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Speaker 1: The New Zealand. New Zealand may get some Michelin stars

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Speaker 1: because the government has, through Tourism New Zealand, sunk six

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Speaker 1: point three million dollars into bringing the Guide here. Tourism

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Speaker 1: New Zealand has put the money in and it's initially

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Speaker 1: going to focus on Auckland, Wellington, christ USI and Queenstown.

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Speaker 1: Are he Executive chef Ben Bailey is with us now, Hi, Ben.

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Speaker 2: Hello, how are you? I'm very well. Are you excited

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Speaker 2: about this? I am Jack, Yeah, I'm so happy this

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Speaker 2: is This is going to be grateful New Zealand for

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Speaker 2: hospitality especially. It's going to give us credibility. It's going

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Speaker 2: to validate all of our hard work. And you know,

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Speaker 2: let's face it, gastronomic tourism right now is huge. People

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Speaker 2: are traveling all over the world to eat food. That

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Speaker 2: is their main driver for coming to countries.

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Speaker 1: Now, Tamy, did you do you think there are people

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Speaker 1: who who honestly just say I'm going to go to

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Speaker 1: New Zealand to eat my way around the place, not events,

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Speaker 1: not skiing, not sight seeing, just food.

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Speaker 2: Of course I'll do other stuff, right, but we see

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Speaker 2: last summer huge amount of Americans through it was almost

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Speaker 2: like I wanted to have a map of America and

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Speaker 2: start putting all the cities from all our visitors from

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Speaker 2: around the States, and they come here and they are

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Speaker 2: searching out what is New Zealand food? What is our cuisine?

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Speaker 2: And it's you know, thirty percent of the tourism spend

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Speaker 2: is spent on dining, so it is a big thing.

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Speaker 2: And up with golfing and hunting and stuff like that.

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Speaker 2: There are diners around the world who go to countries

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Speaker 2: just to eat. You look at how gastronomic tourism has

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Speaker 2: changed places like Tokyo Osaka or even San Sebastian and Spain,

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Speaker 2: places like Mexico, people are traveling their fourth food.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that we are at the quality to

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Speaker 1: be able to earn Michelin stars.

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Speaker 2: We're definitely going to get some one hundred percent. I

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Speaker 2: mean I spent my twenties and early thirties working in one,

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Speaker 2: two and three star restaurants, so we know the level.

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Speaker 2: I mean, there's some restaurants that will get three stars,

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Speaker 2: maybe one or two, and there'll be some that will get.

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Speaker 1: To and quite a few of them three stars.

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Speaker 2: Definitely born in Amasfield or might be down at Amasfield.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you know that it's just exceptional food and

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Speaker 2: very low amount of covers. I mean, getting three stars

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Speaker 2: is a huge accolade. I think it's only about one

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty restaurants in the world with three stars.

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Speaker 2: And you know that wouldn't really suit our sort of

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Speaker 2: you know, Antipothy and or ki We dining or hospitality.

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Speaker 2: We like sort of atmosphere and we like to have

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Speaker 2: a vibe, we like to have fun, sort of be

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Speaker 2: more suited to the one and two star I think.

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Speaker 2: But there's a huge amount of criteria. Foods just one

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Speaker 2: part of the Michelin Guide, judging the dining room, you know,

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Speaker 2: the atmosphere. They even measure the bathrooms, I think, so

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Speaker 2: you know, it's quite mysterious how they're judged too. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: there's there's so many things that go into it.

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Speaker 1: What they make sure that the bathrooms are big enough.

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Speaker 2: You've got to have bathroom, You've got to have the

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Speaker 2: right type of bathrooms. You've got to think about the

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Speaker 2: whole experience, right and often even in three mission stars,

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Speaker 2: it'll be about the experience of the morning when you

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Speaker 2: wake up. What is the gift you get when you leave?

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Speaker 2: Do they make a little granola for you to give

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Speaker 2: you a little bag of sad ado to take home.

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Speaker 2: So when you wake up in the morning, you think

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Speaker 2: about the restaurant, right, So how far do you want

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Speaker 2: to go get one? Do you reckon? Ben? I'll be

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Speaker 2: disappointed if I don't. But you know, especially for he,

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Speaker 2: I mean that's sort of you know, you know, I

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Speaker 2: think that we're at that level dis judging by I mean,

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Speaker 2: I'm in Shanghai right now doing an h pop up

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Speaker 2: and I've just ate another three star two nights ago,

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Speaker 2: and so you get to compare yourself with other restaurants

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Speaker 2: and stuff like that. So I think would be we'll

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Speaker 2: get a star maybe too.

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Speaker 1: You run the food joint out at Woe Studios in Henderson.

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Speaker 2: Don't you. I did. Yeah, I founded it and I've

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Speaker 2: since sort of passed it on to our general manager.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, that was.

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Speaker 1: What a great idea. I've been I've been dying to

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Speaker 1: talk to you about it because there just isn't enough

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Speaker 1: of the stuff around where parents can go and sit

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Speaker 1: in a nice place and let these kids play a

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Speaker 1: But I.

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Speaker 2: Think things have changed now where you think might be

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Speaker 2: a fancy restaurant, like you know, how people dress. You know,

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Speaker 2: all these sort of like sort of snobbery around sort

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Speaker 2: of fine dining of flash restaurants has gone, especially with

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Speaker 2: KIW dining. So you know, you can bring your kid

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Speaker 2: to any flash restaurant in New Zealand now, no problem.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Hey, Ben, good luck with Shanghai, and thank you

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Speaker 1: for talking to us, mate, and good luck getting a star.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure you will. Ben Bailey, executive chef at Ahi

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Speaker 1: and host of New Zealand Food Story.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow

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Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio