Chef Vaughan Mabee is a Mad Genius

“[Vaughan Mabee] asks helicopter pilots to drop him off in the middle of nowhere so he can forage, hunt and cook. He researches the molecular structure of animal proteins. He shoots deer and pheasant from his back porch and serves them to guests. He cooks with the creativity, assurance and technique of someone who spent years in the kitchens of Noma and Martín Berasategui. He sleeps about two hours a night. It’s a combination that makes him sui generis – unlike any other chef in the world,” Forbes contributor Ann Abel writes.

“And when he returned from Copenhagen and San Sebastián to make a restaurant in his own name,” Abel writes, “his idea was to create a menu that was deeply reflective of his native New Zealand. He signed on at the Amisfield restaurant in the Central Otago outside Queenstown.

“Instead, Mabee would offer a once-in-a-lifetime gastronomic menu of 22 courses, one of the most spectacular food experiences in the world. His contract simply stipulates that the goal is to create the best restaurant on earth.”

Original article by Ann Abel, Forbes, September 26, 2023.

Photo by Sam Stewart.