the not serious Helen & Josh Emett
You might think I’ve taken a departure from the wine chats by not talking to a winemaker for today’s chat. Quite the contrary.
For most of us, the restaurant setting is where we get our best exposure to wines we may not have heard of or tried before.
The beverage selection is an important income earner for any hospitality joint and the restaurant is an important customer for our beverage producing pals.
With such genuine simpatico it seems only right that we include those hard-grafting hospo heroes in the chats to get their not serious take on wine too.
If you live under a rock, you may not know Chef Josh Emett. For the rest of us, he’s the familiar face from the MasterChef tele show, he’s the Chef who shares social media reels of cooking in his home kitchen, he’s written a couple of cracking cookbooks and he’s the kiwi done good having earned himself a top international accolade or two alongside folks like Gordon Ramsay.
The anchor to all that action is Helen Emett. She’s one astute, highly motivated woman with a fierce vision for good business and a major funny bone. She’s a hoot and she’s the perfect candidate for a Not Serious chat but believe me when I say she’s bloody serious about getting a dining room perfect and executing extraordinary service in the restaurants she and Josh now own together. You will have likely seen Helen working the floor at Onslow Restaurant and now Gilt Brasserie.
These two are grafters and they’re givers. They took the time, on a busy Monday morning to sit down and share some stories about their journey and how wine for them, and a sweet cocktail here and there, adds the seasoning to their well-travelled lives.
It was a pleasure to sit down in the divine dining room of Onslow for this chat. The kitchen was in full prep mode which you’ll sometimes hear! If you haven’t been to Onslow yet, go. And because Covid taught these two nothing, you’ll also find them at their new spot, Gilt on Chancery Lane.
So, pop your napkin on your lap, pour yourself a sparkling antipodes and grab the knife and fork. This is the Not Serious Helen and Josh Emett chat.
CHAT FACTS
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Mas d’en Gil Coma Vella Priorat 2014
antipodes still mineral water
The wine that we shared during our chat was a tasty Spanish number that Helen chose. Having spent years as a little girl at her Aunt’s house in Catalan, the grenache, cariñena, syrah blend was an emotional nod to those happy Summer days spent with family. Isn’t that what wine is all about? We think so. To track down a bottle visit importers St Vincent’s Cave. To learn more about these Helen & Josh find them on instagram @joshemett or in the dining rooms @gilbrasserie & @onslow.nz
