like

01:48:05

strapping a pair of overalls on and

01:48:07

going flying. You can be in a thermal

01:48:10

and look out and see a hawk flying and

01:48:13

his head is turning like this, looking

01:48:16

at you. And if you're in a thermal that

01:48:19

a hawk's in, you know you're in the best

01:48:21

lift. And all of a sudden the hawk will

01:48:23

go, "Oh, he's a bit bigger than me." He

01:48:24

flaps his wings and flies off. But you

01:48:27

know, flying in the mountains in the

01:48:30

South Island, you know, round the face

01:48:32

of Mount Cook, you see scenery that

01:48:35

nobody else sees. It is you against the

01:48:39

elements and you know there are all

01:48:41

sorts of sources of lift. You don't just

01:48:44

go up and soar off. So there are

01:48:46

thermals, right? So in a you see a

01:48:49

little white puffy cloud. There's

01:48:51

generally a column of rising air under

01:48:53

that. So the sun heats the ground and if

01:48:55

you're bare feet and you're running

01:48:57

across an ash felt road it's hot on your

01:48:59

feet. Then over the grass it's not as

01:49:01

hot. So the air over that ashfelt road

01:49:04

is warmer so it rises and as it rises it

01:49:08

condenses and forms a little white puffy

01:49:11

cloud. So under that white puffy cloud

01:49:13

there's a column of rising air. So if

01:49:15

you fly under under that in your glider

01:49:17

and then circle you go up in the lift

01:49:20

>> and then you go off to the next one.

01:49:23

Then there's ridge lift. So you've got a

01:49:25

big hill and you know like something

01:49:27

like the Kaimai Rangers or the Alps in

01:49:30

the South Island and there's a westerly

01:49:32

blowing and a wind hits the hill. Well,

01:49:34

it can't go into the ground. It's got to

01:49:36

go up. So if you fly along the face of

01:49:38

that lift, the face of that hill, you're

01:49:42

in rising air. So you can go phenomenal

01:49:44

speeds. You can be going like, you know,

01:49:47

180 kilometers an hour in this rising

01:49:50

air and cover huge distances. Then

01:49:52

there's wave lift which you see in the

01:49:55

South Island with these beautiful

01:49:57

lenticular clouds. So the wind hits the

01:50:00

hill and when it's a big hill like in

01:50:02

the South Island of the Alps, hits the

01:50:05

hill, rises up and then it gets cold and

01:50:07

it falls down again, hits the ground and

01:50:10

then it bounces even higher the next

01:50:13

time. And that's when you can fly to

01:50:15

incredible altitudes, higher than a a

01:50:18

jet airliner. You know, you're on oxygen

01:50:21

up there. So there's all these different

01:50:23

forms of lift and that is such a

01:50:27

challenge as a pilot to be up there. You

01:50:29

against the elements. No engine,

01:50:31

>> just you flying against the elements.

01:50:34

How fast can you go? How far can you go?

01:50:37

>> It it is just the most incredible sport

01:50:41

that you could do.

01:50:42

You love it, don't you? What

01:50:43

What's it like up there? Pardon my

01:50:44

ignorance. Is it um everyone imagines

01:50:47

super still, but is is it noisy with the

01:50:49

wind? Everybody thinks it's quiet, but

01:50:51

it's actually reasonably noisy because

01:50:53

you're going fast. So, you're in this

01:50:55

very sleek machine. So, you don't want

01:50:57

any tiny cracks or anything letting air

01:50:59

in,

01:51:00

>> otherwise it will be really noisy and

01:51:03

causes drag. So, you know, you're in

01:51:04

this like capsule. So, but it is

01:51:07

relatively noisy. It's not quiet.

