Conversation with a chef

Amarjeet Singh is not someone who naturally enjoys being on a microphone or in front of a camera. He was shy when we began talking at Bibi Ji, which is about to celebrate its second birthday, but the more we spoke, the more his deep attachment to hospitality came through. Once the recording stopped, Amar became much more animated. He talked about how restaurant owners have to be able to multitask,...

As I drove out of Melbourne and left the fog behind, the day opened up into that bright, golden Daylesford light and the whole town seemed to be out walking, eating, browsing and making the most of it. I’d arrived a little early, wandered up one side of Vincent Street, back down the other, bought a scarf and a block of soap from Marseille, then stepped into Kadota to meet chef and co-owner Aaron S...

I sat down with Mark Tagnipez at Marmont to talk truffles, but the conversation very quickly became about much more than that. Mark is warm, funny and wonderfully unguarded, and his story moves from Los Angeles to Hawaii to Melbourne, from Filipino food at home to Chicano neighbourhood cooking, deep fryers, hay fever, fried chicken, monkey bread and the thrill of discovering that maybe truffles ar...

I first spoke to Shannon Martinez almost a decade ago, when Smith & Daughters was already changing the way Melbourne thought about vegan food. A lot has happened since. Smith & Deli has grown, Degraves Street has opened, Made by Smith is beginning to supply chefs with high-quality plant-based products, and deliveries are heading interstate. But what I loved about this conversation is that Shannon...

I knew when I went to the launch of High Cheese at The Westin that Jeremy Spradbery from Supercheese would be a great person to talk to, and visiting his Richmond shop proved it. We stood together beside his impressive hero fridge: a glorious lineup of cheeses that each show off their style, while he told me how he became a self professed curd nerd, weaving in stories from kitchens, farms, and fes...

Raph Rashid and I last spoke in 2020 when he was making Mean Cuisine and finding clever ways to keep people entertained at home. This time, he’s in the middle of something just as playful, but much more public: The Greatest of the Mall, a winter school holiday project with Melbourne Food & Wine Festival that sends him into shopping centres across Melbourne to create free, centre-inspired doughnuts...

When I arrived at Tarra, Mike Jacques was in the thick of service. Mike is executive chef for Searoad Hospitality, overseeing Tarra in Queenscliff, Onda in Sorrento, the ferry offerings and now Wilsons Prom too. We spoke about Tarra as a “postcard for the Bellarine Peninsula”, and Onda as its Mediterranean-leaning counterpart across the bay: a restaurant over the water with wood-fired cooking, sea...

I’ve always had a soft spot for Queenscliff. Every year, we make our pilgrimage down for the Queenscliff Music Festival, pitch our tent on the footy oval, and live very happily for a few days on music, festival food and that particular seaside feeling the town does so well. So to arrive this time and stay at the restored Queenscliff Hotel, in the glorious Stone Pine Suite, with its enormous bath a...

Tucked into the trees along Monbulk Road in Belgrave, Killik Handcrafted Rum Distillery is more than just a place to drink; it’s a destination where small-batch spirits, ambitious food, and a warm, intimate atmosphere come together. When we visited, we were seated in a gorgeous private room with a crackling log burner and views out to the forest, and enjoyed a generous, flavour-packed feast that p...

#364 Laura Boulton | Heide Kitchen by Jo Rittey

I sat down with Shane Reeves at The Gilroy on Bay Street in Port Melbourne, a place I could easily walk to, given I live just down the road, but one that’s absolutely worth the drive or the ride on the 109 tram. Tucked into a quieter stretch of the street, The Gilroy is a narrow, atmospheric space defined by its arched ceiling and the kind of cocooning warmth that makes you want to settle in and s...

Seated outside at Babaji’s Kerala Kitchen, beside the warmth of the fire pit and surrounded by the hills of Warburton, I first spoke with owner Billy Crombie. As the conversation continued, chef Jithin Pattiyal joined me, sharing his journey from Kerala to Australia and offering insight into the authentic, carefully crafted approach to cooking that underpins everything at Babaji’s.

Billy Crombie and husband Max (Mohammed) Kamil Hassan don’t run a typical regional restaurant. At Babaji’s Kerala Kitchen, set in a restored 1936 cabaret hall on the edge of Warburton in Victoria’s Yarra Valley, they have built something closer to a cultural bridge, and, for many Southern Indians, a portal back home. In this conversation, Billy talks through everything from the ritual of pouring a...

