Conversation with a chef

I cannot tell you how excited I was to meet Gabriel Gate and talk to him. Before we talked, I imagined the conversation would be about cooking, food and being a chef, and it was, but we also talked about life and the things that are important. When I told people that I was going to talk to Gabriel, the universal reaction, was, “Ah Gabriel Gate, what a lovely man.” Everyone has heard of Gabriel. Th...

Pawan Dutta is the Executive chef at Melbourne’s newest luxury hotel, The Royce. Channelling all the golden glamour of the roaring twenties, entering The Royce feels as though you are gliding onto the set of Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby. It is beautiful. No stranger to cooking in glorious and luxurious settings, Pawan has had an enviable career, travelling to and working in over 80 different cou...

Francesco Crifo is a passionate advocate of pizza. He describes himself as a pizza chef and not a pizza maker and says that despite the abundance of pizza restaurants in Melbourne, there is still a real lack of knowledge about pizza, their bases, flours, toppings, and potential. To this end he has established his pizza academy where he offers a masterclass and an e-book to share the knowledge gain...

Stephen Nairn is the epitome of the passionate chef. His love for food, the industry, his team and for always learning more is palpable. I had spoken to Stephen over the phone for Broadsheet when Yugen Dining opened and quite frankly I was grinning like a lunatic on the other end of the line because I was just lapping up the way he described the dishes. He pointed out that when he says the menu is...

When I was asked if I’d like to have a chat to camp oven guru, Ranger Nick, I leapt at the chance. How could I not? Ranger Nick is a celebrity TV cook on Channel 7 Mates ‘Step Outside with Paul Burt’, he is a Guinness Book world record holder for the longest damper, and the creator of Curry Kits, and he has recently been recognised as a Finalist in the Environmental Business category of the 2023 A...

Jake Furst is head chef of Cinder, the elegant fire-driven restaurant in Fitzroy North’s 150-year-old pub The Terminus Hotel, and also executive chef of the Kickon Group, a hospitality group that runs large scale, high-end venues in Melbourne, Sorrento, and Queensland. Since the Group took over the Terminus, they have completely renovated it, creating a casual pub feel out the front, extensive bee...

Lewis Bryce has had a fairly cinematic life so far, at least I think he has. Picture this: Cornwall, a small town on the coast, a young guy, spurred on by stories told by Australians on their big OE in the UK, dreams of adventure on the other side of the world and sets off to Byron Bay for a working holiday. Young guy meets young Melburnian girl, in Byron Bay for schoolies, romance and life-changi...

What an absolute pleasure to speak to Steven Nelson at The Recreation Bistro and Bottleshop. I mean, anyone who describes their zucchini as gorgeous and affectionately describes the way they are left to run free in a field as they grow has to be a good person by definition. Certainly a thoughtful person, and the way Steve described his career and the things he has learned along the way is certainl...

If I had had to choose a chef to talk to, if not on International Women’s Day, but around that time Jane Low is it. Jane is a passionate chef. One of those chefs who always knew this is what she wanted to do. Jane incorporates her Chinese background and Malaysian upbringing, mixing that in to her experiences as a pastry chef and recent time in London and travels in Europe. Jane has distilled her s...

Mark Krueger is Group head chef of restaurants Mejico and Indu in the city. Mark has an extensive background in the culinary field, having worked under and alongside, some of the world’s most renowned chefs at several iconic restaurants and hotels. From Melbourne to the Maldives, Thailand and the Yarra Valley, Mark has continued to foster a passion for food and also for life-long learning with thi...

Yesterday I rode 89 floors in an elevator to Eureka 89, the restaurant one floor above the Melbourne Skydeck to talk to the glorious Renee Martillano, who Is the Executive chef there. The Skydeck is the Southern Hemisphere’s highest observation deck and the tower itself is 297.3 metres tall with 91 floors. So the 89th floor is a long way up. It is beautiful up there and I loved sitting up there wi...

KIN is the glorious sounding restaurant housed in All Saints Estate’s 1864 heritage-listed castle in Rutherglen, and is an ode to family by siblings Eliza, Nick and Angela Brown. Kin offers modern destination dining with a menu inspired by family recipes and childhood memories, plus the best local and Estate produce and it is helmed by the very lovely chef Jack Cassidy. While Rutherglen is very fi...

