Kai Pasifika: Chef Dora Rossi serves up beautiful Samoa on a plate in Aotearoa
The Rossi family.
Courtesy Photo
Chef Dora Rossi is serving up beautiful Samoa on a plate in New Zealand and her team anticipates that new, exciting ideas will grace the tables of Milani Caffe and Paddles Restaurant upon her return.
The chef’s brother Giovanni Rossi said it was unexpected and “absolutely extraordinary” that his sister received the honour to travel to New Zealand for Kai Pasifika, a gastrodiplomacy initiative of the New Zealand Government.
Mr. Rossi, 45, said two weeks ago his chef sister received an e-mail.
“She actually will be representing the culinarians of this beautiful country so as you know we are half Italian, half Samoan and we have been here for the past 18 years. To be given this opportunity is just absolutely extraordinary,” he said during an interview with EyeSpy.
“To travel and to be proud and to think not only as a chef but also to think as a Samoan to bring the story of this country on a plate to be able to create something about how beautiful this country is. I think that is a very unique experience. It’s not only about trying to win…but carrying the responsibility I think and that is honourable."I believe it’s extraordinary. It’s something none of us would have ever expected.”
Chef Dora Rossi and her brother Giovanni Rossi.
Courtesy Photo
Chef Dora has recently been involved in cooking shows but the e-mail that arrived two weeks ago brought a new challenge: Kai Pasifika, where 20 chefs from across the Pacific and New Zealand have converged to showcase their skills in Pacific cuisine. There is also an element of competition with mystery boxes and challenges to meet, said Mr. Rossi.
Samoa’s chef is facing a host of challenges: New Zealand’s cold winter season, a foreign kitchen, a pantry that she is not familiar with, people she has never shared a kitchen with and the wide array of ingredients that are not available in Samoa.
“She said they are very busy with very little time to waste. The Pacific Islander chefs are struggling with the climate because it’s cold there…something Dora said that it is very interesting to work in a pantry in a kitchen in a different country. Everything is different and there is so much variety,” Mr. Rossi said.
“It’s winter so they don’t get a lot of fruits but they have so much that every single chef can use to make better or perfect their dishes. It’s overwhelming. They have mystery boxes, they have challenges, they have interviews, they have magazines for the sessions so it’s pretty much full on.”
Chefs from the Pacific islands are not in their element and have stepped out of their comfort zones to meet the Kai Pasifika challenge, he said.
“I keep using the word challenge because they (the Pacific chefs) are out of the comfortable zone. Dora will be cooking with a different oven. She will be cooking with other people she has never met before. Of course, there is also a hint of curiosity in and interest in what other chefs and cooks will bring to the table,” said Mr. Rossi.
Asked to provide a clue on what his chef sister is cooking in New Zealand, he said: “I am not sure what she is going to do. “
However, Mr. Rossi is confident that she is putting her best foot forward to best represent Samoa.
“I think at the end of the day, Dora will be doing something to represent the best of the country so I am not sure what she is going to do. I know she is very strong with baking and desserts. Everyone knows she is the best baker. Dora said making a dessert sometimes is more interesting than making a main course because in the faaSamoa way, if you cook something for dinner, it’s only a one step go so that plate will only be eaten for dinner time,” he said.
“But whenever you do something like a cake, for example, we use cakes multiple times in one day. We can gift a cake, we can present the cake for a faalavelave, for a happy event, for an anniversary, we have cake for morning tea. We are very popular for our meetings and afternoon tea so maybe the cake is something that can represent Samoa in a very good way.”
Samoa has been home for the Rossi family for 18 years but New Zealand is where Ms. Rossi and her two siblings were born.
It’s where their parents met and opened their first restaurant.
“We were all born in New Zealand. Mom and dad met in New Zealand and they had their first restaurant and their kids, three of us, so I think we all used to work around with mom and dad and spending time in the restaurant and I think that has become a kind of natural legacy and that is why we are still working in the hospitality and the restaurant industry – we are always serving, catering together from the morning up until the night every single day,” said Mr. Rossi.
“And we still have a very strong passion. The thing that I must say in Italy I used to work for money. Everything is very corporate, you need to achieve the money, you need to be smarter, you need to take shortcuts so it’s kind of conniving, if I must say. If you take the day off they will be looking down on you. You always have to always be pushy to make money for you or for the company you are working for. Here in Samoa, we own Paddles and Milani and yes they are businesses and we need to make the money to survive but we have learned not to treat the business for the money transactions. The money comes but it is not our priority.”
The Rossi family has been blessed with the hearts to serve and care for people, he said.
They like to create unique “experiences” rather than focus on the day’s profit, or how much a client spends.