01:51:09

>> And can your mind wander or do you are

01:51:10

you fully engaged? And

01:51:13

>> you can your mind can wander when you're

01:51:15

set up in a lift and just going up, but

01:51:17

no, you're pretty That's what I love

01:51:18

about it. It's completely different to

01:51:20

everything else you do. You go, you

01:51:22

strap into that glider, you go flying,

01:51:24

and that's what you're doing until

01:51:26

you're back on the ground at the bar

01:51:28

telling how telling everybody how well

01:51:30

you did or didn't do. You've got good

01:51:32

energy, eh? Like you you really do live

01:51:35

the um the no half measures um

01:51:38

lifestyle. Like everything you do,

01:51:40

you're just so enthusiastic when you

01:51:41

talk about it. It's really really

01:51:42

captivating.

01:51:44

>> Yeah. Well, I probably can't talk about

01:51:45

running like that, right?

01:51:48

Well, it's not something you're into.

01:51:50

Um, do you think about legacy at all?

01:51:52

Not really.

01:51:54

>> Uh,

01:51:56

not until you just mention really.

01:51:58

>> No, I just want to be a good dad. I want

01:52:00

I want to be remembered as like he was a

01:52:03

good dad. That's all I care about.

01:52:05

>> Yeah. When the time comes that you pass,

01:52:07

say 30 years from now.

01:52:11

What what what three words would you

01:52:12

like Hazel to use to describe you

01:52:15

>> as a man and as a dad?

01:52:19

>> I love my dad.

01:52:23

>> Yeah. Yeah. And I can tell how much you

01:52:25

love her, too.

01:52:26

>> Yeah. Yeah.

01:52:26

>> Yeah.

01:52:27

>> Are you proud of yourself?

01:52:29

>> Yeah. Yeah. I think I've done pretty

01:52:31

good. And uh

01:52:34

you know, definitely done things I'm not

01:52:36

proud about. Don't ask me what cuz I

01:52:38

can't really remember, but you know,

01:52:40

like I you know, nobody's perfect,

01:52:42

right?

01:52:43

>> Nobody's perfect.

01:52:45

>> You know, oh no, there's a few people on

01:52:47

the internet that are

01:52:48

>> in the comment section.

01:52:49

>> Oh, yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. The

01:52:52

keyboard warrior, I call them.

01:52:54

>> Yeah.

01:52:54

>> Hey, this has been a wonderful

01:52:55

conversation. I'm so pleased we made

01:52:57

this happen. Yeah. How's it for you

01:52:59

reflecting on the highs and lows.

01:53:01

>> Yeah, it's pretty good. You you you draw

01:53:03

in the bits that you don't think about,

01:53:05

you know, to get me to talk about. So

01:53:07

no, I've enjoyed it. It's been

01:53:09

>> Well, it's been wonderful. I feel like

01:53:10

you're an old mate.

01:53:11

>> Yeah, I suppose the TV connection, but

01:53:14

it's been really enjoyable. So,

01:53:15

>> you'll have to come to my deli. Come

01:53:17

into my deli. I've got all the secret

01:53:19

weapons for your pantry at home, and

01:53:21

I'll turn you into a salt snob, olive

01:53:25

oil and balsamic snob.

01:53:28

>> So, come and see me in St. John's.

01:53:29

>> Mate, you you'd hate me. I can I can eat

01:53:31

for survival. Like, I could eat salmon

01:53:33

and broccoli every night of the week. I

01:53:35

can I can make your broccoli taste

01:53:37

better than anything. I get people who I

01:53:39

don't like Brussels sprouts. I'm like,

01:53:42

I'll get you liking Brussels sprouts.

01:53:44

You're a great New Zealander and

01:53:46

you've done some stuff. Simon Golton,

01:53:47

thank you very much for being on the

01:53:48

podcast.

