Executive Chef and Co-Owner

Peter was born in the New Zealand coastal town of Wanganui. He moved to Melbourne, Australia, in 1981 and completed a four year cookery apprenticeship at William Angliss College, graduating as top theory student in his final year. Including his college years he cooked in Melbourne restaurants for 5 years before travelling throughout Asia for a year - which was to have the biggest influence on his culinary style. He eventually returned to Wellington, New Zealand, in 1986 to set up the kitchen at the original The Sugar Club restaurant, which was opened by two friends. In 1989, after 2 years running The Sugar Club kitchen, Peter and his partner Michael McGrath moved to London where Peter introduced, albeit quite slowly at first, his eclectic style of cuisine which is now called Fusion. ‘I treat the world’s culinary resources as one huge, exciting larder. Why wouldn’t a creative chef want to try the new – to push boundaries and make culinary discoveries? You never know when a new classic is in the making’. Recently Japan, Spain, China and Turkey have all provided such inspiration.

After working in many UK restaurants, a private country home and event catering, he set up the acclaimed Sugar Club kitchens in Notting Hill (1995) and West Soho (1998) which were both solely owned by the originators of the Wellington restaurant who had also moved to London. Both London restaurants received many accolades from the press including, for the Notting Hill branch in 1996, a Time Out award for Best Modern British Restaurant, and an Eros award from the Evening Standard for Best Pacific Rim Restaurant. The Soho restaurant was voted Best Central London Restaurant in 1999 in the Time Out Restaurant Awards. Peter left The Sugar Club in November 1999 to begin various solo projects, culminating with the opening of The Providores and Tapa Room in 2001.

Peter is executive chef at The Providores, working with his head chef Miles Kirby and sous-chef Cristian Hossack, to create innovative dishes that keep the customers and the chefs inspired and excited. The kitchen is a democratic arena that encourages the development of new ideas from the entire team. Peter leads the team, but nurtures new and emerging talent. He is also consultant chef to several restaurants in the UK, New Zealand and Istanbul – check out his personal website.
Peter is also the author of five best selling cookbooks, most of which have been translated into foreign languages: The Sugar Club Cookbook, Cook at Home with Peter Gordon, A World In My Kitchen, Salads – the new main course, and Vegetables – the new food heroes. He is currently writing a cookbook dedicated to the very concept of Fusion – explaining that it’s not a modern idea created as a marketing buzz, but something that’s been happening in the culinary world since potatoes were first introduced into Europe from the Andes in the 1500’s. He has also contributed to around another dozen cook-books, as well as a non-fiction book on Grandmothers for Virago Press. Recently he has written several food related articles for the Financial Times and delicious magazine and continues to write monthly articles for New Zealand House & Garden – which he has been doing for over 12 years.

Peter is a well known personality on British television, featuring recently on the BBC 2 series Food Poker, as well as Market Kitchen, Saturday Kitchen and Cooking the Books. He has also appeared in Nigel Slater’s and Jamie Oliver’s series for Channel 4. For The Discovery Channel he filmed a show in 2005 on the food of China’s Guangdong Region for the series Planet Food, as well as a programme on Serendipity in 1999. For the American Food Network’s series My Country, My Kitchen Peter travelled back to New Zealand to introduce its culinary diversity to an American audience. He also fronted an hour long special for Television New Zealand, Peter Gordon’s Pacific Harvest, which looked at New Zealand’s culinary evolution and development.

Peter is a shareholder in the lauded Waitaki Braids vineyard in New Zealand with Michael McGrath, winemaker Michelle Richardson and Steven Cozens, and he works with Jessica Peden on the development of the restaurant’s New Zealand dominated wine list, writing the Wine of the Month programme.