Volker’s fresh start

He’s cooked for King Charles and Mick Jagger, led a 60-strong kitchen team at Auckland’s Cordis Hotel, and worked in world-class kitchens like The Savoy in London and Schlosshotel Berlin. Now, acclaimed executive chef Volker Marecek has swapped high tea and hotel banquets for quince paste, crab apple jelly and a veggie garden in Wakefield – and he’s relishing every moment of it.

Words: Catherine Milford | Photos: Tessa Claus

Volker Marecek has been making homemade bread. He’s also whipped up a Basque cheesecake and citrus tarts with lemons from the garden, a batch of fluffy, light Earl Grey scones, crafted creamy feijoa chocolate bites, made several jars of crab apple jelly, feijoa and rhubarb jam, apple strudel and some quince paste. He’s also planned his vegetable garden and has ripped out a couple of trees to prepare the land for the avocado trees he’s planting. And he’s only been in his new home for a week.

In June this year, the acclaimed executive chef of Auckland’s Cordis Hotel (formerly The Langham), his wife Judith and their three dogs – Golden Retrievers Pearl and Daisy, and Labradoodle Siege – made the move from Auckland to the beautiful rural setting of Wakefield. Their 8000-square-metre house with its mature lifestyle section is the idyll the international couple has dreamed of ever since they first holidayed in Abel Tasman many years ago.

Settling in a little corner of New Zealand is a seismic change for a man who’s been travelling the world since he was 15 and has spent decades working 80-hour weeks in the high-pressure environment of top-end kitchens. But while he can’t help conjuring up delicious dishes in his home kitchen – much to the delight of his new neighbours, and the despair of Judith, who’s starting to get serious concerns for her waistline – owning a beautiful house with expansive views across the Tasman and growing his own produce from which he can create delectable dishes, is exactly where Volker wants to be.

“I started my apprenticeship at 15 because I always wanted to work with food. Originally, I wanted to be a baker, but I wanted to see the world and that was easier as a chef,” he says. “But I was so naïve – I didn’t speak any English and didn’t know where to go or where anything was. I ended up in a kitchen in Killarney, Ireland, with ten chefs, and six of us were German.”

Volker was just 20 when he was offered a position at London’s exclusive Savoy Hotel in 1989. “That was pretty challenging – I worked with 95 chefs, and at that time everyone in the kitchen spoke French. For the first six weeks I had no idea what was going on! And the hours… I’d start at 5am and finish at about 10pm.”

The young chef thrived in professional kitchens, however, and was determined to become an executive chef by the time he reached his thirties. But no successful path is ever easy, and just as he felt he was about to hit the big time – he was offered the chance to become the Savoy’s youngest sous chef, or go and work with renowned bad boy chef extraordinaire, Marco Pierre White – he was stopped in his tracks. “I couldn’t do either, because I was called back to Germany for compulsory military service,” he says ruefully. It wasn’t all bad, however, as during military service Volker learned to drive a truck. “You never know when that’s going to come in handy – especially now I’m in rural Tasman!” he laughs.

After completing his military service, Volker worked in a Bavarian restaurant for a while, but wanderlust soon took over again. He moved to Berlin and worked in a couple of hotels there, including the Karl Lagerfeld-designed boutique Schlosshotel Berlin, before transferring to the Langham Hotel in London where he worked for five years. It’s also where he met Judith, a chief steward in the same hotel. “It was 1998, and we knew straightaway we were meant for each other,” he says. Two months later the couple moved in together, became engaged the next month and were married the following year.

Next, Volker headed off to Canberra in Australia to open the catering complex of the National Museum of Australia in 2001, before he finally snagged his first much-prized executive chef role in Dublin, Ireland, the following year, aged 33. “I learned a lot there, but it was hard,” Volker says. Like, for example, trying to work with a kitchen team who refused to change their roster, taste the food, or take it to the table “because it wasn’t in their contract.”

“I remember asking a staff member to take an amuse-bouche to the table and they refused, saying it wasn’t in their job description. I was so frustrated I said the ‘f’ word, and before I knew it, I’d landed myself in the HR department,” recalls Volker. “They tried for about a year and a half to get rid of me, but I’m German and stubborn, so I stayed until I was ready.”