There’s a particular kind of welcome you only find in places built slowly and with intent, and that’s exactly what I walked into at The Independent in Gembrook. Mauro Callegari has shaped this former mechanics’ garage into something unmistakably his; part restaurant, part gathering place, part expression of a life spent cooking and travelling across continents before landing in the Dandenong Range...

I sat down with Franck Sammut, the quietly charismatic force behind Upper Middle in South Melbourne, a new baguette and pizza spot that already feels like a neighbourhood favourite. Franck has spent his whole life in hospitality, from working in his dad’s restaurant as a teenager to decades on the floor in some of Melbourne’s most iconic venues. Now he’s finally opened a place of his own, built on...

There’s a lovely kind of magic when an old neighbourhood pub finds its heartbeat again, and that’s exactly what’s happened at the Angel of Malvern. After three quiet years, the doors are open, the locals are back, and the buzz is real. Downstairs it’s all about elevated pub classics done properly: brined schnitties, light calamari, housemade sausage rolls, steaks on the grill, while upstairs, a Me...

On a wet, gloomy Melbourne day, Ronin Omakase was unexpectedly warm. Despite its concrete walls, brutalist lines and high ceilings, the room is inviting with shelves lined with house made ferments; persimmon for desserts, wombok and white kimchi, citrus cheong and fruit vinegars quietly developing behind the counter. Liam Lee cooks directly in front of ten diners, tasting, adjusting and guiding th...

This week I got the train to Mitcham to visit Dutch Rules Distilling Co., a retro styled bar, working distillery and sat down with rising star chef Viveik Vinohoran, this year’s Young Chef of the Year. Surrounded by vinyl records, warm timber, and the quiet hum of a still out back, Viveik talked about shaping a menu that blends his Sri Lankan heritage with the classical French, Italian, and Japane...

When I sat down with Michael Conlon at O’Connell’s in South Melbourne, the paint was still fresh. There’s been a substantial refresh. New carpet, new upholstery, commissioned artworks, and a dining room that feels intentionally set apart. More like a restaurant you arrive at, even though you’ve come through the pub. But the bigger shift is in how he talks about the role of a pub like this: it’s no...

I visited Matt Forbes at Cobb Lane’s Yarraville headquarters, where he reflected on the long path from his early years in some of the UK’s most exacting kitchens to building a Melbourne bakery that’s grown from a single 25 kilo bag of flour to seven or eight tonnes a week. He talked about stepping away from restaurant life to create something of his own, and how that hands on, flavour first approa...

I always enjoy catching up with chefs to hear how they’re going, what they’re learning, and how their craft is evolving. And every couple of years, that brings me back to the Westin Melbourne to sit down with Executive Chef Apoorva Kunte. In the five years he’s been leading the hotel’s kitchens, he’s become known for his curiosity, his generosity with his team, and the thoughtful way he brings cre...

When you talk to Matt McConnell about food, hospitality and Bar Lourinhã, there is a quiet certainty and warmth that comes through immediately. Twenty years is a long time to do anything well, and Bar Lourinhã has done it with quiet confidence. Matt approaches this milestone with equal parts pride, humility and curiosity. A long, wandering journey through Spain and Portugal in the nineties inspire...

I sat down with James Gallagher at Enbarr on a lovely autumn afternoon. We talked about mythology, Irish foodways, and the arc of his life in this building; a pub he worked in for years and has now come full circle to own. Once we’d finished talking, I was lucky enough to eat the food we’d been discussing. I haven’t stopped thinking about the soda bread since, or the boxty, dishes that felt like a...

Reaching 350 episodes feels a little surreal, and I couldn’t think of a better guest to mark the moment than someone I’ve spoken to before and genuinely admire. Sitting down again with Ian Ho at Yum Sing House reminded me why I love these conversations so much. Ian is one of those chefs who gives generously with his time, his stories, and his honesty and this time around, we went deeper than ever...

I visited Spaghetti Club just as everything was arriving. There were boxes everywhere, glasses and pots still wrapped, that slightly frantic but very exciting feeling of something about to begin. It already felt warm and full of personality, even mid unpacking. I sat down with head chef Michael Flemming to talk about what’s taking shape here: cooking over fire, handmade pasta, Italian family ritua...