A burgeoning middle class, an increase in expatriate workers and some entrepreneurial initiative is transforming the local cuisine. One of the more progressive developments is Pacific Palms Property’s Harbourside precinct, which will host up to six restaurants. Business Advantage PNG  speaks to General Manager, Andrew Potter, and Travers Chue, who runs one of the tenants—Duffy café.

Pacific Palms Property’s Harbourside development. Source: Business Advantage International

The Harbourside development started out as a commercial development, but the strategy was altered, says Potter.

‘At first it was only going to be one restaurant and some boutique retail outlets,’ he says. ‘But as we got into the project we decided to turn it into a food and beverage destination—and that is what we are trying to achieve at this point in time.

Harbourside street view. Source: Business Advantage International

‘It was about bringing people back to the harbor and the centre of the city. That is what all cities have done around the world.

‘The Town is quite quiet after Saturday at 12.00.

‘We felt with our business zone we needed something to bring people back to the CBD.’

Several new restaurants are planned, says Potter. There will be an Indian restaurant, Tandoor on the Harbour, and an Italian restaurant, Soga.

‘We have got Asian Aromas, who are existing tenants in one of our buildings doing their re-launch there,’ he says.

‘All the good coffees that are grown in PNG go to Europe, Australia and the United States.’

‘We have got Duffy as a coffee shop; they are already opening and operating. Then we have Graham Osborne’s the Naked Fish, which is steak and seafood.

‘Next to them we will have a Sports Bar.’

Specialty coffee

Travers Chue, Duffy cafe. Source: Business Advantage International

Travers Chue, co-founder of the Duffy café—which does its own coffee roasting—says it takes time for an appreciation of higher quality to develop.

‘When it comes to coffee, it is about educating people here about the difference between specialty coffee and just ordinary run of the mill coffee.

‘All the good coffees that are grown in PNG go to Europe, Australia and the United States.

‘We are the first ones who are buying specialty grade coffee and keeping it here.

‘We are also selling it at the airport and the supermarket and places like that.

‘People who appreciate specialty coffee do their homework in regard to all the scientific processes involved in how to make coffee better—all the way from roasting through to the barista.

‘We started off with just a little hole in the wall.’

‘What we are trying to do is follow that in PNG as well; people are now starting to realise.

‘We started off with just a little hole in the wall and we have continued to expand and grow.’

Experience

The owners of the proposed Harbourside restaurants, although mostly not Papua New Guineans, nevertheless have long experience in the country, says Potter. ‘Asian Aromas is a Chinese company that have been here for 25 years.

The greatest operational challenge is managing the staff.

‘Tandoor is an Indian group; some of their directors have been here a long time. The Italian restaurant: they are new but they are in partnership with a Michelin Italian chef who has restaurants in the Philippines—the pastas are all handmade.

‘Graham Osborne has been here for a lot of years. They are all people who have been in business for a long time. The more money they make, the more money I make.’

Staff

The greatest operational challenge in a restaurant is managing the staff. Duffy’s Travers Chue says he has just hired his one 100th Papua New Guinean but acknowledges it is difficult to manage people who initially have no knowledge of what is required.

‘I can’t complain with my staff, I am very happy with all of them.’

‘It is not just my industry, it goes across the whole board,’ he says.

‘There is no training platform here for local business. It is an ongoing process that never stops.’

‘The way to go about it in this country is that if you look after staff, give them accommodation, pay them well and also acknowledge them when they do something good then you tend to retain them.

‘I can’t complain with my staff, I am very happy with all of them,’ says Chue. He adds that staff turnover is ‘pretty good’.

Steamships, which owns Pacific Palm Properties, has shown ‘great foresight’ in establishing the dining precinct.

More choice

Potter says the amount of choice in Port Moresby cuisine has increased sharply. ‘There is a huge middle class happening in PNG and people have more disposable income. They want what is happening everywhere else around the world.’

Chue claims Steamships, which owns Pacific Palm Properties, has shown ‘great foresight’ in establishing the dining precinct.

‘What they have done with the new Harbourside will really reshape Port Moresby. It is such a beautiful area that people can go to now on the weekend, or during the week.

‘They can really enjoy the beautiful things we have in Port Moresby, which is the ocean. There is nothing else like it in Moresby.’