Despite the challenges, Volker still has fond memories of his Dublin experience. “I met Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton there, and the Ireland rugby team would come in after every game, which kept us very busy. I never got to a game though – I was always too worried about what was happening in the kitchen,” he says. “And I got used to all those unionised rules in the end…”

Escape came in 2007, when Volker got the chance to tick something else off his bucket list – opening a hotel. But this one wasn’t exactly where he’d planned to be. “I’d always wanted to do an opening, and a friend recommended me to open the Swissôtel in Tallinn, Estonia. That was interesting! It was very cold in winter, and really challenging to get good produce,” he recalls. “You’d think being next to the sea we could get fresh fish, but although Tallinn is right next to water, you can’t. I’d be asking for fresh fish and I was told there wasn’t any. Most of the ingredients we used came in a truck from Berlin overnight.”

Cooking in so many different countries and cultures has given Volker a vast knowledge of food and flavour, and a deep love for experimenting. “I love trying new concepts in kitchens, seeing what’s available and being hands-on with food,” he explains. “Over the years I’ve learned so much, including molecular cuisine, how to make Coca-Cola caviar – all sorts of fascinating creations. But my favourite was always – and still is – working with my hands. Getting in there, playing with new ideas.”

After Estonia, Judith was ready to stop living on the road – and New Zealand was the hands-down favourite destination. “We wanted to put down roots. We knew we didn’t want to live in Holland, where she’s from, or Germany, where I’m from. We’d been to New Zealand a couple of times and loved it,” explains Volker. So when the opportunity arose to take up the mantle of executive chef at The Langham (now Cordis) in Auckland in 2009, the pair didn’t hesitate.

“New Zealand was always going to be where we ended up – we feel really at home here,” says Volker. “The land is beautiful, the people are friendly, and over the years I’ve learned that New Zealand is a nation of small producers of really good, fresh food. Cheese, truffles, beer, wine… there is lovely produce here. My biggest frustration is that so much of our really good premium meat and fish is exported – I think we should look after our New Zealand market first before exporting it. I get cross when I go back to Germany and see New Zealand lamb on the shelves cheaper than it is here.”

Volker says the quality of New Zealand food – specifically cheese, truffles and beer – has improved dramatically since he first arrived, thanks to the dedicated small food producers. He’s judged at the New Zealand Cheese Awards – “I love cheese!” – and he has a fantastic supplier, Element Food, on speed dial, who sources exceptional produce for him.

Volker led a 60-strong kitchen team at the popular Cordis hotel for 16 years, where he was instrumental in setting up Eight, the hotel’s flagship restaurant. During his time there he was responsible for everything food-related, including room service, restaurant meals, banquets – and one of his favourites, high tea. “It was always busy, and the hours were very long at the Cordis, but I had some amazing experiences,” muses Volker, who also appeared as a guest judge on MasterChef New Zealand.

He has an impressive collection of anecdotes, including the time he was asked to cook for King Charles and Queen Camilla. “She always insisted on having two papaya seeds on her plate, I have no idea why, or if she ate them,” he laughs. “And King Charles gave me his book – but told me not to bother reading it as it was very boring!” Then there was the time Mick Jagger asked Volker to cook for him. “His staff had told me he didn’t eat tomatoes, but Mick rang and asked me for pasta with sauce. I told him I had lovely fresh tomatoes but I knew he didn’t eat them, and he said he wanted them anyway, so I took it up to his room. He ate it – but man, is he skinny!” Another memorable moment was when One Direction stayed at the hotel. With groupies lining the windows on a cold Auckland night, Volker and his team made the grateful fans a few batches of muffins to keep them warm while they waited for their idols.

Although Volker has loved the drama and glamour of being a high-profile chef, he was ready for change. So earlier this year he started researching properties in the Nelson area. “I’ve reached a point in my life where there are more important things than money, and working all hours,” explains Volker. “I know of too many people my age who are getting sick, having heart attacks and even passing away in their fifties and sixties – I don’t want that to be the story of my life.”

Volker has an abundance of ideas for what he’ll do next. He’s quite keen on the concept of bringing his exceptional high teas to Nelson, or looking at private chef work or consultancy. He hasn’t even ruled out taking some of those delicious jams, compotes and baking for sale in the markets, and he’s enjoying meeting other food industry locals who are happy to share their own knowledge and experience. Right now, however, he’s simply enjoying exploring his new slice of paradise.

“I love it here – I still feel like I’m on holiday,” he grins. “I’ve only been here a couple of weeks, and moving anywhere new is an adjustment. But at the end of the day, I’m German – I need structure. So watch this space!”

Contact Volker at volker@marecek.nz