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 style into delicious, fun food that reflects her life, her adventures and her thirst for knowledge. I spoke to Jane's boss and friend, Almay Jordaan at Neighbourhood Wine a few years ago and I recently caught up with Almay which was such a pleasure. It is no surprise that she has someone like Jane working with her. You only need to step inside Neighbourhood Wine, Old Palm Liquor or Bahama Gold to understand that these people know hospitality and love it. At one point Jane mentioned that between the drink and food menu, her goal is for people to never want to leave. Job done I think. Listen to the podcast here.
Hi Jane. It's lovely to be here. When I came in, you were cooking. Was that a staff meal did you say? What were you making?
I made some king mushrooms with garlic, chili, ketchup mayonnaise, and steak beans. We have a vegan staff member and I wanted to do something a bit more inclusive for all of us.
Nice. How many staff are there tonight?
We have two in the morning and two at night, including me for three on tonight.
How long has Bahama Gold been open?
We are actually celebrating our first year next week, the first year anniversary.
Old Palm Liquor is next door, so what role does Bahama Gold play?
Bahama Gold is the third business in Simon and Almay's repertoire. Neighbourhood Wine is the first and we just celebrated a 10-year anniversary there and that was followed by Old Palm which is nearly three years old now, and Bahama, which is a year old. They started organically with two restaurants. And this came out of covid necessity when we went into lockdown. Everyone needed booze delivered, and everyone wanted good alcohol, delivered with a great selection of tap beers and natural wine and minimum intervention wine. It came out of a Covid necessity and we did really well with our delivery. Then we came out of lockdown, although between the five different lockdowns, every time we came out of lockdown, we did a little popup from that window at the front. That changed organically into becoming a site just a bar. Simon focussed on a good sound system and just like Old Palm, we play everything on vinyl. We have incredible speakers, La Scala in there and they sound incredible, especially for such a small space. They're very, very good. There's a good focus on sound and music, and obviously the drink selection is great. So now with me coming in, we're trying to elevate it to make it, to make it so you never have to leave.You sit there, you have your drinks, some snacks, and then maybe grab a nice bottle of wine and carry on.
Nice. I read in the press release that you talked about a smaller menu. What do you mean by that?
I do five dishes at the moment: a snack, a popcorn that I pop to order with Tajin Spice, which is from a South American condiment, usually made with chili and dried lemon juice. It is a bit spicy, but sour, and they usually eat it with fruit, it keeps it moreish, it makes the fruit taste better. I put it on some popcorn to go well with beer, something that keeps you wanting to drink a little bit more. Then I've gotmy schiacciatawhich I make every day in house at the moment. I'm taking inspiration from the siciliana which is a grandma style thick bread pizza. I'm putting tomato sambal on top of it, which is a Southeast Asian chili sauce, with many different iterations. This one is vegan; I didn't want to put any shrimp paste into it. I substitute it with tomatoes to bring out the umami-ness of it. That goes on the top as I bake it, so it gets a bit crusted on top. I do that every day. Then I do a mussels with cucumbers that we get from our supplier Force of Nature down in Ramsey. Beautiful and different cucumbers.
I know them! Jo and Matt. So lovely.
I work with Jo quite closely and she lets me know what's in season for the next couple of weeks and how long it will last, and what's best at the moment. I think this year they've had a really hard spring. I think 70% of the crop failed, which is quite devastating. But it just means that if they do have something good, it's a very small amount, which is perfect for me. Whereas at Old Palm, we need a bigger volume of products because here its a 170 seater, so it's quite big. But Bahama is only a 30 seater.
Put in the hard yards. Have a good work ethic. You can always learn from your superiors, your seniors. Never stop learning, always self-motivate because not everyone’s going to keep motivating you. You have to put in the work and keep discovering, keep educating yourself. Keep questioning. Be proactive is what I would say. Secondly, the industry is changing. Fifteen years ago when I started that it was quite difficult for a woman. There was lot of misogyny and sexism. But times have changed as they should. There is no better time than now to be a chef. It’s the best it’s ever been. ~ Jane Low, Bahama Gold
How long have you been with Almay and the company?
I worked at Neighbourhood in 2017 for a year as sous. Then I went to London for a couple of years. I worked at a place called Brawn where I learned a lot of things. That's where I properly got into the European techniques and the French and Italian. They are very focused on that kind of technique.
Was that a big place?
It was an 80 cover so not really, there were five of us and we just made it work. It was an incredible team that we had that time. I stayed there for two years because it was incredible. I would've got consulate sponsorship, but Covid hit and March, 2020, ScoMo told us to come back. And luckily I did, because I would've been stuck there for a long, long time. But I came back and immediately Almay said to come and work for Old Palm, and they had been open at the time for five months. They opened in October, and I came back in March. I came in as sous and I worked there until July last year. Then I took a sabbatical, and I went back to Europe because the world opened up again. I went to say goodbye to London properly. I went to say goodbye to my friends, travel around. I went to Italy with my partner. I did Portugal, I did an island, Madeira. I went to Copenhagen, I went to Dublin. It was lovely. I took a two and a half trip to Europe. Then I came back and I just enjoyed my summer or what is supposed to be summer. And now I'm here. Now I've got a new lease on life. Yeah. I have new inspirations and a new style.
