Dirty Linen - A Food Podcast with Dani Valent

Thirty years ago, chef and restaurateur Peter Conistis started his lifelong project of redefining Greek cuisine for Australia. He’s still going, currently at Ploos and Alpha in Sydney, but with plans to take his modern spin on Greek food around the country. We chat about longevity and energy, the back-and-forth of immigrant cuisines, and dig into the origin story of his famous (scandalous?) moussa...

Mika Chae heads up the kitchen at Grain of the Silos in Launceston. He came to Australia a decade ago with no experience in food and ended up studying hospitality and working at Attica before moving to Tasmania. We talk about the synergies between the Korean approach to food and the produce-centric ethics at Grain, and the Korean cuisines that have yet to make their way to Australia. https://grain...

In 2012, the Australian culinary landscape was experiencing a Mexican food wave. But there were a few things missing. Mexican-born Gerardo Lopez especially lamented the lack of traditional corn tortillas. He got busy researching, testing, and eventually making tortillas from locally grown grain. The vision has since expanded from a small-scale side hustle to La Tortilleria, a factory that processe...

Another week, another restaurant-bashing story that goes viral. This time it's Navi, a small restaurant in Melbourne's inner-west, which lost a table of six, charged the menu price according to their cancellation policy, and was subsequently trolled from as far away as New York. We speak to owner Julian Hills about the devastating impact cancellations have on his small fine diner, and the baffling...

Got a great food idea? You need to listen to Lou Zarro, manager of the Food Incubator and Network Centre at the Melbourne Innovation Centre. Lou is all about helping food start-ups refine their ideas and get on the road to success. We talk about the advantages of being part of a community and debate whether multinationals are inherently evil. Express your interest: https://www.foodincubator.com.au...

Will Cowan-Lunn co-owns two restaurants in Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, an hour from Sydney. His flagship restaurant Ates is on a storied site and is built around a magnificent Scotch oven. Zoe's does Mexican snacks and live music. We track back through Will's varied career (Tetsuya's, Rockpool, Martin Wishart in Scotland) to see if there's a thread that connects past and present. https://www...

Coolamon Cheese Company is located in the heart of the Riverina, an area renowned for its abundance of high-quality produce, especially dairy products. It’s here that cheese maker Jenn Nestor creates an innovative range of handcrafted cheeses that are a sensual delight. https://www.coolamoncheese.com.au Follow The Producers on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/producerspodcast/ Host Dani Valent ...

The restaurant world depends on so many hospo-adjacent trades to build restaurants and make them amazing. Today's guest is The Brick Chef, Samuel Fraraccio. Samuel works with chefs and restaurateurs around Australia to design, build, modify and maintain wood-fired ovens. We talk about the challenges and joys, and ask some big questions around sustainability and empathy. https://www.instagram.com/t...

The opening of a new venue is usually accompanied by stories of anguish and delay…or is it? We chat to Nathen Doyle on the VERY DAY he launched a new restaurant, Sunhands in Melbourne’s Carlton. Nathen is also the co-owner of Heartattack & Vine, beloved for its porchetta, fine wine and good vibes. We talk about intentional hospitality and the big, bold, heartening vision that drove Nathen to open...

Cecilia 'CC' Diaz-Petersen grows one of Australia’s only commercial crops of wild hibiscus - also known as rosella - alongside an eclectic mix of Asian and Mexican vegetables and exotic fruits on her family’s 50-acre farm at Woolooga, three hours north of Brisbane. Born in the Philippines, CC was a real estate agent when she was swept up by the world of food. Obsessed with sustainability, communit...

If you believe access to good food is a fundamental human right, what actions might you take and how would it feel? Daman Shrivastav is a restaurateur, teacher, advocate and student and - with 10-year-old daughter Diya - he runs DD's Kitchen food charity. https://www.instagram.com/indiaatq_official/?hl=en Follow Deep In The Weeds on Instagram    https://www.instagram.com/deepintheweedspodcast/?hl=...

We started the week talking about international student work rules and we're ending the week on the same topic from a different angle. Cameron Ellis is an area manager for 5 AusVenueCo restaurants in inner Sydney. He discusses the impacts of the reimposition of working hour restrictions on international students, both on the workers themselves and his businesses. https://www.ausvenueco.com.au Foll...

