The Ap changes hands – but the chowder is safe

Riverton’s celebrated Aparima Restaurant and Bar, which rose from the ashes of the deeply historic Aparima Tavern after a fire 10 years ago, has a new owner.

Returned Southlander Dan Pryde, a chef, has bought the business from Hannah Bickley and Russell Brown.

The couple, who remain his landlords, are set for adventures of their own.

They have a few projects in mind but first up they’ve acquired a 72-foot (22m) 1942 ex-Navy coastal vessel, Takapu, and will live and travel on it, chiefly around southern waters, perhaps circumnavigating the country at some stage, enjoying a long-time-coming break of recreating and luxuriating as much as they reasonably can.

Which mightn’t be all that much. Bickley’s pregnant. Due in August.

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All of which is news that has been pumping around not just their well-wishers in Riverton, but the many places in which the Ap, in both its historic and reborn incarnations, has gained renown.

The original tavern was established on the same site in 1878, on the banks of the town’s estuary but was gutted by fire in 2013. Then-owner Robyn Mulligan rebuilt and sold to Bickley and Brown, who opened the new business in 2015.

Bickley had worked as a bartender at the original tavern and Brown was a patron, as was his dad Gordon. Their relationship developed in the Aparima.

She’d been teed up to manage the rebuilt Aparima and when Mulligan put it on the market prior to the reopening, the couple realised they could buy it.

This latest changeover of ownership has required some key points of reassurance for the patrons – for starters that Bickley and Brown are the only departures, and the familiar crew is otherwise intact.

Which left one a no-less-frequently asked question.

The seafood chowder remains, unadulterated, on the menu.

Upheld as one to be savoured even by coastal Southland standards, the chowder recipe that Bickley conjured up was very much part of the purchase deal.

“It’s part of the Aparima, part of the goodwill,’’ Bickley said.

Probably the most expensive part, Pryde teases.

Brown admits that at one stage they’d tried to change it, thinking they’d hit upon an improvement.

No they bloody well hadn’t, the locals advised.

And that was that.

The lesson isn’t lost on Pryde.

Yes, he has a few ideas for the future, like maybe an outdoor barbecue, more bands, perhaps playing a little more sport.

But the first-up task is to be sure to fully understand and retain what’s important.

“The locals pretty much run the joint,’’ he said.

Getting to know them before the handover on Wednesday had proven a typically Southland affair.

“They all seemed to know someone I know.’’

The Otatara-raised son of Peter and Christine Pryde, he’s a former Southland Boys’ High School student who started as a kitchen hand at Invercargill’s Ziffs, studied at the Southern Institute of Technology, then moved to Australia 16 years ago, rising to head chef status for a restaurant chain.

Scrolling through the internet one day, he saw the Ap was for sale and the decision came naturally: he’d been there enough to know the vibe.

“I couldn’t see myself not doing it.’’

Bickley said that because her parents Andy and Karen had for so long helped out like it was a family project, Pryde’s takeover had “kind of relaxed the whole family’’, though her dad would still be working there doing the cleaning and “mum will probably end up still doing the gardening – she won’t be able to help herself’’.

The couple had only ever had a five-year plan when they bought the Ap, just in time for Covid to hit. That led to difficult trading times but the turnaround has been emphatic.

“It’s come back tenfold. It’s a great time to be taking over because everything is moving again. This summer in Riverton has been great.’’

Of the potential buyers, Bryde was definitely the pick, for his chef’s skill set and his attitude.

A few days ago they’d all had “a little bit of a do’’ to mark the changeover, featuring four generations of Ap publicans – Margaret Brown (not related to Russell), Robyn Mulligan, Bickley and Pryde.

“And three of them,’’ Bickley helpfully points out, “were women. Just saying. . . ’’