gavin doyle

SOUL’s menu master

group executive chef, gavin doyle has been cooking professionally for 19 years. he started his culinary career in his hometown of dublin, ireland and made his way through many kitchens around the world before settling with his family in aotearoa. he has worked in many michelin starred and hatted restaurants such as mint – dublin, mustard seed – limerick, tetsuya – sydney, flour & water – san francisco, clooney and ortolana here in auckland. gav has been with the SOUL team for the past 6 years and achieved a well-deserved hat for SOUL in 2022.

from japanese to modern classic, to italian, irish, farm to table, and pasta, he has taken elements from all to create his own neo-bistro style. he ensures SOUL is always on trend, creating dishes that are innovative and exciting, always using the best ingredients. gav’s thought process for great dishes encompasses his skillset and his love of food. his passion to travel further afield to destinations such as la, san francisco, new orleans, sydney, melbourne, spain, copenhagen, and london for research has continued to keep SOUL the food destination restaurant it is today.

when he’s not at SOUL, gav is a fun dad to two young boys and husband to the delightful aisling. he’s a lover of guinness, travel, culture, and fitness. and you guessed it, as he’s our irish kiwi, he loves a good bit of craic too! fun fact: we’re lucky to have him because he was initially more of a computer geek but realised that bites are more fun than bytes. lucky for us!

geeling ching

hospo stalwart & tough job doer

actor, model, writer, marathoner, muse, and recovering workaholic. hold on tight for gee’s story. leaving school at 16 for a life of sex, drugs & rock ‘n roll, we present a gregarious and gifted SOUL of SOUL. hitting sydney at 20 she modelled and fell into hospitality at a late-night kings cross café. “i’m a mess without my little china girl…” notoriety would soon follow when she was cast in David bowie’s music video. returning to nz as jasmine sage in tv series gloss, gee was all shoulder pads and yuppie for the late 80s, with a switchback to hospo in 1990 at cin cin on quay. she then went on to manage ramses in the 90s for SOUL founder, judith tabron.

a pause from hospitality saw gee become studio manager for south pacific pictures, until a boozy birthday lunch lured her back to judith. after 12 SOULful years she left to open exciting things like the asb waterfront theatre. but that ‘boozy birthday lunch’ theme would prove fateful and olivia enticed her back to soul in 2021. job title? “all the stuff no-one else wants to do”. fortune favours the bold, and this SOUL loving queen believes staying curious has given her a book-worthy life of luck and adventure. an addict of fashion, food, wine, music, dancing and movies, gives her an irresistible energy and wit in the workplace.

voluntarily childfree allows gee to embrace thousands of “children” and delight in their successes. and that’s what it comes down to really… SOUL is about people and so is she… watching green young humans become confident, skilled and treasured members of the team. finally, death-row dinner? “bluff oysters au naturel with a vodkatini: dry-like-the-sahara, stirred not shaken, lemon twist.”