Kiwi chef Tony Astle has cracked open a bottle of champagne after selling his multi-million-dollar Auckland home.
“I’m a happy boy. Now I can move into my beautiful apartment,” he told OneRoof after inking the deal.
Astle’s four-bedroom home on Portland Road, in Remuera, hit the market last month and was due to be auctioned on Wednesday.
However, the buyers made an offer Astle couldn’t say no to.
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Ray White listing agent Raj Sharma declined to say what the property had sold for but did say the buyers had been renting and were keen to move.
“The husband saw the place [last] Wednesday evening and made an appointment the next day to bring his wife. They saw it together on Friday and within 15 minutes of leaving they had made a verbal offer," he said. “We had a written offer by 6pm, and by 7pm the deal was done.”
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Sharma said the family had been looking for a home to buy for about two or three weeks when they saw the OneRoof news article on Astle’s listing. “They had read the story. The wife was over the moon. She said, ‘I just know this is the house’. She loved the renovations to the kitchen, the tranquillity, and the privacy. Their children go to school in the area so they wanted to be in Remuera.”
Sharma said the buyers plan to make some changes to the upstairs bedroom floor to create a second bathroom and a homework area for their two young kids. The husband, who is really into his cars, has plans to add a full garage and extra parking.
Tony Astle at his beloved Antoine's, in Parnell, in 2017. The restaurant closed its doors for the last time in 2021. Photo / Greg Bowker
Astle's kitchen at his Portland Road house. The chef has cooked for countless celebrities and the kitchen won over his buyers. Photo / Supplied
“Portland Road is one of the best streets and their dream was to live in Remuera in a renovated old house.”
Astle, who famously ran top Auckland restaurant Antoine’s for 47 years and has hosted prime ministers, dukes and rock royalty at his house, was surprised by the number of people who turned up at the open homes.
“Since the [OneRoof] article came out, we had 30 or 40 groups of people through the house. Everywhere I went people went, ‘Oh, your house is for sale’. It’s quite amazing for one reason or another everyone has seen it.”
Astle said the sale doesn’t settle until July 4, but he was already in the process of moving to his new home. He spent the weekend shuttling carloads of stuff up to his new apartment and the movers were booked for this week.
“The buyers wanted to move in straight away, but I needed the time. There’s a lifetime of antiques here.”
Friend Simon Woolley, who had helped Astle and Astle’s late wife Beth move three times before, had been put in charge of arranging the new place.
The Portland Road property is home to many of Astle's treasures, which he is busily shifting to his new apartment. Photo / Supplied
Astle said he was fully prepared to take on the role of social head of “the naughty floor” and is already planning catered dinners.
Astle is no stranger to hosting. He told OneRoof last month that he had “done a lot of cooking for prime ministers” at his Portland Road kitchen.
He’s also friends with some of the world’s biggest celebrities.
“Elton John came to Antoine’s so often he became a friend. Sometimes I’d cook for them here – this kitchen is twice as big as the one at work was – and send it over.”
The roster of international rock stars and royalty who dined at Antoine’s and became friends extends beyond Elton John to Rod Stewart, George Benson, Quincy Jones, both Dukes of Edinburgh (the Princes Phillip and Edward), and Mick Jagger.
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