We love celebrating the next generation of hospitality professionals on this podcast. Mentoring program Proud to Be a Chef announced this year’s award winners recently and Zaine Hamka-Clark, an apprentice chef at Nobu Melbourne, took home the Best Use of Social Media award. We talk about how social media can be a force for good and the benefits of getting out of your comfort zone. https://www.inst...

It’s become one of the most celebrated gelato brands in the country, but Gelato Messina has stayed true to its roots, ethics and offering to ensure the quality of its product. And as Donato Toce explains it has a cow to cone approach too. https://gelatomessina.com Follow The Producers on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/producerspodcast/ Host Dani Valent  https://www.instagram.com/danivalent Ho...

The Federal government recently announced that from July 1, international students’ working hours would be restricted, as they were pre-pandemic. The old limit was 40 hours a fortnight, the new limit will be 48 hours. We speak to student visa holder Gabriela Matos who works at the Jubilee Tavern in Airlie Beach, Queensland. Gabi explains that it’s not possible to survive on 24 hours a week work an...

Thinking of launching or growing a business? This is a must listen! Food business entrepreneur and mochi magnate Vivien Wong is co-founder of Little Moons, a UK-based company that specialises in mochi ice cream balls and has just launched in Australia with big ambitions. Vivien grew up in her parents’ traditional Chinese bakery but pursued a career in finance before food lured her back. https://li...

On International Women's Day we talk the good, the bad and the bloody frustrating with Farah Sabet, owner of Bud of Love natural wine bar in Footscray, Melbourne. What are the challenges of being a woman in the hospitality industry? How do we foster confidence in setting boundaries and creating a sense of empowerment and safety? We also talk wine and I ask the big question: what is the drink to si...

Lots of chefs talk about foraging these days but what about someone who makes foraging their business? Liam Spurrell grew up in the hills on Melbourne’s outskirts where he now forages consistently and carefully, picking hundreds of herbs, fruits and plants and delivering them to top restaurants. Up at dawn, he's able to gather in the morning and have ingredients on Melbourne restaurant tables in t...

Jimmy Wang came to Australia from China in 2002 to study engineering. He's ended up owning 49 Japanese restaurants under the Okami brand and has just launched Oak Leaf Education Institute in Melbourne to train people in hospitality. The initial motivation was to solve Okami's staffing shortage but he's also keen to inspire international students to work hard and find their own place in the Austral...

Vue de monde has been around for 23 years, Dirty Linen hasn't even cracked the big three! Even so, we're celebrating 500 podcast episodes with a two-week stint at this iconic restaurant. Today's guest is Restaurant Manager Rajnor Soin, who came five years ago for six months and somehow hasn't been able to leave. We talk about the art of looking after guests, even when they are a fluffy little shee...

We wrap our epic nine-episode series at Vue de monde with a heartfelt chat with wine director Carlos Simoes Santos, big brother of episode 501’s Hugo. Carlos’ fascination with wine began as a young boy in his family vineyard in Portugal and the journey has never stopped. We talk about his journey to becoming a Master Sommelier and his empathetic approach to looking after people. Thank you for shar...

Want to feel great about the state of the hospitality industry? Spend some time with Bethany Harman, third-year apprentice chef at Vue de monde. Beth shares the story of her path into the industry (there were cakes, and letters to Heston) and the joy she finds in learning and being part of a team. This is one of nine episodes that will give a rounded portrait of a restaurant that’s been both laude...

The Fermentalists and its range of hot sauces was initially a weekend hobby but positive feedback from friends and family encouraged Kosta Papanikitas and his partners to continue developing new recipes and expanding the range. The team still make everything by hand in Sydney, but things are a little bit bigger than they envisaged. https://thefermentalists.com Follow The Producers on Instagram htt...

Vue de monde was founded by a fiercely ambitious Shannon Bennett in 2000. He was fresh from three-star experience in Europe with a head full of dreams. From its beginnings in a quirky terrace in Carlton, the restaurant moved first to Normanby Chambers in the city and then in 2011 to its current home on level 55 of the Rialto Towers. We talk about ambition, tenacity, career progression, Vue highlig...

Head chef Chris ‘Marsh’ Marshall is the heart and soul of Vue de monde, a dependable figure in the kitchen and behind the scenes, making it all happen in an unflappable manner. We talk about his Scottish origins, the path to Australia and what makes Vue such a special place to work and dine. This episode is part of our Inside Vue de Monde special series, conceived to celebrate 500 episodes of Dirt...