In May 2024 at a special event in The Libraries at Hotel Britomart, we experienced a remarkable menu created by Kingi co-founder/chef Tom Hishon and Sherwood Queenstown’s co-owner/chef Chris Scott, which had a super-delicious and unexpected ending. Throughout the evening I had been watching a young chef working on the pass, admiring her calm approach and attention to detail and when it came time for dessert, Stefania Palermo delivered one of the most beautiful tarts I’ve had in a very long time. For months after that event I thought back on that quince tarte Tatin with hazelnut and Jerusalem artichoke crunch. From her early days as a 16-year-old waitress in Sardinia, Stefania has carved some impressive career notches, having worked at iconic Melbourne café and pâtisserie Brunetti and at Michelin-starred Le Gavroche under Michel Roux Jr. and Jason Atherton’s City Social in London. She’s also honed her skills in Aotearoa as head pastry chef for the launch of fine-diner Onslow, then to pasta-perfect Spiga in Remuera, before taking the lead as head pastry chef at Amano. So, imagine my delight when Hotel Britomart’s general manager Clinton Farley announced the promotion of Stefania Palermo from within the ranks of the culinary brigade to the position of head chef at Kingi. With a passion for fresh fish, she could not have found a better gig than Kingi where Tom’s core ethos of showcasing sustainable seafood and highlighting the hard mahi of New Zealand’s fishers, hunters and growers is a firm focus.

After working with Tom and executive chef Andrew Lautenbach for a year, she had impressed by displaying great care for her craft and her team, and her unending search for the right flavours and techniques to make a dish shine. With her ideas already beginning to make an appearance on the Kingi menu, it was clear that it was time for her to step up to the next level.

The menu that both chefs have created here is deeply nostalgic for Stefania: after hearing her stories and food memories, Tom felt it fitting that this menu was inspired by the flavours of Stefania’s homeland. The celery with taramasalata and pane carasau is a modern take on a traditional Sardinian starter, sedano e bottarga; the toasted bread is a recipe with ancient origins, originally created for shepherds who spent months away from home. The octopus with potatoes is another classic Sardinian appetiser that takes her back to a fresh, simple dish that still feels like home, and the farinata came from a conversation with Tom about creating a vegan dish, though here Stefania added some of her favorites such as roasted eggplant, peperonata and anchovies, “Because as my father always advised, if you add a couple of anchovies everything tastes better”. Finally, the peach tarte Tatin is a tribute to her brother and the juicy peaches picked from the orchard of his best friend, while also being inspired by Tom who is currently in love with abbamele – a Sardinian honeycomb condiment with citrus. It’s a dish that combines family memories with a touch of New Zealand inspiration. How lucky are we?
KELLI BRETT