Peter Gordon to relaunch Sugar Club in New Zealand
Chef-restaurateur and Catey winner Peter Gordon is to open a new Sugar Club in Auckland, New Zealand, 27 years after opening the first incarnation of the fusion restaurant.
The restaurant will be located in the city's Sky Tower, the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere and part of the Skycity casino complex. It will open in July.
The 85-seat restaurant will be housed on Level 53 of the Tower, have an Art Deco design and incorporate a 30-seat bar with spectacular views over Auckland harbour. It will offer an à la carte menu incorporating some previous Sugar Club signature dishes, alongside small plates and a weekend brunch menu and will showcase New Zealand wines.
Gordon told Caterer and Hotelkeeper: "We've been talking about opening a new restaurant for two years and found out that there was no copyright in New Zealand on the Sugar Club name. So that was great, because The Sugar Club launched my career in both New Zealand and the UK."
The original Sugar Club opened in Auckland in 1986, before transferring to London (first to Notting Hill, then to Soho) in the 1990s, where it became one of the city's hottest culinary tickets. As its head chef, Gordon is credited with introducing fusion (Pacific Rim) cuisine to the UK.
In 2001 Gordon opened his own restaurant, Providores and Tapas Room in Marylebone, then in 2010 launched Kopapa in London's Seven Dials area. He has a number of other restaurant consultancies and interests around the world, including, currently, two restaurants in Auckland: Bellota and dine by Peter Gordon in Skycity's Grand Hotel.
Dine will close its doors in June, just before the new Sugar Club launches. "It didn't make sense to have three restaurants in the same Skycity complex," said Gordon.
Gordon's London restaurant, the Providores, won the Newcomer of the Year Catey in 2004 and is the driving force behind the annual fund raising dinner for leukaemia research, Who's Cooking Dinner?