For a chef who has worked in some of New Zealand and Australia's top restaurants, Michael Lopesi's dream job is a little surprising.
He says he would like to open a shop serving one of our best loved dishes – pies. The born and bred Aucklander who has cooked in esteemed restaurants like The Officers' Mess in Auckland and Maha in Melbourne, thinks his idea is the best way to showcase New Zealand's cuisine in one tasty handheld package.
Whether this dream becomes a reality or not, Lopesi – affectionately known as The Pie Guy – is quickly making his mark in the culinary scene around the world.
He joined other young Kiwi chefs Laura-Jane Muller and Esther Olatunbosun (The Dessert Queen) helping create delicious Kiwi cuisine at Tiaki Restaurant (Tiaki means to care, safeguard, protect and preserve) in the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. The Expo opened in October last year and runs until the end of March.
The trio were chosen from a talented pool of ambitious young chefs as part of the New Zealand at Expo/Emirates Flight Catering Apprentice Chef Programme more than two years ago.
In Dubai they represented the next generation of New Zealand's culinary talent, showcasing the country's contemporary and diverse culinary offerings on the global stage.
The restaurant has served more than 40,000 diners and is considered one of the nicer fine dining restaurants at the Expo. From Kapiti cheese platters, to pasture-raised venison, grass-fed lamb and an array of kaimoana (seafood) including crumbed hoki (classic fish and chips), greenshell mussels and scampi, the menu is a celebration of the nation's special connection to the land and sea.
Clayton Kimpton, Commissioner-General for New Zealand at Expo 2020 says the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an important food security partner for New Zealand - as evidenced by a recently signed partnership which will see increasing mutual food trade and knowledge exchange between the two countries.
"At Expo 2020 a big part of our food story is Tiaki. It has introduced tens of thousands of guests to our premium-quality food and beverage over the six months of Expo through casual dining, degustation (tasting) dinners and chef demonstrations.
"We have also participated in the thematic discussions by sharing our world-leading New Zealand expertise in sustainable food production and food waste reduction," Kimpton says.
For Lopesi the UAE was on his radar as a diverse culinary destination well before the opportunity to go to the Expo came along.
His time in the kitchen began as a young child sitting on the kitchen bench while his mother and grandmother created dishes for the family. Over the years his passion for food took flight, eventually taking him to Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in 2017 where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Culinary Arts and Hospitality.
It was during this time he gained experience in some of Auckland's top restaurants under the mentorship of Ben Bayley. A stint in Melbourne followed at Maha, a renowned Middle Eastern restaurant and Tonka, an Indian restaurant.
Muller was brought up on a dairy farm in Waikite Valley near Rotorua. An all-rounder chef with a love for seasonal New Zealand produce, her time in the kitchen began when she was 12 with her mother passing down her cooking know-how.
Graduating from Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology with a Diploma of Culinary Arts while working as a junior sous chef at The Bistro in Taupo, her eight months in Dubai - where she shared her Mum's pavlova recipe with the pavilion restaurant - was her first time out of New Zealand.
Staying true to her farming roots, the 22-year-old loves cooking with ingredients such as honey, kiwifruit, beef, lamb and seafood and, when cooking with dairy, likes to imagine it has come from her family farm.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Olatunbosun moved here with her family nearly 15 years ago. A believer food is the glue that holds everyone together, the talented 24-year-old chef's creativity in the kitchen and love of cooking led her to Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in 2018 where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Culinary Arts and Hospitality.
From there, she gained a broad range of experience working in restaurants, hotels, cafes, and catering businesses within Auckland.
When the Tiaki opportunity appeared, she thought the experience would be an opportunity to immerse herself in different cultures and add more cooking disciplines to her ever-growing expertise.
Each day while in Dubai she created Tiaki's mouthwatering desserts including the delicious Anzac biscuit ice cream sandwich, Comvita honey cake and of course, a classic New Zealand pavlova using her colleague Muller's Mum's recipe topped with Zespri kiwifruit.