NIPO cook-off finds winning duo

A new Newcastle restaurant has turned up the heat on recruitment, putting prospective chefs through a high-pressure cook-off ahead of its opening this month.

Japanese-Brazilian dining concept NIPO has appointed Connor Marley as head chef and Aura Lena Sto Domingo as kitchen manager following a recruitment process that attracted 128 applications.

The restaurant, which is preparing to open on Newcastle Quayside on September 23, combines Japanese cooking techniques with Brazilian flavours and hospitality.

Bosses interviewed 36 candidates before inviting a final shortlist to take part in a cook-off at Blackfriars Cookery School in Newcastle.

Finalists were given access to a pantry containing 185 ingredients and challenged to create nine dishes from scratch, comprising three starters, three mains and three desserts.

The dishes were required to combine Japanese culinary techniques with Brazilian flavours, with candidates assessed on their creativity and technical ability as well as how they collaborated and performed under pressure.

A total of 36 dishes were created during the competition, after which Connor and Lena were selected to lead NIPO’s founding kitchen team.

Connor will oversee the restaurant’s culinary direction, while Lena will manage kitchen operations and support the development of the wider team.

The cook-off was staged through a partnership with Blackfriars, giving NIPO access to the historic restaurant’s cookery school and facilities.

It comes as Blackfriars marks 25 years under the ownership of Andy and Sam Hook, who have developed the 13th-century former Dominican friary into a hospitality and heritage venue.

Rodrigo Grassi Duarte, co-founder of NIPO, said: “The relationship we’ve built with the team at Blackfriars made it possible for us to hold what was an incredibly important stage of the NIPO recruitment process in such a fantastic setting. 

“There’s a real strength in collaboration across the hospitality sector, and we believe supporting one another is incredibly important, particularly when you’re building something new and ambitious.

“The cook-off was an intense day in the kitchen, and we’re hugely grateful to the entire Blackfriars team for their support and for helping us create the environment we needed to put the chefs through their paces.”

Rodrigo added: “We wanted the process to be about finding people who could genuinely understand what NIPO is trying to achieve.

“Japanese and Brazilian food cultures are incredibly different, so we needed chefs who could respect the foundations of both while also being creative enough to bring them together in a way that feels exciting and natural.”

NIPO is being developed as a new addition to Newcastle’s food and drink scene, with its menu set to feature a sushi station, robata-style cooking and flame-cooked Brazilian dishes.

Japanese-Brazilian inspired cocktails and a curated wine selection will accompany the food offer.

Howard Eggleston, co-founder of NIPO, added: “Opening in Newcastle is an important first step for us, it’s a city with a strong and increasingly ambitious food and hospitality scene, and we see the Quayside as the perfect setting to introduce NIPO to the market.

“Building the right team has been a huge part of that process. 

“We wanted to invest the time in finding people who share our ambition and understand that NIPO has to be about much more than the food on the plate.”

NIPO will hold a VIP launch event on September 22 before opening to the public the following day.

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