Lewis Bryce

Hi Lewis, how are you? You have an accent, says she who has a really strong accent! Whereare you from originally?

Originally from the UK; Southwestern Cornwall. I've been here a while; 14 years now. I grew up Cornwall and left when I was 19 and came over here. The plan wasn't to stay here forever, it was a working holiday thing and I met my partner and you know how it goes. I came over in 2009 and met my partner and ended up staying.

Had you already started your chef training?

Correct. I did all my training back in the UK. I didn't really see a career in food, but it felt the right thing to do. So, Cornwall, do you know Rick Stein and that sort of food?

Absolutely.

It's all fresh local seafood and things like that. It made sense to jump into it as an afterschool job, washing dishes as a 14-year-old and working your way up to making the mashed potato. Then you jump on the pans and do a bit of service it sort of evolved from there.

I guess it's good to travel with as well.

Absolutely. When I was younger, I wanted flexibility, and that was the plan.

Did you come straight to Melbourne?

I went to Byron Bay. I went with some Australians I'd met in St. Ives, in Cornwall. They suggested once I'd finished school and finished training why didn't I come to Byron Bay and do the working holiday thing and enjoy that. It was great. I was a 19-year-old in Byron and it was great living there.

Was it a culture shock?

Yes and no. Byron had a lot of similarities to Cornwall, as a seaside town. Great. I came on my own, but I was quite lucky. I had people that I'd worked with, people that I knew, and I quickly made friends and connections. I think you don't really fear much when you're 19. You just go with the flow and think of the bigger picture.

How long did you spend in Byron?

I arrived in Byron in October, and I was there three months. I met my partner during that time, then a bit of time in Sydney, and then I ended up coming down here. She was from Melbourne. She was there on holiday, on her schoolies.

And you're still together?

Yes, we are.

That's amazing.

We got engaged last year.

Oh, congratulations. Well, that's a good story. Obviously, you were keeping up with hospitality because it was handy at the time, but what then made you stay, given that you didn't think it was going to be a career?

I was always saying I wanted to go back and study and do something else. I didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do, but I came to Melbourne and being from a small town, around 2000 people, I came to Melbourne and the food scene is phenomenal and there was always something really cool happening. I was taken in by the food scene basically, you know what I mean? In Cornwall everyone was doing something similar. It was all seafood, but there's so much diversity in Melbourne. I was taken by the food scene here quite quickly and I decided I wanted to stay.

I know that you were at Supernormal, but where did you start here?

I started in St Kilda at Rococo, an Italian restaurant. I had five years there. I was staying in Alma Road so close by. It was a super busy venue and tasty food.

You were drawn to the seaside, obviously.

Correct. Yes, St Kilda and I wasn't thinking too much about a career.It was a super busy, relentless venue and it was really fun. They were really hard working and it was great. I really enjoyed it. I stayed five years and having that flexibility was good. Working in a kitchen meant I could travel with my partner. We were both quite young, so we did a big stint in the US for a few months and also Europe for a few months as well.

Were they foodie travels? Did you work over there or just take it all in?

No, it was just three months. We did eat food though. My partner would think of activities and I would think of the food scene. We went to LA and spent a month in New York, which was awesome, a really cool city.

What were the memorable meals?

We went somewhere from Chef's Table, Ivan Ramen. We were staying in the East Village and we'd been in Mexico and then we just flew up and landed and we had been traveling a long time and I remembered something on Netflix that I liked. We were actually staying in apartments above where the venue is in East Village. It was unreal. Simple ramen, but super, super tasty. Then you can go to Korea town over there and everything is so yum, you can't really go wrong, a bit like Melbourne. Everything's so diverse. And everything's tasty.

I feel as though Mexico would've been really good too.

Mexico was really great.

Absolutely. And then you went to Europe as well? Had you already travelled a bit in Europe before?

Not so much. Leaving at 19, I didn't really holiday much as a youngster. I think I went to France on a school trip. I finished school at 16 and did more, so it was quite a big step. I wanted to come to Australia and get away from the small town and see the big world.

I guess it was good going once you'd got your career underway as well. Because then you're probably really looking out for certain things in terms of food as well. Are there any things that you've taken from various travels that you use now or that you have used?

Not really from overseas. I think it's the Melbourne food scene where I take my inspiration from. Its just so diverse and I think it's tough when you're traveling as well, you're not looking for fine dining venues, you're looking for places within your budget. I definitely feel it's quite easy to relate to Melbourne food and get my head around that.

I feel like the markets in Europe are really amazing. I know they are here as well, but I do feel as though chefs have access to much better product than just the ordinary people do. I was speaking to someone the other day about having a relationship with a farm and I envy that. I lived in the south of France for a year and the market was fantastic. Tomatoes really tasted like tomatoes. I feel like it's very hard for an ordinary person buy good tomatoes, but as chefs you have access to the heirloom and amazing ones.

I see what you mean. We get tomatoes that have never been in the fridge before. Theyve been picked and packaged and sent to the venue. When we were at Supernormal we would have product that had been in the ground the day before, picked the night before and driven from two hours away and brought to us, which is really inspiring. Really, really cool. You don't want to do much to food like that. You just want to get it on the plate as quick as possible. I think it's probably changing for the better, trying to get more access to people that are interested, not just chefs. I feel like Covid all brought about a bit of that with organic food markets who did farm packs and so on.

