Chef cooks up whirlwind tour in Otago

British chef, TV personality and author Rick Stein with partner Sarah Burns at Moeraki yesterday Picture / Otago Daily Times

When Rick Stein was told he could choose to go anywhere to write a travel article for English newspaper the Daily Mail, he chose Otago.

The British television chef and restaurateur fancied visiting Fleur's Place at Moeraki and sampling Central Otago's famed pinot- and so he has. Accompanied by his partner Sarah Burns, Stein dined at Fleur's Place last night during a whirlwind visit to the province.

The restaurant, run by the inimitable Fleur Sullivan, was "just one of those places that keeps cropping up in conversations" whenever there was a gathering of "foodies", he said.

"You hear it all over the world. It's just one of those places that's been in my consciousness for some time."

Initially, he did not know the name of the restaurant, just that there was a "great seafood place in a little fishing village, somewhere near Dunedin". When he saw the eclectic building, on the edge of the harbour at Moeraki, it was everything he hoped it would be, with "exactly" the right atmosphere.

He was also impressed with the wines he tasted during a visit to Central Otago at the weekend. "Wherever you go, licensed places or cafes, there's always a great glass of pinot."

With a passion for seafood, Mr Stein has made eight BBC television cooking series, including Rick Stein's Seafood Odyssey and Rick Stein's Food Heroes, and written nine cookbooks.

While focusing on the Mediterranean at the moment, he and his director had always wanted to do a television series in New Zealand and possibly Australia, he said.

Mr Stein hails from the small fishing port of Padstow, on the north coast of Cornwall, where he has restaurants. Though he no longer has time to cook, he still does the menus and recipes.

When he returns to England this week, Mr Stein will cook a banquet for the Japanese Ambassador in London, consisting of Japanese seafood, which he admits is rather a frightening prospect.

On many of his television adventures, he has been accompanied by his rough-haired jack russell, Chalky.

Now 18, Chalky is short-sighted and "a bit deaf" but still enjoys going for a walk.

Moeraki woman Mary Whitau called down to Fleur's Place to meet Stein, not only because she wanted him to autograph her cooking pot, but she wanted to find out how Chalky was.

As for the pot? It was destined to hang on the wall of her kitchen.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES