WITT Trained Chef Earns Michelin Star

You never know where a WITT qualification will take you.

The latest WITT alumni to pop up in our newsfeeds is Paul Quin who began his culinary journey in our very own training kitchens here at WITT in the early 2000s. He is now the head chef at the Clove Club Restaurant in England, which was recently awarded a second Michelin Star and holds a spot in the world’s 50 best restaurants list.

Story by Stuff Media

A Taranaki man working in one of London's top restaurants can still remember falling in love with cooking as a 16-year-old.

Paul Quin is a head chef at The Clove Club, which just days ago won its second Michelin Star – the “highest regard in the culinary world”.

The Clove Club is also the highest placed United Kingdom restaurant on the world’s 50 best restaurants list, and has won a number of awards and accolades.

Quin has been working at the restaurant since it was “starting up” almost nine years ago, and has loved being part of its growth. He went in as a chef and has worked his way up the ranks to now sit as the head chef for the owner.

Before shifting to the UK, Quin had been working in Melbourne for about eight years, but he still calls New Plymouth home. The 36-year-old grew up in Bell Block and went to Puketapu School, before heading to Francis Douglas Memorial College. It was there that a fifth form (Year 11) Quin realised the career path he wanted to follow.

“It was actually at Francis Douglas – I fell in love with cooking there.”

He went on to culinary school at the Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki (Witt), before getting his first job in a New Plymouth restaurant. He said the district would always have a special place in his heart.

“I try make it home as much as possible.”

Quin was last home in the Christmas of 2019, just before Covid-19 hit, and is planning another trip back this Christmas. But, he never feels too far from home in The Clove Club.

The restaurant has “just hired a new Kiwi guy”, to join him and another man who is from Invercargill.

“We’ve got a great team.”