Diary of a Chef | Day 1 : "The Rees Takes on Manhattan"

Photo | Ben Batterbury outside James Beard House

Welcome to my 'Diary of a Chef'! Tune in for foodie tips (streamed live from the Big Apple over the next week) and tales from my True South Dining Room kitchen at The Rees Hotel on the shores of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, New Zealand.

We've survived the long journey, got the nod from Customs and finally arrived in New York in the lead up to our 'Flavors of New Zealand' event at the James Beard Institute on 12th Street in Manhattan and we are in awe already! There's a reason why Time magazine calls the annual 'James Beard' awards "the Oscars of the food world". This is the culinary mecca of the USA!

After an early "jetlag" rise and foot tour around NYC, I found a superb organic store with surprisingly, a lot of NZ lamb and a drool worthy cheese counter ...... Heaven on a plate!

Then on to a whirlwind tour of James Beard House by the wonderful and super organised, Izabela Wojcik - Director of House Programming and Event Manager - Victoria Jordan, thank you ladies, we can;t do this without you!

Now it's time to roll our sleeves up ...