Top chef teams up with Southland producers

Chef Ethan Flack has returned to Invercargill after years working in Michelin-starred restaurants in the UK.

He plans to open a food space where he can tell the stories of Southland's farmers and growers and can show-case the province's primary produce.

Before he turned 20, Ethan Flack wanted to work in the UK restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons so badly he emailed once a fortnight for 18 months asking for a job.

The restaurant, which has two Michelin stars, finally replied and a Zoom interview was arranged.

"It was at four in the morning because that was the time that suited them...and I was in reception in the hotel where I was doing my apprenticeship in my chef's jacket and my pyjama bottoms," he says.

"If you really want something you have to go for it."

That was ten years ago.

Since then Ethan's spent years working at Le Manoir under celebrated chef Raymond Blanc and at another Michelin-starred restaurant The Black Swan, learning and perfecting how to make the most of fresh, local produce.

He's now brought those skills home.

Ethan arrived back in New Zealand at the beginning of the year and immediately set about establishing relationships with Southland farmers and growers.

"The produce here is still some of the best in the world."

He has plans to open a 'food space'.

"I want a space where one night it could be a tasting menu - a five or six-course tasting menu and the next it could be a pizza night because the wheat's great and it might be the end of summer and there's loads of tomatoes around and you could make loads of sauce and there's the local cheese man that's got cheese.

"So have a space where the actual produce can be showcased or the farming practices can be showcased, the story of how that food got to be can be showcased to the customer - that's what I want."

He says supporting the local economy is very important to him, as is direct access to producers.

"I would sooner go to see ten producers rather than go buy from one supplier.

"You might pay a little bit more but you've actually got a connection to the person making it or producing it and if I can pass that on to my guests or my customers who can then go and buy their veg or buy their milk or buy their seafood from that small producer then as a community we're growing and growing."