In November last year, Hamish Vaccari started selling family recipe Italian subs out the back of an unassuming house on Nicholson Street. It went viral. Nonna’s House was the obvious choice of name for the venture, given it is, in fact, his Nonna's house. Having lost his job at the start of Covid, Hamish was thinking about his next move and when his Nonna passed away at the impressive age of 98 la...

Nabil Ansari is the loveliest man. I have been following him for a while on Instagram and of course I had heard about him when he did Ansari at Home, a pop up over lockdown where he cooked Indian food for his neighbours and then it went gangbusters. As always, it was such a pleasure to talk to someone who is so passionate about what he does. From deciding he wanted to cook, leaving Dubai and comin...

In 2017, chef and owner Lucas Parkinson established Ode Conscious Dining in Wanaka, Aotearoa, after spending over a decade developing his skill and passion for food in Aotearoa & overseas. Lucas quickly gained recognition after Ode was named one of New Zealand’s Top 100 restaurants at both the 2018 & 2019 Cuisine Good Food Awards, receiving ‘the one to watch’ & ‘1 Hat’ accolades - the southern hem...

I cannot think of a better way to start the Conversation with a chef year than to chat to Bocuse d’Or finalist, Alex McIntosh. Originally from Canada, long-time fan of Bocuse d’Or, Alex was a finalist in the Bocuse d’Or Australia 2015, a judge for the fish dish in the Bocuse d’Or Australia 2017, and among the crowd cheering on Team Australia in Lyon in 2017. Over his career, Alex has worked at Mel...

My friend Morgan Williams is an absolute star. He does a lot. So much. An absolute ideas man and entrepreneur, and if you follow him on the socials, which you absolutely should, it is one great idea after the next. Morgan was the co-producer for many years on the wildly successful New Zealand children’s program, What Now, and also had a principal role in what I think is one of the best zombie movi...

Inspired by his father’s cooking and baking and by the food his grandmother made, Diego Cossio started his journey to become a chef in South Africa where his family had moved from Peru, and made sure he did part of his internship at the top restaurant in Johannesburg. Throughout his career, ambition and a drive to be better and better has propelled him from one elevated dining venue to another bot...

Srishti Godbole is the third contestant I have spoken to from the recent Pacific Region San Pellegrino Young Chef Competition, and I was excited to hear about her dish and to hear more about her journey as a chef. Srishti grew up in Mumbai and credits her Great Grandmother and her mother for her love, and in fact awe and wonder for food and cooking, having a particular moment of epiphany as she wa...

What an absolute delight to have my 300th Conversation with a chef with Salvatore Giorgio at La Vetta at Marnong Estate. I have been wanting to chat to Salvatore for a while now, ever since I met him at Bar Bambi in the city and this conversation was even better than I had hoped. Salvatore is a passionate chef who has been cooking since he was 11 years old. He grew up in a family of chefs with his...

Josh Niland described the dish Robin Wagner presented at the S. Pellegrino Young Chef competition as, “the best dish” he had tasted this year. Another judge wanted to lick the plate clean. The dish was simply called “Smoked Celeriac with Granny Smith Apple and Crispy Taro,” and it won him the Regional Finalist title. And when they say regional, they mean the Pacific region. Next year Robin will fl...

Jackson Mehlhopt is head chef at Christchurch’s Tussock Hill Cellar Door and Winery and this year he was a regional finalist in the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition. The Competition is a global annual event to support young chefs and their personal vision for the world of food, demonstrating how food can have a positive impact on society at large. Ten chefs under 30 each cooked one dish...

Joel Alderdice grew up in Badger Creek in the Yarra Ranges and completed his apprenticeship at TarraWarra Estate under chef Robin Sutcliffe. Having completed his training and won Best Apprenticeship of the Year, Robin encouraged him to broaden his horizons and move to the city to check out some other venues. He certainly did that, working with friend of the podcast and legend chef, Nicky Riemer at...

Scott is mates with two of my favourite chefs, Scott Pickett and Dan Hunter. Scott told me that he has always loved eating and cooking and once he had decided to pursue cooking as a career and was accepted as an apprentice, he felt super excited and as though everything was going the way it should go. He has never looked back. Scott has worked in different parts of Australia and the world and has...

Bossa Nova is a colourful café in Carlton where owners Gabriel and Gabriela Gebaile are serving up food that will remind people of the food back home in Brazil or introduce people to Brazilian flavours if they haven’t tried them before. I wrote about them for Broadsheet when Bossa Nova first opened, and I was happy to hear from Gabriel again telling me about his Friday and Saturday steak nights. I...