Laurent Loudeac is Executive Chef of Hippopotamus Restaurant at the Museum Art Hotel Wellington New Zealand.

Laurent loves what he does and it shows. Although classically trained in the traditional French method, Laurent has an open attitude to food. His management style is such he receives respect from his staff and has a low staff turnover; he treats his staff fairly and equally. Laurent has been in the hospitality industry for 25 years now and loves the way it is going forward, and that there is always room for improvement. He enjoys the industry for its challenges, self-satisfaction and of course for making people happy and having a great time.

Laurent was trained in Brittany, France and has worked in France, Switzerland, Sydney, London and New Zealand.

Laurent’s achievements include:

1994 Silver medal in NZ Restaurant of the year (Puka Park Lodge Pauanui NZ)
1995 Bronze medal in kitchen in NZ Restaurant of the year (Puka Park Lodge Pauanui NZ)
1995 Silver overall in the NZ Restaurant of the year (Puka Park Lodge Pauanui NZ)
1995 Corban Food and Wine Challenge (Park Royal Wellington NZ)
1998 NZ Beef and Lamb Hallmark of Excellence (Park Royal Wellington NZ)
2000 The Tassal Award for best entrée and main menu (Orso Sydney Australia)
2005 Gold medal in kitchen in NZ Restaurant of the year (Hummingbird Wellington NZ)
2006 Winner of WOW at NZ Culinary Fare Restaurant of the year (Humingbird Wellington NZ)
2007 Runner up of WOW at NZ Culinary Fare Restaurant of the year (Hummingbird Wellington NZ)
2008 Silver medal of NZ Culinary fare Restaurant of the year Collection (Hippopotamus Restaurant and cocktail bar)
2009 Supreme winner of The Kapiti Chef Collection (Hippopotamus Restaurant and cocktail bar)

Laurent joined the Museum Hotel in Wellington in October 2007 and has since transformed the restaurant.

The restaurant was re launched as Hippopotamus Restaurant and Bar in January 2008.

Well known Wellington and New Zealand’s food critic David Burton awarded the restaurant five stars for food in January 2008. His comments in the Dominion Post included “Hotel food in NZ is stuck with a reputation for being old-fashioned and vaguely institutional. There is a feeling that, if not exactly mediocre, hotel cuisine is certainly unadventurous, following trends rather than creating them. …suddenly the sparks of creativity are flying, hopefully in the process lightening up those ultra-cost-conscious, middle-of-the-road, all smothering hotel chain bureaucracies.”

Laurent is a guest chef on television’s Good Morning show, and features in Bryan Bruce’s book History of Food.