Program:Nesia Daily
It's no surprise that Ray Roumanu's signature dish at his restaurant in Rarotonga is catch of the day.
The chef, who owns and operates Ray's Hut, grew up in Puka Puka in the northern group of the Cook Islands, surrounded by the sea.
"My dad or grandad would bring in the fish and clean it up, and [my grandmother] would cook it up with coconut cream and taro," Ray recalls.
"It's very good for you and it's natural – it's all from the land and the sea."
His love for fish continued.
"When I was going to school, I wasn't actually going to school. I was taking my fishing rod and hiding it in the bush.
"At lunch time, I would take off and go fishing – and I was about five years old," Ray laughs.
Although Ray has always loved cooking – he was the only boy out of 18 in his school home economics class – he took a detour as a builder first.
However, a local restaurant he frequented during his lunch break offered him a job as a cook and he hasn't looked back.
From there, Ray's learned under the tutelage of chef Tony Bullivant, who has cooked for the stars including Queen Elizabeth.
"They saw something in me," Ray says, and he went back to school to train as a chef.
After years of working for different restaurants, he decided to strike out on his own, initially as a food vendor in the local market.
"When I started I didn't have much money so I got stuck into my kids' accounts to buy a pan and pay for the gas."
"I tell them when Dad gets rich, you can have all the money you want. But I did put the money back," he laughs.
As the proud owner of Ray's Hut, he'll serve you up the catch of the day smothered under his secret sauce, which has been years in the making.
Although he won't divulge the recipe – here's a hint. It contains blue cheese.
Published: with Jacob McQuire
Published: with Jacob McQuire
Published: with Jacob McQuire
Published: with Jacob McQuire
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