Mikey Dalton

Conversation with a chef: Mikey, it’s lovely to speak to you. San Telmo opened at the end of June in Brisbane, but you actually moved up north 3 years ago to make that happen. So I feel as though the opening is being presented as an exciting new arrival, but for you, it must be the end of a really long build up. What did those three years involve?

Mikey Dalton:  I think you’re right, in saying that it feels like the end, but it’s only the beginning. Because it took so long. In those three years, I did come up with the intention of working pretty soon, but obviously things don’t go to plan, more often than not, so it took us three years. In the meantime, I was in a couple of restaurants in Brisbane for about a year, a year and a half, did a stint of Blackbird, and I was at Agnes for a couple of months, and then I spent about a year and a half in the Casino for Star Brisbane. I was working there for a while, did some events, helped out in Eloria. And then we finally got to get the restaurant signed off around early January this year. Once that was signed off, we got in February, and started getting the building finished, which was about a 12 – 13 week fit out

Was it actually quite a good thing to get a feel for Brisbane and what the people are after by working in those other places first?

100%. Looking back on it, it’s definitely shaped the way I’ve designed the menu, and probably the way I feel about Queensland. I think if I came up from Melbourne, and we got the restaurant up and running straight away, I probably would have been a bit more ignorant to think that I could have just done what I wanted, and then it would have worked. I feel like these three years have given me the information, and the knowledge to tweak things a little bit. It has given me the understanding of what Queenslanders like, and meeting suppliers. I’ve met a lot of people through the restaurants I’ve been in, and also through the Casino. There’s so many CDCs and executive chefs at Star. That knowledge I’ve gained over the past couple of years is definitely put me in good stead for San Telmo Brisbane.

What are some differences to the menu or perhaps the way you do things up there than here in Melbourne?

I suppose just understanding the clientele. It’s a little bit different. Using local produce is really important as well. They are very proud of their space. I’m not saying Victorians aren’t, because they are, but it’s more like local beef, a little bit more seafood.

There’s been quite a lot of press about the opening, which is really great. And you’ve said in one of those, that the food is ingredient-led and guided by simplicity. How does that translate onto the menu?

It’s steak on a plate, really. I feel like that says everything. That’s the produce driven simplicity in itself. It is what San Telmo has always done in Melbourne and it is the same here. I’m working with very few suppliers, but I’m working with them directly. I’m obviously using O’Connor’s in Melbourne, but I’m working closely with those suppliers, and I think that speaks for itself. The feedback that we’ve had so far has been amazing, and they have accepted us already. They understand what we do. It’s the same with the the wine offering and things that we import ourselves. People seem to love that. They’re excited to try new things, which is good.

It’s interesting, because I’ve spoken to some chefs who moved from Melbourne to Queensland, and they’ve said that maybe the clientele weren’t so open, but perhaps that’s shifting now. I also heard that it’s much more of an early morning kind of town where people get up and exercise and do all that and then the nightlife is not so big, but are things changing, do you think?

Definitely. Where I was before in a couple of restaurants, and even at the Casino, it’d be very hard to get a second sitting. Usually, at 5 o’clock, people are banging down the door trying to get in. I think even at the weekend, or even on Thursday night here, the restaurant was half full at 10 o’clock. I think we’re trying to change that aspect. We open at 11.30am, which is 30 minutes before any other restaurants in Melbourne, but we still have people coming in then. People are starting to stay a bit later, but I think nighttime is what we really want to create, so you can come after work, or after whatever sporting event is on, you can come down and the place is still kind of bustling. It’s a very inviting space when you come in. That’s what we are trying to create. I think they’re putting together a task force in Brisbane, to enhance the nightlife and get people to stay out later.

I think things have changed a bit in Melbourne, as well, really, since lockdowns and so on I think people’s way of socialising has changed. So maybe there’s all kinds of shifts happening. Maybe in the end, Brisbane will end up being the party people and Melbourne will be in bed.

