Greg Feck

Hi Greg, I'm here! It's so beautiful here, isn't it.

Greg: It's amazing, isn't it? When was the last time you were out?

I came for the opening and wrote about it for Broadsheet and then I came out to talk to Salvatore for the podcast. It's like a village here, with the fountain and the little square in the middle. And then we were just out on the balcony and Bunjil the eagle flew over and he's got a nest in one of those trees over there. We felt blessed that we were here.

I just really wanted to get you out so you could just hang out. It's so understated here, Jo. It's so untapped out here.

I don't understand that.

It could be to do with the demographic that we're targeting in terms of marketing and socials and stuff like that. I've obviously suggested things like targeting Qantas Magazine. With people coming to the airport. We've got permits to build another 70 rooms around where your cabins are. On the other side of the chardonnay vines around there, with a day spa which is happening. Did you see the new winery? I'll show you that. We've just finished vintage. We are pretty much at the tail end of vintage in the new winery. So it's all our own wine making now. Alex Beckett, who we employed from the Hunter, he's come down. Amazing guy. So now instead of getting external help, like Punt Road and Yarra Valley making the wines, it's all Marnong Estate now. First vintage. I think it'll be pretty special. He's really happy with the results for his first time here. But for me, you know me, I'm so dedicated to this industry and Ive got so much left in me, but I really want this place to work. Having people from North Melbourne or even Toorak, with that sort of income coming here. I feel that would work.

So what's stopping people? I feel like this is a destination. You don't need any other vineyards. But is it because of this idea that when you go to the Yarra Valley, there's lots of different places, do you think? I can't even believe it either, because when we drove in through those gates Charlie said, oh my God, this is really fancy. Driving in and seeing the vineyards, and then that landscape.

It reminds you of home, New Zealand. I have an hour's drive at the moment. But I've just sold my home in Canterbury on Mayling Road, and I'm moving up to Upwey in June. It's going to be about an hour and a half for me. But I don't care.

This is interesting to me because previously you lived near Hawthorn and worked there and that was all about the community there. And then you did talk about Bali and that was also being part of a place you loved. But did Covid change that?

It squashed it.

So you would drive an hour and a half both ways to work here. What is it that you love about it?

First and foremost, I feel it's very family orientated. There's a lot of locals, a lot of young kids working here. Especially in events, which I'd like to show you. We've got 150 upstairs tonight wedding. Another a 150 in the Wool Shed. In La Vetta. I think we've got about 75 tonight, which is nice. Cucina 180 tonight.

It boggles my mind those numbers.

And where the hell do they come from? It just baffles me that we are so busy, and there are a lot of locals,

So you're busy, but you are worried that people don't know about it. What do you mean?

I just want people to understand like the effort that goes into Marnong to give back to people; like the gardeners, the owners, being a Sicilian family independently owned, beautiful family. The son takes care of all the animals. There's a petting zoo next Sunday. All our eggs come from the estate. We have hens and ducks. We own all our own Chianina cattle, which which is a long term project from Tuscany, the Tuscan cattle. The projection of this place is just incredible.We have a farmer's market in the car park tomorrow. It's very small, but it's something that I'd like to build. We could sell our own eggs there and things like that.

How did you find out about the position? How did you get here?

They must have an agent working for them. They just called me out of the blue when I was still working for Karen Martini at Hero as her executive chef. And at that time, it was just really clicking for me. It wasn't a great time at Hero.

I was interested when I saw you were working for Karen Martini. Is it difficult to work for someone else when you've been your own boss and you've had such great vision for your own business?

It is difficult, but in my personality, I'm very adaptable. Karen really inspires me. She does to this day. The flavours that she can create in a dish are robust, they're punchy, they respect the seasons. My time with her, I learned a lot. But I still had that urge, because I've been doing my own thing for such a long time, and there was that slight emotion there, that I was missing holding the reins. I understood that it'd never be like that there, and I understood that when I took the role. But it was really good there.

And Bali, is that totally shelved?

Yes, at this stage. I feel really at home here.

Great. Had you heard of Marnong Estate?

I'd never heard of it. And that's what I'm talking about. I want people like you or myself to come here. It's basically a one stop culinary shop.

I know. It's so beautiful. And I do think it is a one stop and it's got all of these great things, there's the farmer's markets. That little villagey bit out there. How many have you got in tonight?

