UK-born, NZ-based chef Toby Stuart has worked in more than a dozen Michelin-starred restaurants around the world. Now he's opened a multimillion-dollar retreat in the Tasman district. Photo / Domu Retreat
There’s a famous Gordon Ramsay quote that stands out for Toby Stuart: “If you want to become a great chef, you have to work with great chefs. And that’s exactly what I did.”
That’s exactly what Stuart did, too - for 20 years. The UK-born, New Zealand-based chef has worked in some of the world’s best kitchens in more than a dozen Michelin-starred restaurants across several countries, including France and the United States. After relocating to New Zealand’s Marlborough a few years ago, Stuart held executive chef roles at Rock Ferry Wines, Harvest Restaurant, and Cloudy Bay Vineyards.
Then he realised he wanted to go back to his roots, “almost like going back from digital to analogue,” he told the Herald.
Today, together with his wife Sabina Bronicka-Stuart, Stuart launches the multimillion-dollar Domu Retreat on the coastal ridge overlooking the stunning Abel Tasman National Park and Tasman Bay in Kaiteriteri.
Domu means “home” in Polish - a nod to Bronicka-Stuart’s heritage and culture - and offers visitors an intimate chef-led hosting experience from the couple, with meals catered for, high-end beds, access to facilities like morning yoga, a heated plunge pool and a wood-fired sauna.
The whole idea is to disconnect. Be present. Stay slowly. “Nothing is scheduled, unless you wish it to be,” a line reads on its website.
This wind-down is ironically a crescendo for Stuart. He says it is a distillation of the past 20 years and an accumulation of his life’s work.
And it makes sense. Stuart says he’s always been the kind of chef who enjoys working at the front of the restaurant as well as the back; he loves to host and connect with people.
The adults-only retreat costs at least $2000 per night for two guests but Stuart insists that it’s “not pompous”.
“There is a luxury aspect to it. That’s because that’s the kind of level of expertise that I’d like to put into it, the level of detail [that’s in] there. But at the same time ... there are no white tablecloths, it’s not stiff.
“It’s a very relaxed vibe,” Stuart adds.
In today’s busy lifestyles, luxury isn’t only reserved for glitz and glam. Stuart says it can also be reconnecting with yourself and others, being curious and affording the time to pause and “take the load off”.
“My wife Sabina and I noticed that a lot more people were being driven by the social media posts or the alerts from their phones.
“So many times we’d see people dining in restaurants and they wouldn’t be conversing, they’d be scrolling on their feeds. We thought to ourselves, we wanted to carve out a place where the people could come and not follow that format.”
He says he’s retracted from social media over the past few years, after being very active on Twitter and Instagram 10 to 15 years ago when he was living in the UK.
“I realised it was not helping me be grounded or stay in the present,” he says. “Sometimes I felt a bit envious or jealous of people ... it made me lose sight of the successful career that I have had and how far I have come.
“Not every moment is content. I firmly believe that.”
Designed by the couple themselves, the property features natural materials and offers 360-degree views. Stuart hopes that in that quiet, picturesque space, people will want to “linger around, embrace the stillness of the place, embrace the view”, inviting a childlike discovery of the world again, he says.
He says the menu reflects the relaxed surroundings.
“This is a region famous for its fruit and vegetables, and a lot of it’s organic,” he says. There’s an a la carte breakfast in the morning, with organic teas and coffee roasted over open flame on the West Coast.
Stuart, who will be preparing all of the meals himself, says the dinner can be “quite intimate”. Domu comprises six bedrooms and can accommodate up to 12 guests who can choose to stay in either Mountain View or Ocean View rooms.
“It will be a nourishing, relaxed, kind of unfussy food experience with just quality notes in there using both noble and humble ingredients.
He’s clear when he says it’s not a lodge.
“We’re Domu from the point that this is a guest house ... This is where we live, this is our home. You’re coming to stay with us, and it’s kind of all-encompassing.”
Staurt points there is no bycatch as they have a supplier who spearfishes their fresh seafood, such as kina and butterfish, from D’Urville Island. They have also partnered with an organic farm run by a fourth-generation family in Golden Bay, providing eggs and pasture-raised, grass-fed beef and lamb.
“We’ve removed the TVs from the rooms because we want guests to engage with each other, with books, with the view, not the news cycle.
“Domu is the opposite of the all-you-can-do resort model. Here, the luxury is in having nothing on the agenda except what you choose.”
So how does one travel there? There is no helicopter pad - Stuart thinks that’s “kind of elitist”. Instead, take the car. From Nelson Airport, the luxurious wellness hideaway is just over an hour’s drive away via State Highway 60.
Varsha Anjali is a journalist in the lifestyle team at the Herald. Based in Auckland, she covers travel, culture and more.