Joel Alderdice

Hi Joel, how's your Friday?

Friday is good. We are full, which is nice.

That's good. I'm in Camberwell and you are in the Yarra Valley and I remember when I spoke to Mark Ebbels a few years ago at TarraWarra, I drove out there and it was a really cloudy amazing day and just driving towards the winery, I was struck by how amazing the sky was. What is it looking like today? Is it still cloudy like here?

It's still a little cloudy and we are hoping it clears up because we have a deck menu running at the moment and that has been on hold. I'm hoping for a few sunny days over the weekend so we an get people out on the deck enjoying the view.

It is so lovely to be able to eat amongst the vines and you have that added bonus of the beautiful art gallery out there. It is stunning and I am sad I'm not out there now talking to you instead of being on the phone.

You will have to come out anyway. We have actually started some works on the property. It is a two-year build behind the restaurant. It is basically an extension of the gallery and is going to house 300 pieces from the Besen's personal collection and it will also be a place for seminars and a gathering place. It's exciting.

Wineries are so much more these days. I have been reading about you and how great that you are back at TarraWarra, 10 years after you left in 2011.

Yes, I did my apprenticeship here with Robin Sutcliffe and then moved after the apprenticeship down to the city and now I have taken over the kitchen, it feels quite strange. It has been the same Front of House manager the whole time I have been gone. Darren has been here for about 18 years.

What is different there? Obviously you are in the head chef role. Have there been some other changes since you have been away?

The Cellar Door used to be in the restaurant and now we have a separate Cellar Door dug into the hill with a beautiful barrel hall. The restaurant used to do a la carte and now we have moved into a set menu and the people are there for the restaurant experience and you can do the cellar door before or after the meal if you want.

And you will have changed in 10 years as well. I see you have been in some great places, Union Dining with Nicky Riemer. I had a chat to her a few years ago and she is amazing.

Nicky was a really big mentor and influence for me. Great person.

You have had some restaurant time and you were at The Healesville Hotel and then at Bar Liberty in Fitzroy, that's another great favourite.

Yes, I love Liberty.

You have won a few awards and accolades; Apprentice of the Year in 2011 and you got a Chef's Hat at Liberty in 2017. How big is that for you? Is that the goal to win those kinds of awards and get that recognition? Is that what you aim for?

Obviously I really enjoy working in a kitchen. I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy the work. I think it is more about giving the guests a lovely guest experience. I like to interact with the tables a lot here. If someone is enjoying themselves and they are super interested, I like to say thank you for coming in and get that feedback. I love when people come up to the pass and we have made their day special, that means a lot to me. Also the crew, I always try to fill the team with good people as well so that we enjoy the work.

What made you want to become a chef in the first place? Did you always know that's what you wanted to do?

I was working in a butcher's shop after school and my mum hated cooking so much and I would bring home some meat and I loved cooking it otherwise it would have been chicken sausages or frozen pizza. I loved playing around and I loved watching Jamie Oliver and those sort of people who had a passion for good ingredients and cooking. It was nice because I had never really cared about anything at school and didn't have a passion for anything. I liked music, but it was nice to find something that didnt feel like work, I just really enjoyed being in the kitchen. I got a job working at Giant Steps after that, because my brother was working on the floor then. Then I started cooking on the larder section there on weekends and weeknights and I fell in love with it.

What kind of cuisine do you feel most drawn to? Is it Modern Australian or do you like experimenting with some other cuisines? Where are you at at the moment?

I like cooking all cuisines, so for me it is about doing the best I can for the workplace I am in. TarraWarra, obviously a winery, so it is about cooking food that goes with the wine but also is hopefully as regional as possible within the cost bracket I can use. I love cooking everything. I can go home and cook Thai and I love cooking that. I also love cooking shared food, having worked in wine bars and things like that. I love putting out plates of charcuterie or big shared bits of meat. But it is quite nice now to cook a set menu to refocus and make every plate a little bit more detailed. I get just as big a kick from making a really good sandwich, to be honest.

What's the perfect sandwich do you think?

I can't say it's the perfect one but I've been loving throwing a cruskit or some chips in the middle of it so you have a crunch layer.

Nice. You can't go past that chips in a sandwich thing. I remember growing up in New Zealand and mum would sometimes give us vegemite and chip sandwiches on fresh white bread and they were so good. What are some of your favourite dishes that are on at the moment that reflect your enjoyment of the detail?

People love a dessert we have on at the moment. Our pastry chef doesn't love it so much. It's a tart and I have always done a version of this dish and basically she has to shave a lot of macadamia nuts to finish this tart and make it look beautiful so she spends a couple of hours every day shaving those nuts on a mandolin. We try and mix it up and pass the mandolin around the kitchen to give her wrists a break.

I had a bad experience with a mandolin so I can't imagine shaving something as small as a macadamia nut with any degree of safety.

Exactly. People really love it and when they see it and they see it in front of them, they get a real kick out of the work that went into it.

Do you have lots of cookbooks or where do you get your inspiration from? Instagram, YouTube?

When I was younger, I definitely spent every spare dollar I had on cookbooks. Now itis probably more eating out and Instagram. I have a lot of friends in the industry now so seeing what other people are doing and having a chat. And I guess the inspiration over the last six years of cooking probably comes more from the farms we use. Timbarra Farm send me a list every week of what's available. I guess that's my favourite way to cook, not just throwing a dish togetherbecause you think it'll be good, but what's available now and how can we best use it?

Is there still a kitchen garden at TarraWarra?

There is. Unfortunately, we had to let our kitchen gardener go. Cost-wise what we were producing versus having someone here wasn't really working out. But we still pick from it every day and we have established it so that we have things in rotation. All our garnishes come from the garden and we had a full bed of asparagus this year which was good and will obviously be back next year. We got a short season out of it, but it was nice for a month to be able to serve asparagus that was picked that morning.

The flavour is so great when it is fresh, like that.

You literally just cook a piece and eat it and, wow! That's how it should be.

We have asparagus that grows every year as well and when it is freshly picked, even raw it tastes amazing.

It is amazing how quickly they come up too.

Yes! You have to get to them quickly too. A question I have been asking a lot lately is about wellbeing. I know that it can be very pressured in the kitchen, but I imagine that at TarraWarra, it is a beautiful place to work, but you do big numbers. How do you maintain that feeling of wellbeing for you and your staff in the stressful times?

I am someone who has suffered from a lot of anxiety in the kitchen so I ama aware and I am not going to ride my staff. I want everyone to be comfortable and able to let me know if they are having a bad day. We all help each other out if someone's section is not ready for service. We jump around to make it work and help each other that way. We are only open for lunches so my staff only do day shifts and we try and get out at a reasonable time, so we are not doing 15 hours days like I used to do. maybe we will have a wedding four times a year where we have to do a big shift, but we try to make it up the next week and if there is a public holiday and we are open six days a week, the following week, we will give people three days off to make up for it. But I think having conversations with people and making sure they are ok is a big part.

I think that is really important, opening the lines of communication and I think that is what is different in kitchens these days, hopefully.

It is good to see people approaching it in a different way.

Just a final question, so that you can get ready for the full house today, what would your advice be for people thinking of becoming chefs?

Don't settle for a bad employer. Find a place that you are going to learn and progress and will look after you, not only in terms of learning, but financially as well. People can get wrapped up in the passion of things when it comes to the arts and food and when people are so passionate they can forget that it is a job and you need to make a career out of it. Find an employer who is going to support and nurture you and want you to progress.

Great. Thank you, Joel. The sun is coming out here and I hope it is coming out there and you have a really great day.

TarraWarra Estate

311 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road, Yarra Glen