(This is an edited article from TopTastes.co.nz, written by Neil Hodgson, first printed in the Nelson Mail).
The Apple Shed Kitchen & Bar on the Māpua Wharf has been a mainstay in the area's development into the outstanding locale it is today.
Today, it is owned by Keiran and Gemma Inglis, who took over The Apple Shed business in 2018 and set about rebuilding the business into, once again, a vital piece of the thriving Māpua area.
“I learned a lot about cooking from my mother and one or two chefs who worked for them. When I went to university I studied business and finance, I loved numbers but as I got into it, I thought that this career pathway possibly wasn’t for me in the long term. As students do, I worked in bars and restaurants to earn some money and loved the buzz and atmosphere, it was a lot of fun – work long hard hours and play hard too.”
Not quite sure of what the future held for him Keiran moved to London when he was 21 and did an apprenticeship with Jaime Oliver at his restaurant ‘15’.
“The time with Jaime elevated my passion for cooking, we were exposed to people who were passionate about their role in the industry, we were exposed to some wonderful products and produce. We had trips to Italy to help us understand things like how olive oil is produced and the different flavours of those oils. It was incredible how much we crammed into the year. We also worked with Hammersmith College to get a formal chef qualification at the same time.”
“A chef, Arthur Potts-Dawson, pointed me in the right direction, I could be pretty loose and was pretty confident, maybe over-confident, and he saw I needed some discipline in the kitchen to really succeed.
“On his advice, picked a handful of Michelin Star restaurants in London and knocked on doors. I can still remember it; I didn’t know Mayfair at all, but it felt like a special place to walk around. On a miserable morning I walked into la Gavroche and then The Square where owner Phil Howard arrived on his daily bike commute as I knocked on the back door, he walked me into the office, we talked for a while and he offered me a job.”
Keiran says that working at The Square cemented his ability and passion for cooking, “I ended up in the pastry section, loved it and thrived in the environment. I spent 2 ½ years there where I grew to be the head pastry chef. Going into that world of fine dining was transformational for me.”
“Phil was very nurturing and inspirational about how he went about things, everything was very well thought out, but there was a simplicity to his cooking, the food was the hero and we just elevated it, and that’s what I try to bring to our food at The Apple Shed.”
"In 2011, he joined the crew of the Maltese Falcon, one of the world’s largest sailing yachts. “Being able to sail into places like New York, up the Hudson River, into Antigua and on the next yacht sailing into my hometown of Leith and up the Thames were special experiences.”
“A year after we arrived in Nelson, we started looking around for work here, and I realised it was going to be difficult for me to be employed at the level I was used to, so self-employment seemed like the answer".
Keiran brings his impressive international food experience to The Apple Shed and says exciting times are ahead. Suppose you want to experience outstanding food prepared by an internationally trained and experienced chef paired with wines from Rimu Grove.
