Honest to goodness
Simplicity is key for Penny Allan. Working 50-60 hours a week as head chef at Dunedin’s No7 Balmac restaurant, the 41-year-old takes it slow at home – pottering in the garden, cooking no-fuss meals for the family, and strolling down to her local coffee shop in Port Chalmers, the seaside Otago suburb where she lives with her husband and five kids.
Heart and soul
It’s not surprising the Australian chef yearns for peace at home. Not long after Penny took on the head chef role at the Maori Hill eatery, a devastating fire left her tight-knit team without a restaurant for 10 months. In true southern spirit, they “gathered themselves”, opened a pop-up and
