As parents of three and Michelin Bib Gourmand-winning co-owners of Birkenhead’s Duo, Osteria Uno, Bon Pinard and Hinemoa St Cellar, Sarah and Jordan MacDonald have a lot to juggle, their love life included. They tell Rebecca Barry Hill how a recent food odyssey through Spain and France without children helped
them reconnect.
Sarah: Life was very stressful before this trip in terms of staff rotation, fluctuating revenue, and at the same time, trying to maintain some sense of interest in each other.
Jordan: You’re getting the kids to school, to sports, making sure you have work-life balance, dealing with the cost of everything going up… it all puts pressure on the businesses to keep maintaining and growing.
S: We’d had one of those years where we’d think, ‘Why are we doing this? Why are we sacrificing our relationship? What should we be doing differently?’ It’s very rare we’d put each other first. But a couple of days in, wandering around Barcelona, we realised there’s nothing we can do to help out at home. We could relax and enjoy and just walk around and eat all day.
Scallops cooked over the hibachi at Bar Brutal, Barcelona.
J: We went to Bar Brutal in Barcelona, a restaurant I’d been following for at least 10 years, and ate unbelievably simple scallops with olive oil and sherry vinegar. I’d always wanted to take Sarah there. It was very cool vibes.
S: We realised we hadn’t sat opposite each other for a meal since one of our first trips to Melbourne when we were researching Uno. I made a pact that we shouldn’t talk about work, we shouldn’t talk about kids.
J: But everything just went back to talking about those things. The direction of the restaurants, how we can take inspiration from where we are. Our five-year plan.
S: It’s all we’ve ever known and we love talking about it. It’s our life, our passion.
Jordan and Sarah MacDonald relaxing by the river in Bayonne, France, with nothing to do except restaurant hop.
J: Travelling together definitely brought out our strengths. I’m super creative but not particularly focused. Sarah keeps me in line. She’s also very good at looking at dishes and critiquing things and pushing them to be better.
S: Maybe I’m a pessimist but Jordan’s an optimist. So together, we’re a realist.
J: Sarah’s fantastic – she loves to be at the airport three, four hours early and be super organised. She’ll have an itinerary planned out. But she’s also the first person to cut things from it and just go with the flow.
S: Jordan barely knew there was a trip happening. All he had to do was pack a bag and arrive. Once he arrived he’d have input, when I’d been planning it for six months. But we were very in tune. At restaurants we’d look at each other and wouldn’t have to say a word. Then we’d both say at the same time, ‘more acid? Yep’. Or ‘salt?’ By the end of the trip, Jordan had bought me a little Maldon salt tin.
J: We season things differently in New Zealand.
Seaweed ice cream and caviar at Mont Bar, Barcelona.
S: We had lots of romantic moments. At [two-Michelin-star restaurant] Mont Bar, we had seaweed ice cream with caviar. In Ibiza, we visited a tiny shack restaurant right on the water. The fisherman goes out at 2am, then at lunchtime you sit in this little cove beside a wooden pier eating fish a la plancha, fish stew cooked over a fire on a thick steel plate. It was very down‑to‑earth, pulling bones out of a whole fish in this beautiful setting.
J: In Paris it was 38 degrees. It was sweaty romance, walking around in the city of love, everyone’s happy, the lights are sparkling. We had an incredible meal at Septime [one of the world’s best restaurants].
A long lunch at Septime, Paris.
S: Asparagus with mustard seeds and beurre blanc – surprisingly spicy. It felt like a sculpture, an elevated crudite. Lots of veges, lots of wine, and a Basque cheesecake to finish. Jordan loves his wine. When we fought, it was usually because he’d spent too much on it.
J: A bit like the handbag you bought in Ibiza…
S: Yes, it’s financially stressful to take a big trip, but it’s worth it. At home, the small things drag you down – someone calls in sick, something breaks, an email comes through about a process issue. The trip helped us realise we hadn’t drifted apart; we were just focused on different areas. We’d been in go‑go‑go mode for so long. We talked about that before we came home as well. We wanted to make sure we’d listen to each other, that we wouldn’t get so caught up.
Basque Cheesecake at La Viña, San Sebastian.
S: We used to come home, put the kids to bed and immediately open our laptops. Now we try to leave work at work. At night, we sit together, not on opposite ends of the couch, and watch an episode or play a board game. Little things you forget to do when you fall out of good patterns.
J: The trip was a really good reset, a reminder of why we’re together.
Sarah and Jordan MacDonald in Paris, on their way to Septime for lunch.
Sarah and Jordan MacDonald are hosting a special Europe-inspired dinner on September 9 and 10 at Duo, 138 Hinemoa St, Birkenhead. To book, visit duoeatery.co.nz
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