Perrin Yates

Perrin Yates came to Huka Lodge from Australia’s Sunshine Coast after a career that took him through some of the country’s best-known resorts, including Hyatt Regency Coolum, Park Hyatt Sydney, and qualia on Hamilton Island. Huka’s reputation had long since crossed the Tasman, so when the opportunity arose to lead its kitchen, Perrin didn’t hesitate. Today, he sees his role as extending beyond what leaves the pass. He invests deeply in his team, mentoring and developing the people around him while building relationships with farmers, growers, fishers, and even local ceramicists throughout Taupō and across Aotearoa. Knowing the people behind an ingredient or a plate gives Perrin another story to share with guests and another way to connect dinner to the place in which it’s being served.

That connection begins just outside the kitchen, where the Waikato River has shaped Huka Lodge since its beginnings as a fishing camp nearly a century ago. Perrin sees himself as adding another chapter to that history, cooking with seasonal New Zealand ingredients and resisting the urge to overwork exceptional produce. Trout provides the most literal link: It cannot be purchased by the lodge, so Perrin only prepares it when a guest returns from the river with their own catch. “The fish on the plate has quite literally been part of their experience that day,” he says. The rest of his menus follow a similar philosophy, evolving with the seasons, the kitchen gardens, and what local producers have at their best. Each morning, Perrin arrives to a different view of the rushing Waikato, then walks into a kitchen team he describes as family. “Having the Waikato River outside and the team inside,” he says, “it’s a pretty special way to start every day.”