Dirty Linen - A Food Podcast with Dani Valent

Jinsik Choi trained as a chef in South Korea, then moved to Australia eight years ago to broaden his culinary horizons. Despite initial difficulties with the language, Jin has now learnt not just English but how to cook food from many other cuisines. He’s the sous chef at Bang Bang RC in Melbourne’s Elsternwick and has words of encouragement and support for other chefs who may be wondering if they...

We head to Houston, Texas, one of the US’s great food cities. Falayn Ferrell works with Black Restaurant Week and Feed the Soul Foundation, shining a light on Black-owned businesses throughout the US and assisting with mentorship and grants. We talk about the particular challenges faced by small business owners, especially people of colour. An award-winning marketer, Falayn also shares actionable...

After living in New York and embracing the deli culture Joel Mevissen (Westmont Pickles) saw an opportunity for quality Australian pickled cucumbers. Over a couple of beers in the backyard with good mate and chef Calvin Lidden they began working with a local farm network to develop and foster a local market for pickling cucumbers. https://www.westmontpickles.com Follow The Producers on Instagram h...

Della Goodfellow-Slee is Assistant Restaurant Manager at Arkhe in Adelaide. She loves her work, she's learning every day and she's proud of the culture that's been created at this hot new fire-focused restaurant. We talk about hospitality pathways, passions and problems https://www.instagram.com/goonfellow/?hl=en Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dirtylinenpodcast Follow Da...

When Sebastian Pasinetti opened Oko in Melbourne recently, he had an agenda beyond delivering great food and wine. As a queer person of colour, Sebastian's own experience with discrimination has inspired him to create a workplace that's big on positive, supportive culture. Trigger warning: This podcast mentions suicide. If you need to speak to someone call Lifeline on 13 11 14 https://www.instagra...

A chemical engineer by training, Minoli de Silva was born in Sri Lanka and is now living in Darwin where she’s just opened her first restaurant Ella. Minoli came to attention on MasterChef Australia on season 13 and again for the 2022 Fans & Faves series. We cover the current unrest in Sri Lanka, the orthodoxies and otherwise of Sri Lankan cuisine, a cancer journey that changed her relationship to...

Other than water, tea is the most popular beverage in the world. We drink our share of tea in Australia but we are far from a major grower. Given that, it’s a surprise to learn that Nerada Tea in Queensland grows enough tea to make 750 million cuppas every year. Managing director Tony Poyner fell into the industry but working at Nerada soon swept him up and he became happily steeped in tea culture...

It feels like we've entered yet another stage in the COVID times. A new variant and rising costs are colliding in an environment of deep exhaustion. When a major supermarket stepped in with an el cheapo gimmick, it struck indie bar owner Leigh Boin as deeply problematic. We head to his Hudsons Road Wine & Beer in Melbourne's Spotswood to shake it all out. https://hudsonsroad.com.au Follow Dirty Li...

Jade Tareha runs Humble on Duke on the Sunshine Coast with her chef-partner Stacey. Though she tries to keep her attitude positive, it’s not always easy to be glass-half-full, especially in a small restaurant that cops a lot of no-shows. We talk about how to give, receive and conserve energy while sustaining a heartfelt business. https://www.humbleonduke.com.au Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram http...

From a childhood fossicking, fishing and baking with her grandmothers to an early career as a cake queen and now to a many-faceted food business based in Sydney, Simmone Logue’s story speaks to the huge variety of pathways in hospitality, cooking and catering. We talk business and branding, the benefits and pitfalls of scaling a food business, and the balancing of fear and entrepreneurial spirit....

Having grown up on a farm, Tom Bjorksten (Misty Creek Agroforestry) witnessed the challenges of working the land and set his sites on a career in Sydney. But, after studying and landing a government job he had a yearning to be back on the land. Together with his wife Nicole, they headed to Northern New south Wales where they now run a Syntropic agroforestry farm. https://www.mistycreekagroforestry...

Want a raw, open, strategic, hopeful perspective on everything going on in restaurants right now? Listen to this chat with Damian Brabender from Otis Dining Hall in Canberra. It's all there: the heartbreak, hard yards, joy and satisfaction of hospitality life. https://otisdininghall.com.au Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dirtylinenpodcast Follow Dani Valent https://www.in...

