Bluestone Estate
A private chef in a grey apron plating lunch at the Cookhouse island at Bluestone Ridge, platters of salads and seafood lined along the brass-edged bench, glasses hanging under the rattan pendants, and the set oak table with hydrangeas in the foreground.

Dining · Private chef

Meet our chefs.

A small circle of chefs who cook for Bluestone Estate's guests, at the Cookhouse, the long table in your residence, or the outdoor fire. Each has their own way with the coast's produce. Tell us the occasion and we will match you with the right one.

Every chef here cooks for your party alone. Menus are built around your people and what the growers, vintners, and fishers of the coast have that week. Priced per evening on application, confirmed in writing before anything is booked.

Private chef Matthew Casey in a grey apron at the Cookhouse bench, Bluestone Ridge, dressing plates of baby cos, romesco, grilled octopus, and roasted tomatoes, glasses hanging above.

Any residence

Matthew Casey

Private chef

Born in London, Matthew Casey honed his craft at The Berkeley Hotel under Pierre Koffmann and at Scotland's Gleneagles Hotel. He went on to become a senior chef at The Sloane Club in Chelsea, then Executive Chef for a premium events company in Hong Kong, before making New Zealand home.

Today he is Head Chef at Source Kitchen in Matakana, where his seasonal menus celebrate fresh produce from local farms, orchards and ocean. Matthew brings warmth, skill and a sense of place to every table at Bluestone Estate. A culinary arts graduate, he also serves as a judge at the Outstanding Producers Awards and has competed on television culinary shows.

Craig Martin, private chef and founder of Native Kitchen, seated in chef whites with his chin on his hand, smiling, tattooed forearms, dark panelled wall behind.

Any residence

Craig Martin

Private chef

Rooted in Aotearoa, Craig's cooking pairs exceptional local produce and native ingredients with Japanese and wider Asian influences. Seafood, fire, fermentation, and deeply layered flavours define his food: refined yet generous, with a strong sense of place.

Craig is the chef and founder of Native Kitchen, with more than 25 years in fine dining, luxury lodges, and private hospitality. His career takes in Annandale and Flock Hill Lodge, private chef work for a family in Munich, and a guest-chef collaboration at Tetsuya Wakuda's Waku Ghin at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

A two-time recipient of Rotorua's Most Outstanding Chef award and an international culinary judge, Craig brings the discretion and attention to detail that private hospitality asks for, shaping each dinner at Bluestone Estate around the guests and the occasion.

How it works

Tell us the occasion.

Send us the date, the numbers, any dietary needs, and the kind of evening you have in mind, from a barbecue on the deck to a long dinner at the Cookhouse. Bluestone Estate comes back with a chef, a menu, and a price. Provisioning before you arrive, a catered lunch, and a chef for the whole stay are arranged the same way.

Enquire about a private chef