Aotearoa in 20: Koko Tao misses some things about Shanghai, but she loves the life her family has made in New Zealand

Thursday, 3 September 2020

Koko Tao has taken to New Zealand after moving from China.

Koko Tao misses China’s night markets and ever-changing cuisine, but she likes the kindness of New Zealanders, the country’s emphasis on family, and the luxury of a house and garden. Koko Tao shares her story for Aotearoa in 20, a Stuff special project.

In Shanghai, 99 per cent of people live in apartments. You have to be very rich to have a house.

There’s more family life in New Zealand – it’s a different world. You can have a house and garden and the kids can run around. There’s a park and places to play, and the children like the rabbits. We really appreciate it here, it’s very nice.

My husband King came out here from Shanghai and then I followed, and we got married here. We came because you don’t want to stay in one place, you want to look at the world.

He started the restaurant about 10 years ago, we’ve moved it since the earthquakes and it has been here in Riccarton about a year. Riccarton is good for Chinese food because the Chinese community is here, in the city it’s more fusion.

**READ MORE:

Koko Tao, co-owner of Shanghai Bistro, misses Shanghai nightlife but likes the friendliness of New Zealand.

* Aotearoa in 20: Alex Ker wants his life to look beyond the rainbow

* Aotearoa in 20: Peter McMillan's wonderful world of a life well-travelled

Koko Tao, left, and King Huang, owners of Riccarton Road’s Shanghai Bistro, have made a new life in New Zealand.

* Aotearoa in 20: A golf club encounter changed the direction of Rachel Afeaki-Taumoepeau's life

Kao and Huang have moved their business more than once since the earthquakes.

I used to be an interior designer back in China. I quit my job to help at the restaurant. My husband has been a chef for 20 years, and I want to support him to make his dream happen. He loves to cook, even at home in his time off, it’s his hobby and his job.

As an interior designer, I am planning to do that again at some stage. But the kids are too little and with the business, I can’t get my own time now. I don’t want to put too many pressures on myself.

It’s really enjoyable talking to the customers at the restaurant, meeting people from different worlds with different life experiences, and making new friends.

We have a strong base of local customers, especially Chinese people. After Covid-19, business dropped lots and we were impacted really badly.

We started advertising and it was picking up. It’s dropped again but people haven’t panicked. Everyone is staying positive.

People knew we were struggling and come to support us. We feel touched, it is really lovely, you feel really supported by the community.

The Christchurch suburb of Wigram has modern homes with big gardens, a far cry from apartment life in busy Shanghai.

We normally have about 10 staff, but after Covid it’s down to five. Our chefs come from Shanghai and we have local staff too. Having a restaurant, it is competitive.

Some customers really like to try different things on the menu and some stick with what they know. Lots of people order the specialities – braised pork hock, stonepot chicken, it is really yum.

In a restaurant, people need to feel warm and welcomed, and have food that tastes good and an environment that makes them stay a bit longer. All the elements have to come together. Everyone can share the dishes around – that’s a Chinese tradition.

The restaurant’s called Shanghai Bistro, that’s where the cuisine comes from. Shanghai is a very big city, very international, and a lot of people go there and bring new flavours.

That’s why we go back to China at least once a year, to get new ideas for the cuisine and the look of the restaurant. We always take the children and they are very interested in China.

Everything in the restaurant comes from China – the decor, the chairs, the plates, the tables were custom-made. We had to put the big blossom tree together.

We live in Wigram, in a nice street, and people are really responsible. I like Christchurch, people are really friendly here. Someone’s friend becomes your friend too.

Steamed food for sale in the Tianzifang area of Shanghai. Tao says food in the city is always changing.

It is easy to do business in New Zealand. There are very clear regulations, you get a booklet from the city council about health regulations. If you ask people about things they are very helpful.

This is why I love living here, I feel people are more kind, they are very kind to each other, and more people know each other.

The couple source all their restaurant equipment from China, including the painted tables.

My parents came out a few years ago and settled down here. I want to stay close to my family. I am an only child and Chinese parents want to be with their children.

They live with us because they don’t speak English, but now they are thinking about getting their own house, close by. It is really handy having my parents here, especially with the children and the business.

Our children are six and three. They like to eat pizza and chicken tenders and burgers. But normally we have Chinese food. Mostly because of my parents, they have a Chinese stomach.

My husband’s family are in China, he is not an only child, he has a twin brother there.

Now in China, with the Government, you can have two children if you want to.

There are things I miss about China – lots of nice cuisine, and the night markets. You can go out any time, the shopping malls close at midnight. Also, there are lots of job opportunities there.

From when I was in China, I miss having my own time and going out at midnight. I was single with my own time then, but I couldn’t do that now.

In Shanghai, when you try to get to work in the morning on the railway there are millions of people. The population is five times the whole of New Zealand, 25 million. There are always more new ideas, and things change really fast.

It’s more family life here – just a different world. I like both places. Here, it’s a very nice environment for kids – not so many pressures on academic studies and they can do what they want, they get more experience with doing art and being creative.

Usually I’m in the restaurant in mornings and I look after front of house. Then I pick up the kids from school and pre-school, let them do their after-school activities. We go home and I do the cooking, bathe them, and put them to bed. My husband is at the restaurant late – we try to get two days off sometimes.

In life, I want the children to build up their abilities, to know what they want to do, so when they are faced with difficulties they won’t give up.

At the school, it’s very international, there are families from a lot of countries and everyone is very nice. The children know there are a lot of places in the world.

My friends in China have pressures, and mine are different.

I think I am a really positive person. As a human, you always need new solutions to problems – there are difficulties in life. That’s what life is and you can’t really complain.

If you stay positive, you can cope pretty well with things.

As told to Liz McDonald for ‘Aotearoa in 20’, a Stuff project.