01:53:49

>> Pleasure. Thank you very much for having

01:53:50

me.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

80
Most heartwarming
70
Most emotional
70
Best overall
70
Best performance

Episode Highlights

Simon G's Journey
From a young chef to a beloved figure in New Zealand's culinary scene, Simon reflects on his career choices and family life.
“I want to be remembered as a dad, not that chef guy.”
@ 06m 44s
January 18, 2026
The Restaurant Life
Simon discusses the challenges and joys of running multiple restaurants and the sacrifices made along the way.
“You touch a lot of people, but you’re sort of putting out fires all the time.”
@ 11m 17s
January 18, 2026
Culinary Competition Success
After struggling to get noticed, entering cooking competitions helped build a reputation.
“We became sort of the hottest fine dining restaurant.”
@ 22m 34s
January 18, 2026
A Unique Culinary Journey
From cooking on a super yacht to learning local cuisines around the world.
“I’d do my version of it. So, yeah, awesome, awesome guy to work for.”
@ 30m 38s
January 18, 2026
A Life-Changing Connection
A young boy inspired by cooking became like a son to the chef, showing the impact of mentorship.
“You’re his hero.”
@ 47m 48s
January 18, 2026
Reflections on Marriage
The complexities of marriage and celebrity life led to challenges and regrets.
“It sucks. And at the time it really sucks.”
@ 52m 39s
January 18, 2026
Facing Mortality
Discussing the impact of losing a parent and the realities of life and death.
“You know, life has a limit. We're all going to die, right?”
@ 01h 03m 44s
January 18, 2026
Confronting Diabetes
A wake-up call from a doctor leads to a life-changing journey to reverse diabetes.
“You’re not going to walk down the aisle with your daughter.”
@ 01h 11m 31s
January 18, 2026
Going Public with Diabetes
Facing my health issues publicly was daunting but necessary for my journey.
“I’ve never looked back, you know.”
@ 01h 20m 36s
January 18, 2026
Fail Fast, Fix Fast
A mantra that emphasizes the importance of quickly addressing failures and moving forward.
“Fail fast, fix fast.”
@ 01h 32m 04s
January 18, 2026
Proud Father
A heartfelt moment as he reflects on his daughter's growth and achievements.
“I love seeing her grow, fall, get up.”
@ 01h 40m 06s
January 18, 2026
The Thrill of Gliding
An exhilarating description of the sport of gliding and its challenges.
“It is just the most incredible sport that you could do.”
@ 01h 50m 41s
January 18, 2026

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

Fatherhood Reflections06:44
Restaurant Challenges11:17
Restaurant Struggles18:35
Celebrity Chef Challenges37:30
Mentorship Impact47:55
Life and Loss1:03:44
Detox Experience1:14:45
Fail Fast1:32:04

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

Podcast thumbnail

October 19, 2025

01:40:23

How Bernice Mene Became Kiwi Sporting Royalty

Podcast thumbnail

December 28, 2025

01:39:59

The David Goggins of NZ: Jamie Milne's Insane World Records!

Podcast thumbnail

October 05, 2025

01:37:23

Nigel Latta: What Really Matters When You’re Told You’re Dying

Podcast thumbnail

August 10, 2025

02:14:11

Life After Gold: Nico Porteous on Identity, Anxiety, and What’s Next

Podcast thumbnail

November 16, 2025

02:04:25

Hamish Kerr: The Journey to Becoming an Olympic Champion

Podcast thumbnail

January 25, 2026

01:58:41

The Truth About Once Were Warriors

Podcast thumbnail

01:37:33

Robbie Magasiva Opens Up on Loss of Pua Magasiva

Podcast thumbnail

August 17, 2025

01:30:07

David Seymour on THAT Haka Backlash, Chloe, Winston, Luxon & Finding Love

Podcast thumbnail

December 07, 2025

02:17:46

Underarm Bowling to the Rugby World Cup: Martin Snedden’s Incredible Life

Podcast thumbnail

53:51

Inside Philip Polkinghorne’s Murder Trial - With Steve Braunias

Podcast thumbnail

September 28, 2025

02:00:51

Warren Gatland FIRES BACK at Media, Wales Exit & Why He’ll Never Coach All Blacks

Podcast thumbnail

December 14, 2025

01:24:41

Inside The Auckland CBD Siege - With A Cop Who Was Shot