The Chef & Photographer

May 19, 2014

Eat Here Now

Eat Here Now is a credible, straight-talking review mecca edited by Simon Farrell-Green. We’ve always turned to this site when we needed a food answer and we needed it with a dose of realism and affability. We especially enjoy their Open Mondays! tag. When it is our ‘hospo’ weekend we don’t have to think too…

Featured May 14, 2014

So you want to be a head chef…. part one.

Two weeks ago I ended my role as head chef at Stafford Road. I have often thought about how my understanding of the role has changed, since I stepped up into that space. I used to define a head chef in terms of actions: someone who led a team, created dishes and handled the administrative business of a kitchen. Based on my recent experience, and with hindsight gained from the head chefs I have had, my current definition is based on attitude and values. A great head chef is… My experience has shown me what I aspire to. I will always strive to be the best cook I can be,…

April 29, 2014

Metro Top 50 Awards

At the Metro Top 50 Restaurant awards we both reveled in the occasion to see friends and mentors celebrated. I’m a daylight person looking at the bizarre hospo scene of ungodly hours from the outside in. It often frustrates and confuses me, but last night I “got it”. The camaraderie between chefs, front-of-house and those…

travel chef and photographer fool magazine

April 6, 2014

CPH | LHR | CPT | STO | AKL

Sometimes we all have to do something a little bit crazy. Achieving dreams takes sacrifice, risk and adventure. A little while ago we wondered what it would look like to live and work overseas, forging relationships with our inspirations and respected leaders in our fields. This seed has taken root and we are overturning our…

March 20, 2014

4 Spoons: Metro Review March 2014

Thanks to Jesse Mulligan for the recent review of Stafford Road Wine Bar and to Ken Downie for the photographs. You can now read the full review online at Metro Eats.

February 19, 2014

The Story of a Dish

I like that “garden to plate” is an increasingly common phrase written into menus. I like that striking crockery by artisan potters is an increasingly common sight in restaurants. I like that I was able to try Ed’s ‘Summer Vegetables’ for the first time today, and follow the progression of this dish from the kitchen…

February 6, 2014

Slow Summer Days

Somehow it is already February and I am only just downloading our summer holiday snaps. Ed is back in the kitchen unrolling a new menu with ingredients that have grown over the summer vacation. I’m back to the grind and focused on producing a 2×4 metre billboard project for Wellington. But that doesn’t involve food,…

December 10, 2013

“Like eating the best dream you’ve ever had….”

It takes a lot of preparation and dedication to plate up dreams. Midnight edged closer as we talked about the shared dreams that led us to such a huge moment: waiting for the arrival of a freshly printed New Zealand Herald containing Ed’s first review. It’s an understatement to describe the last five months as…

November 16, 2013

Plant collections

It’s hard to pull myself away from our garden on a sunny day at the moment. Anyone who follows my instagram knows I have a “thing” for flowers and plants. I’m growing something quite involved for an installation at Silo Park in December (Artvent!), and trying to get our edibles thriving for summer. Every day…

November 13, 2013

Busy and busier

I can’t believe it’s been a month since we posted an update! But then again, I find my usual response to “How are you?” is a variation on extreme busyness related to photography shoots, edits and arts events. Ed’s been busy in his own way with canapé wine-matching evenings, menu changes, and the most recent winemakers…

October 15, 2013

Flesh&Bloom

We did it! And when I say we did it, I mean we created a dish for 110 people, a 3 meter installation using over 40 materials and three photography prints. Then I photographed the busy service happening inside the kitchen: 13 chefs, canapes and 5 courses. For us ArtDego2013 was a stellar success, and…

October 12, 2013

Behind the scenes of ArtDego2013

It is the day of Artdego2013! We were up until 3am, preparing the seaweed, and I have about 3 trips to make down to the venue with my bones, branches, flowers and seedlings for the installation. I’m not always carrying my cameras, and in those moments, I usually regret it because my phone just can’t…

October 8, 2013

What’s on our plates

Last night we shared the first night off together in a very long time. Too long. We have a lot on our plates right now. Ed lit a barbecue and began testing his dish for ArtDego2013. I was cleaning a skull, a spine, and a jaw that I collected from Vin Alto’s free-range deer field…

September 20, 2013

Rainbows

In my last post on ArtDEGO, the header image of a woman walking past a rainbow of ribbons, is really significant. Last year at ArtDEGO, little did I know that Ed and I would be destined to the life we now lead together. However, as soon as I saw Tiffany Singh installing her beautiful work,…

September 17, 2013

ArtDEGO 2013

I’ve mentioned ArtDEGO before on our blog and it will increasingly occupy our posts for the next month. Go to your diary and put a big circle around October 13th… And then eagerly await the announcement of tickets, because all 110 places will sell out, just like last year… I’ve tried so many ways to…

Laura Forest Food series Chef and Photographer

August 30, 2013

A week of abundance

Firstly, let me suggest that you take a seat and get comfortable. Because you may want to pause for a while and watch this video a few times over…. Thanks to the team at gather & hunt I can now relive the night of Ballet Banquet through more than my photos. Benjamin Brooking is…

August 26, 2013

Standing Ovations

We’re both still in the glow of what was achieved with The Ballet Banquet. There’s so much to say about this one night but I’ve chosen three highlights. It started as brilliantly as it continued: I watched people stop suddenly, aghast on the staircase, and pull out cameras to capture the spotlit tables in a…

Laura Forest Chef and Photographer Ed Verner Ballet Banquet Forest Moss

August 22, 2013

Days before the banquet

Our home feels like 40 people are about to dine in our living room. Every available surface is covered in ingredients, equipment, foraged herbs and flowers or forest elements. Tomorrow we move everything into the massive kitchen at The Civic and Ed will unfurl his very long and complex prep list. Creating dishes like these…

July 23, 2013

Chefs, ballets & collaboration

Ed was asked to be part of an event in honor of The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s 60th birthday celebration. Ed’s designed a menu to reflect and compliment ballets. We get to work alongside Antipodes, Nautilus Estate, gather & hunt, chef Brian Campbell and Claire Cowan in what will be a truly phenomenal and immersive…

July 15, 2013

Sydney

An unplanned & unexpected week in Sydney came our way and we took the opportunity to get a taste of the city’s reputedly great restaurant scene. As a chef, I wanted to explore all that I’ve heard from my colleagues and read in my cook books about these places. I’ve been in New Zealand for…

June 14, 2013

Art DEGO 2012

Every time I think back to Art DEGO in 2012, I get chills thinking of what an ambitious concept it was, and how amazingly it was actualized. gather and hunt brought together a phenomenal crew of chefs, artists and hospo people to deliver a truly unique dining experience during Art Week. I didn’t know Ed…

May 21, 2013

Pine Forest

Ed and I were trusted with some special information about where to go to harvest Slippery Jacks. These delicious, and sticky, mushrooms emerge through the pine forest when sun hits the ground following rain in Autumn. Their golden yellow sponge and slippery caps are easily recognisable and we were really humbled when a longtime mycophile…

May 31, 2013

Mushrooms

We’ve loved finding slippery jacks this autumn, but here are a few shots of some weird and wonderful fungi we’ve also come across in the pine forest. I wish I could identify them all, but I’m still a junior mycophile!

Ed’s a fine dining Chef & Laura’s a professional photographer.

We met in a kitchen, of all places… this is a place to document the journeys and collaborations we have based around our mutual passion: food.