Peter Gordon has won renown worldwide for his fusion cuisine. Photo: Supplied
Top New Zealand chef Peter Gordon is closing his Auckland restaurant and cooking school, citing problems renewing the downtown lease.
Gordon set up Homeland with partner Alastair Carruthers in 2020.
"Homeland's premises and wider surroundings are being redeveloped and our landlord will not renew our lease. So with great sadness we are retreating," a statement issued on Monday said.
The dining room would close at the end of April, followed by the cooking school at the end of July.
"In the meantime, we are still open for business," Homeland's owners said in the statement.
"Our staff are hugely impacted, and we ask for space while we consult with them and work out what is next for the Homeland project. Homeland's purposes are not finished. The problem is premises."
Gordon was based in the United Kingdom for 31 years, establishing The Sugar Club and Providores restaurants and being renowned as "the godfather of fusion cooking".
He had decided on August 2020 to return, but when Covid-19 started shutting down the world, he raced back to New Zealand in March - just before the first lockdown.
Gordon launched Homeland in mid-2020, with no plans to open a restaurant as such. But when they found the perfect location and it had a "huge room", they realised a dining hall was needed.
"So having said I will never do another restaurant, I then set up the largest restaurant I have ever set up," he told RNZ at the time.
"It didn't sort of go to plan but it's been a fantastic project."
Gordon said community days at Homeland were his favourite. It was the charitable part of the business and saw community groups from all walks on life come in for a few hours and learn some simple recipes and life skills.