Road To Recovery

It’s fair to say 2019 was an awful year for chef Michael Van de Elzen and his wife Belinda – cancer treatment, a motorbike crash and a host of family health crises – but Emma Clifton finds things are looking rosier now as their cook school and its flourishing garden take off and they can finally enjoy their country idyll.

- Emma Clifton

There’s an unexpected problem that arises when interviewing a chef, particularly when they’ve just cooked for you – the food provides quite a distraction. Michael Van de Elzen, the smiling, bespectacled chef behind The Food Truck TV show and the Good From Scratch brand, has just opened a cookery school with his wife and business partner, Belinda, who’s also a trained chef. We are all sitting at one of the long wooden tables in their new building, with huge open windows letting in the beach breeze from nearby Muriwai, one of the stunning beaches that line the west coast of Auckland. On the table is the product of our morning’s work: a caramelised beetroot tarte tartin, topped with a roasted hazelnut and rosemary balsamic glaze, shaved parmesan and fresh rocket. It is so good that I have to abandon all attempts at professional manners and ask if I can polish off the leftovers.