Culinary journey through HB

Auckland chef Nick Honeyman's TV series this week features Bay food producers.

Acclaimed Hawke's Bay food producers, including Rockit Apples, Ovation New Zealand and The Village Press Olive Oil, feature in Nick Honeyman's new TV series, which screens on TV One this Saturday.

Nick Honeyman is one of Auckland's hottest young chefs and his new series takes him on a culinary journey around New Zealand, sampling some of the best, freshest produce along the way.

The Hawke's Bay episode was filmed a year ago while harvest was in full swing at The Village Press Olive Oil groves.

After a spot of oil tasting and cooking in the olive grove itself, Mr Honeyman then headed to Long Range Farm, Waipukurau, where farmer Ryan Foley got him to help out with some drafting.

The lambs are processed at Progressive Meats in Hastings and are marketed overseas by Ovation New Zealand.

The chef fired up the barbecue to produce a delectable lamb dish for Mr Foley and his family..

Finally, the chef met Phil Alison from Rockit Apples.

He visited the state-of-the-art packing shed and created a couple of delectable dishes in the orchard.

All the food producers featured in the series export products to South-east Asia.

The programme will be seen by many people who live in this part of the world as it will also be screened on the "Asian Food Channel", the premier food and lifestyle channel in this region, which screens to 11 countries and 130 million viewers.

Mr Honeyman's new restaurant, Paris Butter in Herne Bay, Auckland, opened in May and has been an instant hit.

For more than 20 years, this restaurant was known as Vinnies, an Auckland legend owned and operated by chef, David Griffiths, now proud owner of Mister D in Napier.

- The series, titled Best of New Zealand with Nick Honeyman, will screen on TV One at 4pm this Saturday.