It's time for Friday On My Mind, my occasional end-of-week download on where I've been travelling, what I've been pondering and - of course - where I've been eating. This week, Hunter Valley Food Fight, William Angliss Great Chefs dinner and the joys of mentoring and nurturing talent. And I fill up at Bentley Bar, Bistro Molines, James, Westwood and plenty more. Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram ht...

Ed Nolle brews sour beer at Dollar Bill Brewing in the Australian beer capital of Ballarat. In 1870, as Australia’s gold rush tailed off, Ballarat had more than 500 pubs - panning for gold is clearly extremely thirsty work! The gold is mostly gone but Ballarat is still a beer centre, with a culture of brewing nurtured by local Federation University which offers courses in malting and brewing. Ed a...

Giorgio De Maria owns Sydney's Paski Vineria Popolare with Mattia Dicati and chef Enrico Tomelleri. What's led Giorgio to this point, running a bar and dining room focused on Italian natural wines and simple food that looks forward as well as back? A hint: time in Japan was crucial to looking at his Italian homeland with fresh eyes. https://paski.com.au Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www....

Everyone in Australia is living on unceded Aboriginal land but not many hospitality businesses put that fact at the core of their identity. Brendan Keown owns Yarra Falls, a Melbourne bar developed in consultation with Traditional Owners. He's come a long way from the 14-year-old who loved polishing glasses in an Irish restaurant and it's fascinating to hear about the journey. https://www.instagra...

We check in with the new CEO of the Restaurant & Catering Industry Association. What does Belinda Clarke think the big issues are and what is she going to do about them? Staffing, costs and the reputation of hospitality all get an airing. https://www.rca.asn.au Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dirtylinenpodcast Follow Dani Valent https://www.instagram.com/danivalent Follow...

Gayan Pieris is executive chef at Many Little and Polperro on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. He grew up in Sri Lanka in the middle of rice fields, eating rice at every meal, and with harvest cycles determining the rhythms of work and play. Today, Sri Lanka is struggling with runaway inflation and a depleted economy, leading to food and fuel shortages. We talk about growing your own produce in go...

Australia's only Nepalese pub is The Chowk, in Hobart. We chat to owner Kiran Thapa, a serial entrepreneur who also owns a flower farm in Tasmania and works in financial services. The pub is his first hospitality business but Kiran is running it like he would run any other enterprise, with strategy, planning, data and consistency at the core, as well as offering cultural connection and a warm expe...

After years of having a few lamb on the vineyard to eat the weeds amongst the vines on their property, Brent Old (Coole Acres Organic Lamb) realised an opportunity. He set about finding the right breed of lamb, and the means needed to farm organic Dorper lamb that now not only services the local food-loving community but has caught the attention of chefs and butchers in Sydney too. https://instagr...

It's tough out there for hospo with prices hikes causing ructions and stress. But what if there were other ways of doing things? We chat to old mate of Dirty Linen Simone Watts. Farmer, chef and systems changer, Simone can see a pathway to cheap, accessible lettuce and more! https://www.instagram.com/simonewatts_chef/?hl=en Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dirtylinenpodcas...

We head to Canberra to talk to Brodburger's Joelle Bou-jaoude. As we speak, she has staff driving around the nation's capital hunting for lettuce to put in their much-loved burgers. How do you deal with shortages and ever-increasing prices when your project is to serve high-quality affordable burgers to an invested community? https://brodburger.com.au Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.in...

In a wide-ranging and rich discussion with chef Mertcan Döğüşgen, we continue chatting food costs and pricing. Mertcan used to work at Attica and he's just clocked up a year running his own kitchen at Little Andorra in Carlton North. We hear about his journey from Turkey to Melbourne and consider the life-changing impact of fatherhood on career ambitions. https://littleandorra.com.au Follow Dirty...

Nigel Wood grows truffles at Truffle Paddock, a small farm outside Melbourne where 600 trees coax Tuber melanosporum into existence. He also sources truffles to make products including truffle honey and truffle salt, and is the founder of the Truffle Melbourne festival. When Nigel bought his farm, he thought he might grow grapes for wine but the aroma, flavour and romance of truffles hooked him in...

We're talking supply chains and food costs with Shannon Martinez (Smith & Daughters, Lona Misa). How do you run a profitable restaurant when ingredient prices are skyrocketing and menu changes cost time and money? Is the $15 lettuce going to be the straw that breaks this camel's back? We also discuss toxic behaviour in hospitality - is change afoot? https://www.instagram.com/shannon_martinez/?hl=e...