In La Vetta, I think we've got canapes in there for 50 at the moment. And I think we have about 75 booked in tonight, which is a good Saturday night.

And Cucina, is that more of a daytime place?

It's seven days, breakfast, lunch and dinner. And it pumps.

What's for breakfast there?

Italian style. Sicilian scrambled eggs and bits and pieces. Seven days, breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's a beast. La Vetta, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday is closed. Fucking best chefs hours ever for that team. Sunday nights I'm probably going to drop off. There's Vista, which is a little kiosk that we do with Italian street food: focaccia, mortadella, all that stuff that's really on trend at the moment. I'm using Mr Cannubi. Mick Nunn is a good friend of mine from Ballarat and he does Mr Cannubi and I get it off Savour and Grace. I think it's probably one of the best ones around. There's a lot of texture in it and a lot of fat content as well. But everyone is on the mortadella at the moment.

When I spoke to you at Vaporetto, you love Venice and you recreated that in Hawthorn. It was an amazing restaurant. When I sat up at the bar and watched how that choreographed way of doing an open kitchen and how respectful everyone was and how delicious everything was, I loved it. Everyone talks about authenticity these days. How do you go being a – I would say a specialist in Italian food – but not being Italian because there's a new wave of cool young Italians that have come out and they are cooking Italian food. How does it work?

It's a tricky one. I have so many customers that come in and they just fucking freak out that I'm a Kiwi basically. How, where, how does this happen? How does it come about? I don't know, man. I was just born Italian and trapped in a Kiwi body. It's people that I've worked with right from the get go. Even in New Zealand and going to London and its just the only craft I've ever learned to really cook and hone my skills on.

Rather than French?

I'm still very technically driven by the French technique in my mise en place. Even all my sauces are very French. A lot of my technique and making certain sauces and all of that is very, very French dominated in the kitchen, but just built with big, rough, big edges and big flavours and just a little bit of finesse, but just done quite simply. Youll see it.

I think what we're offering in the Estate is, like I said, if, if you want to come and get focaccia and coffee or some of the best pizza I think, that we make here and some of the pizza makers that we have are bloody brilliant. And even Soon come with me, my head chef from Vaporetto. Weve worked together 12 years now. We're like an old married couple. He's in La Vetta Kitchen. The crew that we're starting to build in La Vetta is really good. I'm trying to work with the youngsters, you know, I'm trying to give something back to the industry. I feel it's at my age, I've got so much to give. I've got so much knowledge, I think. I feel like with Marnong, we've got a lot of locals and they're all young and they're going to cookery. It makes me feel good that I'm giving something back to the industry because it's getting tough.There's not many people out there skilled that want to do the hours like we've done.

So what happens when you come to a place like this that's already up and running? What do you do for that team building or how do you make it your kitchen?

First of all, I ease myself into it. I get to know people personally, especially my heads of department, which I've got a few, I think I must have about 35, 40 guys under me, and letting them see what I can do. But also gaining their respect at the same time, not going in guns blazing, being really respectful because theyve been here a while and they've had another chef that they've been working under. You have to be respectful about that as well. Then slowly stamping your authority on how you do things and how you communicate and talk to them and nurture them and inspire them until they start seeing you cook and the knowledge that you have and the flavours that you can bring together at a fast pace executed well, that's what starts getting them to know that, "I think we've got somebody pretty good that's come on board." It's a big job. I've gone from one to multiple venues. It has been a really big learning curve for me. But the team is great. The GM, Carl Forrest, he's done a lot of work in hotels, but he's also come from the Royal Mail with Robin Wickins. So he's done all of that.

It's like a dream team here, isn't it?

Yes. And the girls from weddings to receptions upstairs, they're all amazing. Carl's vision is, if you don't feel Marnong, then you're probably not the right person to be here. It's an emotion, it's a feeling: the feeling of bending over backwards, doing the utmost we can for anybody that walks through the gates, and I like that philosophy as well. His passion is filtered through the team, through all heads, restaurant managers, all of that. It's a great feeling and it's a pleasure to come to work and working with like-minded people who are here for the right reason. Passionate, want to work hard, want to cook the best food they can, striking that work life balance as well, which I've strived to do right from the start, is getting people good breaks, proper days off.

That's a big question I've been asking lately is what do head chefs or executive chefs do in terms of wellbeing for their staff? It's a big conversation now. So, that, and as you say that easing in and getting to know the people you're working with as well. You're not coming in going, okay, I'm the guy.

