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CoOK ISLANDS SuN
D ining and E ntertainment
Celebrity Chef Tony Bullivant anchors himself to Rarotonga Private chef to the NZ Consulate General in New York at 21 and caterer for the stars in his mid thirties, today Tony Bullivant is a well-established restaurateur and foodie in the Cook Islands
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ver a forty-year career Tony Bullivant has made a name for himself as a chef in New Zealand, Australia, North America, and the South Pacific, sometimes in the service of global entertainment greats including the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Rod Stewart CBE, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and the late David Bowie.
“Big name entertainers visiting Auckland were often put up there,” said Tony. “I was house caterer for the likes of David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, and often their children. We also did catering for the Prime Minister and the New Zealand Government. On one occasion Hillary Clinton was a guest of the Prime Minister; that was really cool because she came into the kitchen.
It all started in a little bakery forty-five minutes north of New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington.
Personally, my favourite food dish is fish, perhaps tuna or mahi mahi. I’m probably the easiest person to please – uncomplicated, fresh, grilled. “I had a happy childhood with my brother and a sister, though I lost an elder brother at an early age, when I was nine”. Tony’s mother was a seamstress working from home, who also worked at the bakery; his father, a chauffeur for the New Zealand Government. “Mum got me on to the apprentice chef thing at the St George Hotel in Wellington. Education didn’t seem to matter in those days – if you got into something and enjoyed it, well that was it! I loved working with food”. During Tony’s apprenticeship, Jack Cooper was the hotel manager. Jack went on to develop and run the Cook Islands ‘institution’ known as Traders Jacks Bar & Restaurant on the waterfront
“I had bought a café, then picked up the contract for catering for Kiwi Rail supplying the food from Auckland to Wellington. They just approached me and said asked if we could deliver 500 sandwiches a day. The business built up from then over five years”. It was during this time that Tony earned his moniker ‘celebrity chef ’, when he also began catering for the ‘rich and famous’ at Auckland’s elite Waimanu homestead in Herne Bay - one of New Zealand's most expensive houses, once owned by the Sultan of Brunei.
According to Tony, the road that led him to settle in Rarotonga twenty years ago has been a lively and enjoyable one.
“At 14, I worked in a bakery before school. I did a lot of surfing. We lived in Titahi Bay, which has a pretty good surf beach. We lived at one end of the beach and the bakery was at the other end. So I’d trot along to work at 4.30am, make pies and sausage rolls; then get on the bus and go to school. I didn’t like school and it didn’t like me, so I left at 15 and became an apprentice chef at the St George Hotel in Wellington,” Tony said.
Auckland known as: ‘Food for Thought’.
In 1993, New Idea featured ‘celebrity chef, Tony Bullivant
at Avarua Harbour, on Rarotonga. “Jack was a pretty good boss. We got along and we kept in touch. That’s why I eventually came to Raro,” said Tony. “But, straight out of my apprenticeship, I moved to Australia - like every good Kiwi kid! I started in Sydney then worked in Wollongong for two and half years – I met some really good people. I also worked in Brisbane, then Perth - I was in Australia for six years.” At that time, Tony’s father drove for the manager of the Bank of New Zealand, which was still government owned at that time. The manager, Bruce Smith, was promoted to New Zealand Consulate General in New York and he was looking for a chef. “He knew through dad that I had done my apprenticeship and had six years experience in Australia. So at age 21, I was living and working in New York, which was awesome! It was a three-year contract as the Consulate General’s private chef cooking for guests the likes of former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. “I had an opportunity to go to South America with the Government, but the work wasn’t really challenging enough for me, so I bailed out after two years and headed back to Australia after dropping in to see mum and dad in NZ. That was in 1987 when the America’s Cup was on. I got a job straight away in
Fremantle.” Following his stint in Fremantle, Tony headed back to NZ and took up skiing with a passion! For three seasons he worked as a cook to feed his ‘skiing bug’, moving seasonally between the ski fields of New Zealand and Canada (Calgary). “I was working around getting lots of experience in those days”. Tony returned to work in Auckland for a while before moving to Fiji as executive chef for a management company that ran three hotels. On his return to NZ, Tony set up his own catering company in
Tony Bullivant setting the menu at the Anchorage Restaurant
Cooper’s kitchen partner) who had had dengue fever. On this occasion Tony came to Rarotonga for six months but never went back, except to sell his catering business in Auckland. He worked for Trader Jacks for six years, when decided it was time to become independent again so opened Salsa Café in Avarua featuring his ‘Pacific fusion’ cuisine, where ‘international dishes get a new
“One very special stay for me was that of the McCartneys: Paul, Linda and their children Heather, Mary and James. Paul and Linda would walk around in board shorts. We’d have drinks and talk with The Anchorage Restaurant & Bar, Arorangi them. Because Linda was a vegetarian, she was in the kitchen every day!” twist!” Tony sold the business after seven years, then took Whilst life then was exciting, twelve months off before Tony decided to take a buying the Paw Paw Patch at little time off and moved to the Moana Sands Beachfront Rarotonga to work for a while Hotel in Titikaveka, renaming at Traders Jacks. He had it the Sands Restaurant & Bar worked there once before to - that too was eventually sold. relieve Chris Douglas (Jack
Today, Tony leases the Anchorage Restaurant and Bar at the Sunset Resort in Arorangi, still specialising in creative, Pacific Rim cuisine. The popular openair, undercover restaurant is set among tropical gardens adjacent the resort's pool. It is open seven days for breakfast, lunch and dinner. “Personally, my favourite food dish is fish, perhaps tuna or mahi mahi. I’m probably the easiest person to please – uncomplicated, fresh, grilled.” Tony is married to Kelly a New Zealander with a degree in psychology and currently senior charge nurse, surgical ward at Rarotonga Hospital. They have three daughters. “I love the ocean: I am a paddle-boarder, a snorkeler, a diver and a fisherman. “I’ve been here now for over twenty years; it’s a friendly place, you know everyone, the climate is good, and it’s not that far from New Zealand.”
Beetroot Cured Yellow Fin Tuna A Tony Bullivant Recipe 800g fresh yellow fin tuna 2 large beetroot peeled and grated Zest of 2 lemons 5 tablespoons rock salt 5 tablespoons demerara sugar 60ml gin Small bunch fresh dill roughly chopped 1-tablespoon fennel seeds Method: In a large bowl rub tuna fillets with all ingredients wrap tightly in glad wrap and chill for 48 hours turning occasionally. Gently rinse off cure, tuna is now ready to slice and serve.