SKYCITY Dining for a Difference
It was an evening of fun, food, fine wines and plenty of fundraising when world class chefs commandeered the kitchens of SKYCITY.
In a first for New Zealand, the SKYCITY Dining for a Difference event on Saturday 30 June, 2007, showcased the culinary skills of 13 top chefs, who gave their time free of charge to help raise just over $210,000 for the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation.
The gourmet stars included Al Brown of Logan Brown in Wellington, Geoff Scott of Vinnies Restaurant in Auckland, and overseas names such as Govind Armstrong from Table 8 in LA and Greg Malouf from Mo Mo in Melbourne.
The 270 guests didn't know who was cooking for them until the night, when the chefs each had to pluck the names of two tables from a silver champagne bucket. Luckily, there was no repeat of an incident at a similar UK event when Rick Stein, a renowned seafood chef, ended up with a table that didn't eat fish!
The mission of luring all these culinary temperaments to Auckland fell to Peter Gordon, arguably New Zealand's highest-profile international chef. Peter is co-owner of The Providores restaurant in London and Auckland's SKYCITY Grand Hotel is home to his award-winning signature restaurant, dine by Peter Gordon.
The whole evening was his brainchild, based on the hugely successful fundraising dinners he has run in the UK for the last nine years, with such well-known names as Jamie Oliver and the fiery Gordon Ramsey. So far, they have raised almost $9 million for Hammersmith Hospital's Leukaemia Unit in London. However, this is the first time he's brought the event home to New Zealand.
Peter explained: “Leukaemia is a very personal subject in my family — my sister Tracey was diagnosed over 11 years ago and she is a survivor. Her story is inspirational and moving. However, not all who are diagnosed end with such success. It was for those patients that haven't been as lucky as Tracey, as well as their partners, loved ones and family, that the dinner took place.”
The evening also provided the first opportunity in more than 40 years for Peter to gather all his family together in one place. Tracey spoke movingly to guests about her own battle with the disease and about her successful bone marrow transplant, for which Peter was the donor.
Pru Etcheverry, Executive Director of the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation, was able to tell guests that every cent was going straight to the Foundation to help provide vital support to patients and their families.
She added: “I just wanted to thank Peter Gordon for his incredible vision and energy and SKYCITY who provided the venue and amazing sponsorship. The logistics were incredible and I know that staff put in extremely long hours to make it all possible.”
Air New Zealand also got a special mention for flying chefs, as well as their assistants and Maitre D's, to Auckland. Other sponsors included Lion Nathan, who provided the wine, and the creative teams at Colenso BBDO and Orange Productions.
There were...
* 270 guests (Peter Gordon's family had an extra table of 10)
* 27 tables
* 39 chefs, sous chefs, apprentice chefs
* 13 front of house staff
* 4 extra ovens, 6 in total
* 1,080 dishes served
