Oceans Resort Hotel | Tutukaka

Located a half hour's drive from Whangarei, Oceans Resort is a luxurious, intimate hotel with a distinctly nautical flavour. Perched on the edge of the renowned Tutukaka Marina in a beautiful cove, Oceans is part of a truely European-inspired resort destination including residential apartments, retail shops and an abundance of leisure facilities with sandy beaches and a sub-tropical climate.

Opened in January 2005, the resort features three conference rooms, a stylish bar and Knights, a 76-seater restaurant with more seating outside. One of the most impressive aspects of the venue is the modern and well equipped kitchen and cool store area. In order to sevice the restaurant, conference rooms, bar and room service functions, the kitchen needed to be quite large and feature clearly defined workspace areas. The kitchen was designed before the first piece of ground was turned over to ensure that the most efficient layout and ease of services could be achieved. It was established early on that high quality reliable equipment was needed and a full line-up of Blue Seal heavy duty modular cooking equipment and a state of-the-art Convotherm combi-oven were chosen.

Jason Hall, formally of Kermadec and the Sheraton Hotel in Auckland, is enjoying the challenge of his new role as Executive Chef at Knights Restaurant. Jason likes to experiment with out-of-the-ordinary cuts of meat. "When you're dining out you should experience something different to what you can easily produce at home." he says. "Food should be influenced by the seasons so the freshest quality available is used." In his spare time Jason enjoys fishing and spending time with his family.