Towards the end of May 2025 we received news that one of our team had quietly passed away. David Neville was an extraordinary chef, thinker and unassuming visionary who was never one for the major spotlight, but for those who followed his work within these pages and the quiet genius of his Instagram feed, his impact was unmistakable.

Our relationship began in late 2019 as we began watching an Instagram account titled ‘eatingat3am’ with great interest. No personal name or background info, just stark, beautiful photos of food with no distractions. It was obviously created by someone who understood flavour and technique, had a sense of great determination and focus, and was all alone in the wee hours of the morning. WHO WAS ‘EATING AT 3AM’?

For more than two decades, David honed his craft in kitchens across New Zealand and abroad. He trained under culinary titans – Peter Thornley, Tetsuya Wakuda, Gordon Ramsay, Ben Shewry – yet he wore his résumé lightly, always preferring his food to speak on his behalf. And it did. With precision and with a wicked sense of humour.

David gave us a rare gift: a window into the mind of a chef who understood stillness, restraint and the beauty of early-morning solitude. He cooked in the hours most of us sleep, the complexity of his creations resting quietly in their technique. His dishes and images were compelling, stripped of the usual clutter and fuss. In fact, it was the realisation that he wanted to step away from long hours in industry kitchens and focus on building a new career path that encouraged David to experiment with a camera. And so, when we finally tracked down the complex human behind this intriguing social media account, we were delighted to have him share his first recipe with us. It was Bloomed Corn, a pure, warm custard of corn, thickened by its own starch and lifted by butter, lemon and salt. It was summer comfort in a spoon, and unmistakably David Neville. His hybrid fried chicken – steamed like Southeast Asia, crisped like the American South and speckled with gold leaf to entice those in the pursuit of bling – reflected his respect for culinary cultures and his fearless curiosity. His regular column naturally developed into a sharpened Neville-style focus on the next big thing and David embraced wholeheartedly the opportunity to take a deep dive with us into international influences and trends, and to adapt them to New Zealand tastes and ingredients.

David saw the cuisine of Aotearoa and indeed our Cuisine brand not as something fixed, but as a living thing, hybrid and ever-evolving. He gave voice to that identity through every dish and photo, but beyond the food, it was the way David moved through the world that stays with us most: methodical, generous, introspective and deeply committed to his craft. He reminded us that innovation doesn’t need to shout and that sometimes the most powerful ideas come when the world is quiet.

We miss his precision. We miss his super-dry humour. We miss the way he made food a form of reflection. And personally, I am grateful to have shared deep conversations and late-night ideas with a man who mentored and gave so much to so many young chefs, so quietly.

Rest well, David.
The stove may be off and the plates are clean, but your work lives on.

Kel and team Cuisine