I think that's the wrong way to go about things. You're only as good as your team is behind you. And if you go in with the wrong attitude and bust balls really quick. It's not my style. It never has been.

I knew that because you've always been a great supporter of what I'm doing, you've given me chefs to talk to from your team and they speak so highly of you.

I can't wait to try the wines with this new vintage because they haven't spared any money down there. The owner has a vision and he's has a very generous way of looking at things. He's years ahead of himself. I think he's a very beautiful man and his family are really respectful of the team that work for him. But he talks about his winery with such passion. He talks about having live opera and the lights coming up underneath, behind the barrels in the barrel room and he talks really emotionally. He's into really beautiful things and he deserves it. It's up to us to execute that for him and we have the team to do it.

What have you done with the menu in La Vetta?

I didn't go out with really strong changes because I had to find my feet. I had to find the right staff. There's no use putting out a menu that's really tricky, but you don't have the staff to really pull it off. So I went quite comfortable until I got to know all the guys in the kitchen. Now we've really started stepping it up. We're doing some really good things in there. I'm writing a new menu for autumn/winter. I had to be respectful of Cucina, and what they do really well. I had to not overbear the style of their menu. I really like pizzas, a little bit of pasta. But with La Vetta, having the Josper, I really wanted to concentrate on sourcing the best beef, dry ageing it in house ourselves as much as possible. Working with the best beef suppliers. Pasta is a massive passion of mine, working with north-eastern cooking, like in Venice. You'll see flavours like that with saffron with crab and stuff like that from the island of Burano. That Venetian style is still there in me. But really just clean flavours, really concentrating on really good pasta, great beef, lots of little snacks. I'm working on snacks because we've got an area in La Vetta which I really want concentrate on, its more of a lounge where people can come in from 3.30pm and have a glass of sparkling with oysters, snacks, and then go to their table and make a night of it. I think it's the perfect restaurant for that. We're only 45 minutes from the CBD. As soon as I get past the airport that last 15 minutes coming here, I'm already in the zone. And being near the airport is why we have to capitalize on these extra rooms. Especially getting corporate conferencing, companies that want training, if they have to come interstate. We offer everything, from rooms, weddings, really nice dining, pizza, pasta, like everything. I'm super proud to be a part of Marnong and I want other people like-minded in the industry to know that we're here. There's a lot of talk of the Yarra Valley, but if you get here, you'll understand that it's incredible.

There's a lot of talk of places not making it at the moment. I love that this place is here and it's beautiful and we want to make sure, I want all the CBD places to stay, but these places as well.

We're all facing elements of the cost of goods rising and wages and rents and electricity, all of that. I listened to Teague talk about Gingerboy and stuff like that. Really sad. People that are great operators and really good chefs. It's just getting tough, and it's really sad, but I don't know what's going to happen. The next five years is really, really cloudy for me in terms of what will happen around Melbourne? I don't have that feeling here. The drive here, the passion is so high and in terms of doing events, we are busy, which is healthy.

I feel as though you've got an owner who really supports the staff, you've not got an owner who's looking over your shoulder micro managing profit margins.

You have to respect that side of things. There's always going to be that side of it. But it's how you deliver that side of it to your staff. And this is one thing that Carl does extremely well. If you are struggling in a certain category, maybe wages or trying to get staff off at Lou, you know, the way he communicates to you is one-on-one, he comes into the kitchen with me, chats to me for 20 minutes gives me that time. How you going? How's Kim, how's your family? It's not business first. He looks after you and then he communicates really well. If you need any help, he says to come and see him in his office and we'll work through it together. That's a beautiful thing. Not a lot of that happens around other places.

I've always said the fish rots from the head, and that's not the case here at all. The enthusiasm and the commitment and the passion from upstairs is, infectious and it filters through me and inspires my team because they give you that freedom and that flexibility to do what I want to do. There's no sort of clamp, which I like. I have to be like that. That's how I work. I work very organically, very freestyle. I'm very emotional in the way I cook and my guys know that. And they bloody know it if I'm not happy, they'll soon find out about it. But the majority of the time, its all good. You have to stamp your foot down some stage, but theres a way of doing it. I'll show you around and then you can enjoy your room before dinner.

Marnong Estate, 2335 Mickleham Road, Mickleham