Conversations
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Josh Rudd at Flores
It’s been seven years since I last sat down with Josh Rudd, and it was genuinely lovely to catch up with him again. Since then, he’s opened venues, moved into large-scale events and catering, built teams and systems, and now finds himself at Flores at the Angel in Malvern, part of the Refinery Group. What…
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Jasmin Lefers
I first met Jasmin Lefers almost ten years ago, when she was heading up the kitchen at Wine 1160 and I went along to write about it. Since then, our paths have kept crossing through mutual friends, Melbourne’s food world and Jasmin’s wonderfully inventive events. Jasmin doesn’t call herself a chef. She’s a cook, a…
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Sally Hillman
It was such a pleasure to meet a fellow Francophile in Sally Hillman. Her new book, Celebrating Champagne: A Wine for All Seasons is about Champagne, of course, but it’s also about the things that sit around it: cooking, family, France and the pleasure of having people at your table. We talked about where her…
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Mikey Dalton at San Telmo Brisbane
When Mikey Dalton first walked into San Telmo in Melbourne with a CV in his hand, fresh off the plane from Ireland, he could hardly have imagined where that small decision would lead. Fourteen years later, he is now chef and co-owner of San Telmo Brisbane, a restaurant three years in the making and already…
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Raj Shrestha at Denmark House
Denmark House feels like a small pocket of Copenhagen tucked above Little Collins Street. Light pours through the large, black-framed windows, Danish drifts across the room, and Raj Shrestha looks completely at home. After spending almost 15 years in Denmark, he has found a place in Melbourne where that part of his life still feels…
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Sunil Tyagi at Indian Star
Over a fragrant samosa, kofta and garlic naan, with a cup of chai in hand, I sat down with Sunil Tyagi at Indian Star and listened as he traced an extraordinary life in food spanning more than five decades. He began his training in India in the 1970s, learning from great chefs and grinding spices…
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Reki Reinantha at Sachi, Atsu & Common Cuts
There is something very easy and generous about the way Reki Reinantha tells his story. He came to Australia from Indonesia as a high school student, began studying architecture, then slowly found himself pulled towards the kitchen and the pleasure of making people happy through food. Since then, his path has taken him through Japanese…
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Aaron Schembri at Kadota
As I drove out of Melbourne and left the fog behind, the day opened up into that bright, golden Daylesford light and the whole town seemed to be out walking, eating, browsing and making the most of it. I’d arrived a little early, wandered up one side of Vincent Street, back down the other, bought…
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Amar Singh at Bibi Ji
Amar Singh is not someone who naturally enjoys being on a microphone or in front of a camera. He was shy when we began talking at Bibi Ji, which is about to celebrate its second birthday, but the more we spoke, the more his deep attachment to hospitality came through. Once the recording stopped, Amar…
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Mark Tagnipez at Marmont
I sat down with Mark Tagnipez at Marmont to talk truffles, but the conversation very quickly became about much more than that. Mark is warm, funny and wonderfully unguarded, and his story moves from Los Angeles to Hawaii to Melbourne, from Filipino food at home to Chicano neighbourhood cooking, deep fryers, hay fever, fried chicken,…