Your own personal chef
What would you have for dinner if you had your own chef? Guests at the Prodigal Daughter Gourmet Lodge, will be given this chance by globetrotting chef and owner, Rachel Priestley. Words and photo by Katherine Robinson.
It’s all about the personal touch. A talented and experienced chef, Rachel has also been running a homestay in Martinborough for the last five years. Her latest venture combines the two, with the new Martinborough Gourmet Lodge offering stylish accommodation plus gourmet dining.
She plans a bespoke service for guests. “I will talk to guests when they book, and find out if they have any particular likes and dislikes or any allergies and then I will base a four-course dinner around what is local, in season, and what they like to eat.
“When I had La Pancetta in Greytown, I loved it but it was my workplace; this is an extension of my home. I love cooking, but I didn’t want another restaurant. Here I can cook for small numbers of people, using local ingredients.”
The pretty villa on Cologne Street reflects an adventurous life that has taken Rachel across the globe. “The rooms all have stories behind them,” she says.
One of the four spacious bedrooms has an Italian flavour, reflecting Rachel’s home from home in Italy; another has “a real French touch”, a reminder of the two years she worked for the New Zealand ambassador to France.
Guests have their own living room but as you’d expect the heart of the home is the kitchen. It’s real cook’s kitchen, bristling with pots, pans and other utensils, with a gleaming espresso maker in pride of place. The kitchen is more or less replicated outside on the deck, where an outdoor kitchen includes a pizza oven.
Guest will find plenty of places to settle for dinner here, but it would be hard not to sit in the opulent dining room at the lodge-style dining table. “It used to be a games room with a ping-pong table. It’s quite different now!” says Rachel.
Locals may know Rachel best for her Italian restaurant, La Pancetta, in Greytown, and also for her own-brand artisan charcuterie, Prodigal Daughter. She has had an extraordinarily wide-ranging career starting in Wellington where she was head chef after Peter Gordon at the hugely influential The Sugar Club.
She worked for two years as personal chef to the New Zealand ambassador in France. And she has trained numerous chefs, including teaching at two different institutions in Melbourne.
When she was in Australia, she received a phone call . “They asked, “Would you like to move to Italy, to live and work and set up a wine bar?” I quit my job, left my place, sold my car and was there in three months. I learned Italian as fast as I could, and was there for over 10 years."
Rachel oversaw six restaurants for Italian clients, ran a truffle shop in Florence, and opened an Italian restaurant in Vienna. She went on to become director of gastronomy for 26-generation Antinori Wines, for whom she oversaw restaurants in Florence, Vienna, Moscow and Zurich.
There are plans to offer two-night packages with different themes, including golf, and an intriguing wine and food package that takes in local producers and restaurants.
Prodigal Daughter Gourmet Lodge
For bookings, packages and enquiries: www.prodigaldaughter.co.nz or email Rachel directly on rachel@prodigal-daughter.com 9a Cologne Street, Martinborough 5711
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