Irish chef under The Grill

A new Irish top chef is now mashing the spuds at The Grill at Solway Park.

Yuri McKenna arrived last week as executive chef, replacing fellow Irishman Paul Condron who left for Martinborough after a year at the Copthorne Resort Solway Park Restaurant.

Mr McKenna was born to Irish parents in New Zealand, but moved to Australia aged 2 and back to Ireland at 13, where he developed an accent that has stuck.

His formal training included Dublin, Jersey and London before his return to Ireland for a long and successful career in the industry.

In London Mr McKenna worked in the "rarefied atmosphere" of the International Sporting Club, a casino where a customer could win or lose half a million pounds in a night. In that restaurant, "no money changes hands", but caviar is handled in kilos.

Mr McKenna's postings have included heading several prestigious hotel and restaurant kitchens, including Dublin's National Yacht Club, Planet Hollywood and Morton's - the high-end Dublin equivalent of London's Harrods Food Halls.

In recent years Mr McKenna forged a niche for himself as a specialist food consultant, rescuing and reinventing high-quality establishments in Ireland. He has also run his own fine-dining restaurant and tutored at Dublin's Cooks Academy.

Mr McKenna said he was "really passionate about food" and described Wairarapa as "a real breadbasket of produce".

Mr McKenna cites local farmhouse cheeses and lamb as examples and notes that with nearby vineyards, "you don't have to go very far to match wines".

While The Grill will have a new summer menu early next year, the new head said he first wants to get a feel for what his customers want and like. "It's not about me showing off; it's about creating a dining experience that our customers are comfortable in, that they enjoy, will return to and will tell their friends about."