“We have this very fortunate blessing of serving people and caring for people. So every single day, I meet new people, I meet new locals we have not met before and tourists. Everything is an experience. It’s like opening the doors of your home and you get people coming to visit you,” Mr. Rossi said.
“People are coming, the house looks nice and tidy. You might turn on some candles. You can play some music. You can play with some wines or food or you can bake something special for your guests so that is what really is the common factor between Dora, myself, mom and dad – caring and serving.”
Sometimes people feel disappointed or ashamed when he uses the word “serving” but it really is an art, he said.
It’s like the designer who works to make the perfect dress for a client or the jeweler who wants to make the perfect necklace for a customer.
“Serving really is an art. You really need to be on top of your game for the person you are looking after. I am very proud when I say I serve people,” said Mr. Rossi.
“If you look at the bigger picture, serving a client it is something very magical. The money will always come sooner or later big or small. If you have the genuine passion of looking after people, you win every single day.”
There are high hopes for Chef Rossi in New Zealand.
EXTRAORDINARY: Chef Dora Rossi, doing what she does best at Kai Pasifika.
Photo: Peter Rees Photography
She is representing Samoa, their award-winning family-owned restaurants and their family, said Mr. Rossi.
Paddles has won ‘Best Restaurant at the ‘Samoan Tourism Excellence Awards’ in 2017 and 2019 and has been consistently recognized as the best restaurant in Samoa on Trip Advisor every year from 2015 to date, as has Milani Cafè.
“We are all with very high hopes that not only can she represent our family and also the nation but we are also looking forward to what she might learn from other cooks and Chefs from different countries…I think it’s a beautiful opportunity to where you can spend time with the best of the best from different nations and of course Dora is from Samoa. There are other chefs and cooks coming from Vanutau. Solomon Islands, Fiji, New Zealand so think from our perspective she is in the right place now,” he said.
“I could have not imagined or dreamt about my sister taking this step. Not only for Samoa but also for the person she is. She is a very strong Samoan lady, she is a warrior just like my mom. From the beautiful village of Asau, my mom always makes sure she promotes Asau. So I think up to now, we have already won as a family.”
Samoa is a very special, magical place he said that has cast a spell on the Rossi family, he said.
The Rossi siblings were once spread across three countries, one in Italy, one in New Zealand one in the United States of America.
But it was Samoa that brought them together again.
“Samoa has this kind of magic spell on all of us. At the beginning it was very difficult. Nobody knew who we were. I couldn’t speak the language. The reason we came back is my father, once he got the pension and the retirement, he sold everything and he surprised my mom telling her in a couple of weeks the whole family will be moving back to Samoa. At the time my grandmother was still alive. So Samoa now is home,” Mr. Rossi said.
“Samoa is a very magical place that got the family even more tighter. Twenty years ago I used to live in Italy. My other sister was in Texas, America and Dora was in New Zealand. Now because of my father’s idea to come to Samoa, we work in Apia and Matautu, we live in Vailele, Vaivase and Siusega. We are all here so Samoa is a very special part of our life journey.”
Because Chef Rossi is currently in New Zealand on this week of White Sunday, Milani has stopped taking cake orders for the weekend,
“Everyone knows how Dora bakes very well and everybody knows how I am not very good in baking. My baking would be pretty much be a shameful experience, not something you would want to eat,” said Mr. Rossi.
“Dora, she is definitely the baker in the family so we had to stop all the sales and taking orders for this [White Sunday] weekend. Dora will be back next Tuesday.”
He sends his sister best wishes while in New Zealand for Kai Pasifika.
Kai Pasifika is a celebration of Blue Pacific cuisine taking place at Peter Gordon's acclaimed Homeland restaurant at Westhaven, Auckland, that began on Monday, 3 October, according to a statement from the New Zealand Government.
There are 20 chefs from seven nations.
The event introduces unique ingredients from Pacific Island producers to New Zealand chefs, importers, distributors, food lovers, and media.
There was a Kai Pasifika tasting dinner on Wednesday and a Cooking Masterclass with Mr. Gordon on Thursday.
It is made possible by a partnership between Pacific Trade Invest New Zealand, with Homeland the premier waterfront restaurant that is celebrated as 'The food embassy for Aotearoa and the Pacific.'
“I have always been a firm believer that supporting local produce makes business sense and it can effectively help your community; when food is fundamentally based on nature and heritage, you can never go wrong. Culinary heritage is a possible engine for growth of tourism and rural development, as well as being the glue that connects us across cultures and generations,” Chef Rossi said in a statement from the New Zealand Government.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rossi is holding down the fort until his sister returns on Tuesday next week.
“Please come back soon! A 17-hour shift everyday is a little bit too much for my old age,” he said.
“Buona fortuna!”