How would you describe your style? I know that's a bad question to ask a chef. But you just mentioned it!
I'm very passionate about wine. I love wine and I want to make food that goes well with wine. Instead of getting wine that goes well with food. I want it to be a proper relationship between the two and have them both work. At Bahama Gold I'm focusing on smaller plates, so that if you were to dine in and get one of everything, it would be a nice long meal.You'll snack and graze and then there will still be a substantial amount at the end of it. I used to be a fine dining pastry chef for eight years, and then I started cooking, so I do try and still keep my pastry skills up to date. At moment, as a wine bar, we're not, there's not going be a ton dessert choices, but at a moment I'm just taking a, a nostalgic throwback to my childhood of having bahalu which is a type of Malaysian Madeleine. Its a light, airy sponge with pandan inside. I've done kaya, but this time, I've called it a kaya curd because usually Kaya's made with toast for breakfast, as a toast with kaya and a slab of butter. That would be a breakfast dish, but I've whipped the butter into the kaya to make it a bit more luscious, a bit more simple. So you use the bahalu to dip into kaya to eat it. I make it to order. It takes about six minutes. Its quick and easy.
I guess everything is informed by what's gone before. Is the menu from the sabbatical, from the Mediterranean influences and so on, as well as your childhood?
Absolutely. I'm classically trained in French and Italian. So that's all my past workplaces. And that's what I love to do as well. Somehow, Italian food seems to go really well with Asian influence. That's what I try to do, especially with theschiacciatayou can see that. And I love making pasta. I try to have a bit of fun with the menu and try to showcase some of my Chinese heritage and my Malaysian background into the menu, but still using European techniques. So it's maybe stuff that you are familiar with a twist. Yeah. Thats what I would say is the gist of myself.
Did you always know you wanted to be a chef?
I did actually. I think I was seven years old when I told my mum. My parents don't cook all that much actually. They love traveling. My parents were quite strict, so we weren't allowed to watch any non-educational tv. As children we were allowed to watch Discovery Channel or the Travel and Living. I find that like with food comes travel or vice versa with travel comes Food. So I got really interested in watching the culture of another country and that influence on the food and the produce that they're able to get and what they've done with it to then be the definition of their culture. I find it very interesting. I started saying, I want to be a chef. My parents did not want me to be a chef. I insisted, saying I didn't want to go to high school. I just wanted to go to trade school. They told me to finish high school and get a diploma. So that's what I did. I finished my diploma. studied at William Angliss here in Melbourne. I studied patisserie, and did pastry for about eight years. The highlight would probably be Lakehouse when I was a chef there for about two and a half years. Then I came out to Melbourne and I was given an opportunity. One of the previous Somms at Lakehouse opened a wine bar in Fitzroy called Harry and Frankie. It is no longer there. He approached me and asked if I wanted to head the wine bar? I told him I was a pastry chef. But he said, you've worked in restaurants and you've seen everything. He said he trusted me that I would come up with good things. And then that became my foray to cooking. I discovered that I love that equally. Then I went to Neighbourhood, then I went to London and it cemented the fact that I actually love both sides, both, both pastry and cooking.
Do you think you'd ever want your own place?
I do eventually, but Simon and Almay are great employers and now I will say they're great friends. I've worked for them for many years now. It's very hard to give up that relationship.
Well Bahama Gold is a bit like your own now. You're making that little side of it your own in a way. It's nice.
It's a good symbiotic relationship. They allow me to have my creative freedom and I care for the business as if as my own.
Where do you get your inspiration? Do you have lots of cook books? Do you look at the internet?
It's very hard to pinpoint what exactly my inspiration is. Usually if I go out and I'm struck by an inspiration, I quickly write it on notes on my phone just so I don't forget it. A lot of it has come from my travels recently, especially Italy, because we covered the northern part of Italy. Then sometimes there are things form Malaysia that I want to have and cant find here. I try and incorporate that or different techniques because I didn't actually cook that much Malaysian food growing up. Unfortunately, my grandma passed away before I really got into cooking. I've kind of lost a bit of that. But with that I look at cookbooks like Sambal Shiok from their restaurant in Islington in London. They do a really, really good job. That was actually one of my go-to places when I really missed home, I went to that restaurant. Here,Rosheen's is cookbook a bit of fun. That's what I am inspired by, food, but not that serious.
It sounds like you've had a lot of really great experiences. What would your advice be to young people who are considering becoming a chef?
I would say put in the hard yards. Have a good work ethic. You can always learn from your superiors, your seniors. Never stop learning, always self-motivate because not everyone's going to keep motivating you. You have to put in the work and keep discovering, keep educating yourself. Keep questioning. Be proactive is what I would say. Secondly, the industry is changing. Fifteen years ago when I started that it was quite difficult for a woman. There was lot of misogyny and sexism. But times have changed as they should. There is no better time than now to be a chef. It's the best it's ever been.
135 Lygon Street, Brunswick East