Tom Hishon

Over the last four years, kingi has established a respected presence on the Auckland dining scene. It has a reputation for cuisine that’s innovative and delicious as well as sustainable, and has been a partner in some hugely successful collaborations. We talked to chef and kingi co-founder Tom Hishon about what he’s learned over the last four years and where the restaurant is going for the future.

MELINDA WILLIAMS Four years on from when you first opened your doors at kingi, how is the restaurant going? 

TOM HISHON kingi's really thriving at the moment. I think with any new opening, it takes a while to find your groove and find what space you occupy, and we are feeling really comfortable now about where we sit in hospitality within New Zealand. It's an exciting time for kingi. I think the future's really bright. Looking back on the past four years, and the things we've achieved and the collaborations we've been a part of, it feels amazing how much we have done in such a short space of time. I'm really proud of what we do here, and the team, and what people show up to do day in, day out.

MELINDA When you opened kingi, as well as wanting to forefront your sustainable seafood ethos, did you have any other particular hopes for what the restaurant would become?

TOM One of the big visions for myself when we set kingi up was to become a “regulars restaurant.” So it was really important that we fit within the dining scene in Auckland and cater to locals. For a restaurant located in a hotel to achieve that as a core business is really amazing. When you travel and you're in a foreign country, you want to step into the culture of the place and find where the vibe-y spots are in the city. And I think that's really fantastic for international guests to arrive in New Zealand, possibly for the first time, and have kingi on their doorstep.

MELINDA You said that over the last four years kingi has found its place. What are some of the things that you've learned about your market and catering to the people who come here?

TOM When we first opened, it was during a pandemic. For the first 18 months, it was very stop-start. We felt like it was hard to get into a groove, and to understand how the seasons worked in the CBD in Britomart, and how the dining patterns worked with corporates, traveling guests and with regulars. We now have 15 or 20 different menus that we are offering within kingi and the hotel over the year. So, to find a core team of chefs and a front of house team and to educate them on how to work within the complexities of a restaurant, a hotel, an events team, and a private dining offering… These are all challenges that actually strengthen the product and the team at the end of the day.

MELINDA You have very strong, longstanding relationships with your sustainable suppliers like the Chatham Island Food Company. But are there any more recent suppliers who you’ve brought into the fold who you can talk about?

TOM Tim Barnett and Karen who have Ocean Speared, they operate out of Marlborough. Seeing what they're doing is really encouraging. They spear a lot of butterfish, and kingfish and also catch by hook and line as well. There’s also Claire Edwards and Troy Bramley at Tora Collective who we get a lot of our crayfish and some octopus from. It's quite cool seeing small suppliers pop up, and giving them a go. The whole Quota Management System is a long way from being fixed and I think if we can continue to support people like Tim and Karen and Troy and Claire, then it's only going to make way for more people doing the same thing.

MELINDA Do you feel that people have become much more aware about eating sustainably over the last four years?

TOM I think we're always educating, and we will always keep educating. But what's been cool to see is that it's given people a place to be able to go out and make choices that they feel comfortable about. A lot of people choose to not go out and eat certain meats, and fishes. And they'll always choose other options, whether that’s vegan, or vegetarian. They don't know where the meat or fish have come from, what the ethics behind them are, and if we're not as sustainable. So it’s been cool to start converting people to what I like to call wildtarians. They're comfortable to eat wild food that's ethically sourced. It's awesome to be leading that space.

MELINDA One of the major milestones over the last four years was opening kingi Private. What has that given you the chance to do?

TOM It feels like the restaurant's complete now. I think it's so great to have a private dining room that is an elevated experience of what you might get in the à la carte restaurant context. It gives us the perfect opportunity to experiment with new things coming into season, and trial new dishes. It’s kind of an R&D kitchen and menu, and then the real winners get to feature on our other menus.  It's given us some great opportunities to work with internationally renowned brands and these have been really fun collaborations to be a part of. It just feels like a real grown-up space, and has given the restaurant a maturity about it.

MELINDA Another of your big projects has been the kingi Board, which has been enormously successful. Were you expecting it to take off the way that it did?

TOM I think we were, solely because of the people involved. There's so much power in collaboration, and for me, it was all about trying to uplift what Rui Peng is doing at Critical. It's an amazing initiative to upcycle plastic waste. And then, bringing LegaSea into the mix as our non-profit recipient gave the collaboration added purpose. They have a huge following within the industry and brought national attention to the cause. It was a super-fun project to do, and to raise around $70,000 to $80,000 for LegaSea has been wicked to see. We won a Silver Pin at the Best Awards, in the category of Social Good and we also won an Innovative Collaboration award at the 2024 HM Awards. This recognition of the impact that the collaboration has made has been pretty amazing. I'm really proud of what we did there.

MELINDA And have there been any other projects or events over the last four years that you've really enjoyed?

TOM The dinners we've done with LegaSea were super fun. We did the Snapper Five ways, and then repeated it the following year with Kingfish Five Ways. So seeing that whole community coming in, and supporting was really awesome for the team. I mean, there's so many great dinners and events, it's hard to name them all. I guess what's been great is just the fact that we can use the space for education outside of just day to day service, which is wicked. Although the thing I get the most joy out of is just seeing regular guests and customers coming back. When people return because they’re super-stoked about what we do, and love the food, and love the service, and the team. For me, that just takes the cake above all else.

MELINDA You've recently appointed a new head chef, Stefania Palermo. What are you looking forward to her bringing to the kitchen and the menu?

TOM I love everything about Stefania, and what she brings to kingi and the team. She's been with us for most of the year now, working as our senior sous chef. First of all, it's just amazing to have a woman head chef, it's a really tough industry, and it's heavily skewed, especially in kitchens, towards men. She's got great character and qualities, she's super creative, works extremely hard and she's really passionate about what she does. And I think it's really important for the team to have someone like her leading the team.

MELINDA Do you have any current menu favourites, or dishes coming up on the summer menu that you think will be a hit?

TOM I actually love the dish that we've just put on with Stefania, which is the farinata. It's pescetarian. Traditionally it comes from the northern parts of Italy around Tuscany, and it's a chickpea pancake, and it's super delicious. It comes with this really smoky eggplant with peperonata, both colours of anchovies – the pickled white boquerones, and the salted Ortiz anchovies – capers, chili and lemon. It's a delicious dish. Real punchy, and just screams summer to me. The crayfish taco as well will be on the menu up until Christmas, and maybe for the rest of the summer. Having crayfish back on the menu is pretty cool, so we'll see how long that can last.