When was your first head chef role?

I suppose with this group. I was working for Supernormal Trader House Group for five years. So I started as a commis chef and worked my way up to sous chef. In terms of day-to-day running, sous chef there would be a classic head chef, in terms of the day-to-day involvement of the, the kitchen, leadership, running services, things like that. Youd be a head chef, any other venue, but I suppose this is my first real title head chef role.

It's interesting that you mentioned leadership. Did that come naturally to, you leading a team?

Yes and no. As a child I liked team sports, and I would be captain because I suppose I'm just quite loud and quite passionate. I think sometimes they'd give it to the loudest person. Leadership means a lot of different things and I think the key is to see what motivates people and communicating with different people in different ways. Earlier in my career, people said not to be aggressive, just assertive, and that to an extent works for some people. Some people need an arm around the shoulder. The best leaders I've had, it's definitely their personality that I relate to more, and then obviously the skill set and how talented they are as a cook. Its always a work in progress. I think you can always improve.

Hotel South Melbourne is new. How long has it been open?

We opened in the middle of December last year, so just over three months.

Very fresh. I was going say it's new, but it is old. It's 169 years old is that right?

Correct. 1854. It has been through a few revamps. There are lot of really cool spaces and the two floors and so there are good opportunities for functions.

The food at Supernormal is quite elevated and exciting and you have the possibility of doing that here as, as well because you have a pub and then a different offer as well.

Essentially, we focus on the pub classic. You have to have a solid parma, you have to have a solid burger and chips and a solid fish and chips, the staples that you'd expect from any pub. There's no reason for them to be bog standard. You can use beautiful free-range chicken. You can use the best possible produce you can to put this on a plate. Alongside the public bar menu, we have a more elevated main dining menu, with dishes like the marinated buffalo mozzarella with burnt capsicum and raw dishes, such as the tartare and the kingfish. We are stil trying to keep it approachable. I think that's key to what we're doing here in terms of customers. It needs to be relatable. If you are putting something on the menu that people think is too complicated or unfamiliar, it won't sell. But you need to offer something different to make them curious to try it.

Is it a seasonal menu as well, and what's happening with the season? Are you are still on a summer menu? Someone just told me the other night that, that they can't move on to the autumn menu yet because there is still a lot of late summer produce.

Exactly. Tomatoes came in really late this year, it was December before Victorian tomatoes came in and they're still coming.

What is your favourite thing on the menu?

I really like the seafood pasta, fresh spanner crab from Queensland, diamond clams from New Zealand. It is oil-based and super, super fresh. I really the grain salad we're doing at the moment with our maple roasted carrots and tahini yoghurt, nice and vegan friendly. Light and fresh dishes with lots of share style, along the lines of super normal, everything's shared and you can have a three or four dishes and get a good taste.

You were saying before that you are really inspired by the Melbourne food scene. What are your other sources of inspirations?

I take from everywhere really; definitely peers in Melbourne, Sydney, Australia-wide. Sydney's doing some really cool things. We went on holiday and it's funny, when you go on holiday, you seem to dine out a bit more. My partner and I went up late last year to see what they were doing, and it was really interesting up there. And then also cooking for family. I really enjoy Easter and Christmas. Coming over here on my own and meeting my partner and her massive family was great. Her grandparents are still around, and there are nieces, nephews, so Christmas is 20, 25 of us. Its inspiring to cook for the family and to be trusted, with the menu. I think it's inspiring getting people together and cooking and it makes me want to try out things. That's my inspiration, it keeps me humble. My partner is my biggest critic, so it's always funny. I always run things by her.

You might not know the answer to this because you're in the kitchen, but is it locals coming here or tourists?

It's a bit of a mixed bag. There's definitely a sort of corporate crowd because there's so much office space around here. Monday to Friday trade's great, particularly lunch. But then there might be corporates coming down from Sydney for the week and they're staying in a hotel and they come down. We have a couple of big birthdays this weekend which is great because the function space is so good. We are trying to push events, but we want to be a community-based venue. There are so many great pubs around here. Id like to add to that and be as good as we can be.

Beautiful. And just for a final question, given that you have had a few years in the game, what would your advice be to someone who was thinking about becoming a chef?

I would say, if you're just starting out in your career, I'd think about what sort of chef you want to be. There are a lot of moving parts to the hospitality industry. It is important to consider the bigger picture even as a young person. As I said before, the best chefs Ive worked with, it was all about their personality and attitude. They may not be the best chef, but they have well-rounded skillsets in the kitchen in terms of leadership, in terms of communication and there are so many operational sides to a restaurant that people from outside the industry won't be aware of beyond the actual product that ends up the plate. Try and take as much as you can from everyone around you, not just your mentors, from your line cooks. Everyone has a different food experience and there's so much to learn and it's such a dynamic industry. There's always something evolving and changing. Thats the best advice I'd give for someone thinking about starting out in their career.

Hotel South Melbourne

160 Clarendon Street, South Melbourne