After training at many Michelin star restaurants in Europe, Mark Southon embarked on his culinary tour down under.
From there, he landed a prestigious position at Vue de Monde - Australia's top restaurant for the past two years running. He then fell in love with our shores and has continued his illustrious career in NZ.
After working and playing hard in Queenstown at Wai waterfront restaurant he moved to Auckland to work at the well renowned "The French Café "with Simon Wright.
Head chef at the Foodstore restaurant for the last five years, he and his team have produced amazing dishes with only the finest New Zealand produce on offer.
Now at the helm of the iconic O' Connell street bistro a new challenge begins. Mark is already a star of Five TV shows. You can see him on Food TV's The Foodstore Chefs, the Best of NZ Food, TV One hit "Monteith's Wild Food Challenge", Foodstore gone wild and most recently is the resident chef of "The Cafe" on tv3 in the mornings.
Mark has a genuine love for good food and always wanted to be a chef. He enjoys a laugh, even going so far as saying Lenny Henry's TV show "Chef" was also an influence on him getting into the business.