Diners show good taste
Kaiming “Kelvin” Huang is originally from Guangzhou, China, and has worked as a chef in Whanganui for the past 10 years. In July last year, he and his partner, Vy Nguyen, opened a restaurant of their own, High-Kut Bistro, on Victoria Avenue. With the restaurant closed under Covid-19 alert level 3, Huang had a rare opportunity to answer 10 questions from
What inspired you to pursue a career in hospitality?
When I was still in China I was actually planning on becoming a mechanic or an electrician. Then I went to a secondary skill-set school and chefing was one of the courses. One of my teachers thought I had potential and told my mum, and she told me to go with it.
We had the opportunity to come to Whanganui, and I’ve been doing it ever since. Funnily enough, the day we opened High-Kut Bistro was exactly 10 years to the day after I moved to New Zealand — July 22.
What’s your favourite thing to do in Whanganui?
Since I’ve met my partner we’ve got dogs, so we like to go out to parks and to Kai Iwi Beach for walks. Before I met her, all I knew was sleep and work, nothing else. That’s been a nice change.
Do you think people’s tastes changed over the years you’ve been a chef?
For the most part, no. Everything I do is based on the classics, but with my own twist on them to make something new. People seem to like it.
What is your signature dish?
That would be our eye fillet steak, and I think we (High-Kut Bistro) have made our name with it. That comes with confit duck fat potatoes, truffle mushroom sauce and seasonal vegetables.
With High-Kut Bistro proving to be a success, are you planning on opening another eatery in the future?
My partner and I are thinking about that, but not in the short term. We want High-Kut to have a really good name and reputation first, and we are working really hard for it at the moment. She’s Vietnamese and I’m Chinese, so maybe one day we’ll have a fusion place. People have said there isn’t a really nice Chinese place to eat, except for Chinese takeaway, so maybe one day I can give it a twist. I just have to keep travelling, learning and tasting things.
Outside of High-Kut, what other places do you enjoy eating at in Whanganui?
We really enjoy going to La Quattro to get some snacks and drinks. We’re big fans of their drinks, especially. I always get their pork ribs. I’ve always been a “pork rib guy”, I just love them.
You can invite anyone to dine at your restaurant. Who would it be?
That would be Ian Harrex, a Whanganui local. I don’t know how he got my phone number, but he messaged me in the first few days we were open to book a table. Ever since then he’s come in every week with his friends or his wife.
Ian is a lovely guy, and he’s been really supportive of us. My partner actually asked him where he got my phone number from, and he didn’t know either. I like chatting to him, and everyone here (High-Kut Bistro) likes him as well.
What advice would you give your 15-year-old self?
Back then I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do. If I go back to myself then, I think I’d still do the same thing.
Maybe I’d just open my eyes a little bit more, and learn more things.
That’s what I’m trying to do now. When I have free time, and things are affordable, I get something in and try it out. If it works, I put it on the menu as a special. Before lockdown we were doing an ostrich steak. I got the idea from Little Savannah in Palmerston North, who do it occasionally. I thought ‘I should do this in Whanganui’, so I went to Chef’s Choice and asked for some.
It became a pretty popular dish.
How do you think Whanganui has changed over the years?
When I first came here there didn’t seem to many people around, even driving, but now there’s traffic, especially in the last three or four years. I come from a big city in China, so people are around 24 hours a day. I want that feeling sometimes, so for me it’s good to be in traffic.
You do see places come and go here, but most of the places to eat stay. That’s definitely a good sign.
Are there any foods you don’t want anything to do with?
As a chef, you have to try everything. The only thing I’ll stay away from is something that’s full of chilli, because I can’t eat too much hot stuff. I’ll try it, of course, but I won’t go too hard.
There’s a sea bug that they eat in China, and that’s something I can’t really do, just by looking at it. Because I’m a chef I had to try one once, but it was like ‘OK, that’s what it tastes like’, and I didn’t touch it again.