Ben Bayly and Mikhail “Mike” Shatura receiving the Michelin star award last week.
Te Awamutu College old boy Ben Bayly’s Auckland restaurant Ahi has been awarded one of New Zealand’s first Michelin stars – and it’s all thanks to New Zealand food producers.
Fifteen restaurants were awarded Michelin stars in the first Michelin Guide New Zealand last week in Auckland.
The Michelin star award at Ahi.
Ahi and Bayly were also recognised as part of Michelin’s Mindful Voices.
“It’s a real privilege. I worked in all those restaurants through London and France, and I never thought it would come here. It’s just wonderful for New Zealand,” Bayly said.
“I’ve got a lot of gratitude, and I’ve got a lot of young chefs in my team that are going to run their own restaurant one day. It’s so cool for them.
“Hospitality employs a lot of people in New Zealand. So it’s nice to be seen.”
The Michelin stars will help put New Zealand on the international culinary map and inspire young people to work in the industry.
“It’s a great industry; I love it so much,” Bayly said.
“It’s showing people a pathway, that they could one day achieve that and it could bring Kiwis home – a brain drain reversal – a lot of Kiwis go overseas to work in hospo and never come home.
All the New Zealand winners of one Michelin star on stage.
“We’re a food producing nation, 65 per cent of our economy is from food. We make food for 40 million and we’re only about five million.”
According to the guide, one Michelin Star is awarded to restaurants for “high-quality cooking that is worth a stop”.
No restaurants achieved the coveted top rating of three stars, but Queenstown restaurant Essence was awarded two.
Bayly attended St Patrick’s primary School and Te Awamutu College before making a name for himself in the culinary world.
“Our family are immensely proud of Ben,” dad Graeme said.
“He has worked in Michelin star restaurants around the world, and it means a lot that now he’s the owner of a Michelin star restaurant in New Zealand.
“He’s super stoked that other New Zealand restaurants have also been recognised.”
Bayly said they had no idea if Ahi or any restaurant would be awarded a star.
“You find out then and there. It’s beyond secretive – it’s pretty cloak and dagger. It’s impartial and you don’t know when they’re here,” Bayly said. “They’re all from overseas, but we serve a lot of tourists, so how would we ever know?
“It’s good for the bigger picture, promoting our food producers and telling their stories better.”
Without the food producers, Bayly said he’s nothing. Their stories are worth sharing.
from left, Gideon Landman, Mikhail “Mike” Shatura and Ben Bayly of Ahi.
“You need good quality food to be able to make nice dishes,” Bayly said.
“I’ve got this love affair with those people who grow our food and hence why the A New Zealand Food Story show exists. That was a passion project to showcase those people – they inspire me.
“You want to talk directly to the farmer or grower. That’s where the inspiration comes from for a lot of dishes, when you hang out with the people that grow your food.”
Receiving the Michelin star is a full circle moment for Bayly and his Ahi crew.
“Two years ago, Ahi, myself and Tourism New Zealand, were part of the initial challenge to get Michelin to come here.
“We made the very first “two-billion-star restaurant” at Kura Tawhiti – Castle Hill in Canterbury in the Dark Sky area.
“It was like a cheeky challenge to Michelin Guide. It was amazing to be a part of the original story of how they came here.”
It was announced last November that the Michelin Guide was coming down under.
“We didn’t change anything at Ahi. We wanted to win it on our own merits. We were already pretty busy and serving a lot of tourists,” he said.
“I think you should never get into the industry or open a restaurant to treat people differently. You’ve got to be treating everybody at that [high] level. That gives you peace of mind.
from left, Ahi’s Cheetan Saini, Ben Shephard, James Li and Bhanu Chouhan with the Michelin Man.
“It’s about becoming a little bit better every day. This is not the pinnacle for us; we’ll keep getting better.
“We’re competing against the people we were yesterday – that’s our philosophy.”
Bayly said New Zealand is amazing geographically and can grow anything.
We’ve done a great job with wine. Everyone around the world knows New Zealand wine, but we haven’t done a very good job of telling our food story and this is a part of that,” Bayly said.
“We make food and export it; that’s our main job in New Zealand.”
New Zealand restaurants will get more support worldwide with the Michelin Guide coming.
“I was away for nearly 10 years, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I really love what I do and love this country. This is so great for the future,” Bayly said.
“I wonder in 100 years, what our food scene is going to be like. The restaurants and the standard is going to be higher.
“How cool is that, when we were one of the first ones to get a Michelin star? It’s an exciting time.”
Ben Bayly and Mikhail “Mike” Shatura receiving the Michelin star award last week.
