Award-winning chef at Palliser Kitchen
Chef Norka Mella Munoz’s exceptional seasonal menus have won Palliser its first-ever hat at the Cuisine Good Food Awards 2025, Aotearoa New Zealand’s premier awards for culinary excellence.
Wairarapa Lifestyle caught up with Norka earlier this year and first published this article in the Wairarapa Lifestyle Winter 2025 edition.
Norka enjoys saying she is ‘Chiwi’, a blend of her two homes – Chile where she grew up, and Kiwi. Her food reflects the two countries brilliantly, earning her many accolades, including Cuisine Good Food Guide’s Luxury Lodge Chef of the Year in 2024. Now she has taken the helm as Executive Chef bringing her signature style and culinary flair to the Palliser Kitchen.
“Here they give me the freedom to be me – and I am introducing a little of my Chilean background to the menu at Palliser,” says Norka.
You can see this on the winter menu at the vineyard restaurant – in intriguing dishes such as the sopaipillas, puffy circles of fried pumpkin pastry sprinkled with pebre, a Chilean condiment of coriander, finely chopped onion and tomatoes. Or Chupe de Pāua, one of Norka’s favourites, deliciously creamy pāua served in a pāua shell . There are also more classic fine dining dishes such as a melt-in the-mouth beef cheek with creamy polenta or lamb rump with celeriac and jus.
Norka practises ‘zero-waste cooking’ as much as possible, and champions using seasonal ingredients from artisan local suppliers such as Yellow Brick Road for fish and shellfish; Tora Collective for paua and crayfish; microgreens come from Rebel Gardens. “I get olive oil from Martinborough, honey from Greytown Honey and apples from JR Orchards – all just down the road.”
Her source of ingredients is going to get even more local. She is establishing a garden of vegetables and herbs to the rear of the kitchen in Palliser’s grounds.
Norka and her family moved to the Wairarapa two years ago, settling in Greytown. She took up an exciting role as Executive Chef at prestigious Wharekauhau Lodge, where she and her team earned the lodge’s kitchen a sought-after one hat rating from Cuisine. A feat she has subsequently followed up with the team at Palliser Estate.
“I am passionate about what I do, but much as I loved Wharekauhau, the long hours and one-hour drive did not work so well with having a family. My kids are young, and I felt like I was missing out on them growing up,” she says.
Palliser is proving to be a good fit for her – during winter, the kitchen will mainly serve lunches; but watch this space as there could be plans to offer special events and dinners from time to time, especially in spring and summer.
With her ready smile and warm easy-going manner, she’s settling into working with a new team and getting to know the wider community. “The team here are amazing, really friendly, welcoming and fun to work with. And I’ve been meeting people through my sous chef – she knows everybody!” she says.
“The people and the sense of community were the things that attracted to me to New Zealand in the first place. So at Palliser I feel like I belong.”
After leaving Chile as a young woman on her OE, Norka arrived in New Zealand over 20 years ago, intending to stay just one year, before travelling the world. Unable to speak English, her award-winning cooking skills landed her a job. Talent and hard work propelled her into roles as head chef at a catering company, and later, as tutor at the Auckland Hotel and Chef Training School. She developed her fine dining style at luxury venues Kinloch Manor in Taupo and the Mangapapa Hotel in the Hawke’s Bay. She is also currently an ambassador for Ōra King Salmon, the first female chef to earn this role in New Zealand, and has been an ambassador for Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
To try Norka’s delicious and innovative cuisine, visit the Palliser Cellar Door & Kitchen, 96 Kitchener Street, Martinborough, or book at www.palliser.co.nz
