The Samoan word 'tala' translates to story or tale and the couple behind a new fine dining restaurant in Auckland definitely have one of those.
After growing up in Samoa and serving in the US military, Henry Onesemo was working as a Polynesian dancer at Florida's Walt Disney World when he met his American wife Debby – a former lawyer.
Henry and Debby Onesemo, owners of the Auckland fine dining restaurant TALA Photo: Manja Wachsmuth
At their contemporary Samoan restaurant Tala, Henry heads up the kitchen while Debby takes care of the paperwork.
"He's strong in the cooking, the kitchen, the management of that part of it. And I'm the one in the background with the spreadsheets and organisation and attention to detail."
On Tala's menu, Henry is particularly proud of a chicken dish cooked in an authentic umu (earth oven) and a raw ramen salad inspired by the "texture heaven" of uncooked noodles he enjoyed as a child.
At 17, making use of his American passport, Henry moved to the United States where he completed a high school diploma and then encountered an army recruiter - "he was pretty much a salesman and I was sold".
He then spent six years serving in the Hawai'i Army National Guard, supplementing his income as a lūʻau dancer - a job which eventually took him to Disney's Polynesian Village Resort.
Debby was practising as a lawyer in Orlando when she and Henry met through a mutual friend.
She knew he had a dream of moving back to Samoa and lined him up with some work experience at another friend's Italian restaurant.
When her contract at a law firm came to an end, they took a trip there together to check it out.
"We came back to Orlando, packed everything up and pretty quickly moved to Samoa. And we lived there for eight months before coming to New Zealand."
Once back in Samoa, Henry enrolled in business school with his mum's encouragement.
On a weekend trip over to Auckland, he and Debby visited a restaurant in Mount Eden that one of his teachers had recommended - Meredith's.
Henry says their meal at Michael Meredith's eponymous restaurant (which closed in 2017) was "literally a life-changing experience" that he's forever thankful for.
"The meal was just mind-blowing for me at the time. It was something I've never had before… After the meal, there was a table next to us and the chef came out to talk to them and he had all these Polynesian tattoos and he looked Polynesian. And eventually, he came and talked to us.
"We knew that at that time, from the food that we just ate, I was probably seven years away [from achieving something similar] as far as experience is concerned. But we would have to put our dreams of opening a restaurant and then and learn this new way of cooking."
Dishes by the Auckland fine dining restaurant TALA Photo: Manja Wachsmuth
In his subsequent "apprenticeship" with Michael Meredith, Henry realised he had a lot to learn.
"He was just very blunt and said 'You know, first, your knife skills suck and also your palate is even worse. So you need to get out and eat and build that because that is the only tools that you can rely on in the kitchen.
"So yeah, me and Deb started eating out after that at all the restaurants that he was recommending that we go to. It was all the hatted restaurants, it was all the more comparable places to what Meredith's was."
Henry also went through culinary school with some help from Debby, who with an American law degree couldn't practice law in New Zealand.
She also worked in the corporate world and "on the business side" at Meredith's where she learned to translate her legal skills into the hospitality setting.
As someone who's always been passionate about food and wine, Debby says it wasn't "a far reach" to step into hospitality. She works on bringing a "guest focus" to Tala.
"I always view this from how would the guest feel, rather than just being the person who has the complete hospitality background and only looks at it as you would from a kitchen or front of house, I always think is this appealing to the guests? Are they going to love this experience? Are all the little details there?
"It's been a good balance because he's strong in the cooking the kitchen, the management of that part of it. And I'm the one in the background with the spreadsheets and organisation and attention to detail. So it's been a good combination."
Debby is pleased that the pop-up restaurants she and Henry ran in the leadup to opening Tala attracted a wide demographic.
"The young 20-somethings came in and they're Instagramming the whole time [and also] there were older-generation Samoans there saying 'This is great'.
With a legal background, she's naturally "risk-averse" but confident there will always be people who have the budget for fine dining.
That said, she and Henry impart to their restaurant team that every person who walks in the doors is valued.
"Some people will save, you know, for months to come here one time and there's [also] going to be people who can come here multiple times a week if they want to.
"I just want when they walk in the door, to create that experience where we shut off the world for a few hours - let them relax, let them enjoy ... We want them to experience almost like a little mini getaway for a few hours."