It’s steak on a plate, really. I feel like that says everything. That’s the produce driven simplicity in itself. It is what San Telmo has always done in Melbourne and it is the same here. I’m working with very few suppliers, but I’m working with them directly.

Mikey Dalton, San Telmo Brisbane

You’re cooking over the parilla, which you would have done in Melbourne as well. There’s so much romantic language around cooking over fire. We always like to talk about ritual and instinct and gathering, but what does it actually mean? Because there’s a lot involved. When you’re opening at 11.30am, what happens before that with the fire?

We have people in here at 6am, but 8 o’clock and 9 o’clock is generally when the chefs get in and get the grill sorted, we get the charcoal in. Ours a little bit different. We kind don’t have it as a plate. Off to the side, we have a thing called a chiminea. Once the charcoal gets up to heat, it starts to filter through the grate. That’s where we get the heat source from in its charcoal form. So you don’t really have that smoky flavour. It’s really about letting the produce through the talking.

Is that the difference between using wood and using charcoal?

Yes. I think so. The food doesn’t get overpowered with the smoke and fire, because the way the grill is designed. It’s got V bars, so once you’re cooking and the heat goes through the bars, the fat runs off, and you don’t get that flame as such, you don’t really have any kind of fire coming up through it that affects the taste of the meat. When you taste the steaks here, you definitely taste the difference.

Did I read somewhere that you travelled through South America?

Yes, I did, a few years ago. We went to Buenos Aires, where we went to Don Julio, which is the Godfather of steak restaurants, really. I think it’s got number one a few times, and it’s always in and around the top five restaurants in the world. That was amazing to visit there. We went to Mendoza, which is up near Chile. That was beautiful. We travelled around to wineries, went to different Francis Merman restaurants, went to about two or three, which was amazing. He’s another Godfather of the primal, poetic kind of cooking. Some of the other owners have all been quite a few times. We have our doors arriving from Argentina pretty soon, actually.

That’s so exciting. There’s something really wonderful about going through a door that’s come from the actual country.

We wanted it to be authentic. Those doors are on a ship somewhere.

So it’s like entering a portal into another world?

I think so.

I don’t know if you’ve been to the restaurant in Melbourne.

I have.

As you see those doors, there is a kind of love story with those doors as well, I think. They are quite old and amazing.

I imagine too, because I know curious chefs, of which you are one, are really great at learning about new things and new foods and culture, but I imagine actually going there and seeing how things are done on the ground in the country whose food you’re cooking. It must make such a difference.

100%. Even just the way they feel about food and how it’s more of a gathering, as you said before. We went to a wedding and the grill that they had was about 10 metres long, and they had all sorts of different cuts, cooking in the ground, cooking over the ground. And they eat quite late. You’d be having dinner at, like, 9 o’clock at night, 10 even, and they wouldn’t go to nightclubs till about two.

Maybe once the doors are in, there’ll be something magical that happens. People will pass through the door and then stay all night.

Forget about what time it is. We’re going to have a door party.

So, you’ve been to South America, but I did read somewhere that you named Asador Extabarri as a bucket list restaurant. That’s in the Basque country, and the chef owner there, Victor Arguinzoniz, understands things about fire that you reckon that chefs elsewhere are still trying to understand. How did you find out about him and what’s your desire to go there about?

He’s always stood out as a godfather of that kind of cooking. Lennox Hastie was his prodigy for quite a long time. He has Firedoor and he spent a long time there, and I feel like that foodies would know about him. He’s high up in the hills, outside near Bilbao, about 45 minutes from San Sebastian in the hills. He’s got his own goats, his own cows. It’s like a farmhouse. It’s all produce driven; simplicity in itself. We like that stuff. We love it. You pare everything back to its simplest form. You always know a good chef: it’s not about what you can put on. It’s about you can take off. He’s the guy that mastered all these different types of grills and different kind of cooking apparatuses where he’s obviously developed himself. I didn’t get a chance to go when I was there last time, but I think I’ll definitely make a trip back there soon.

As a diner coming through those beautiful doors, what’s the best way for me to experience San Telmo in Brisbane, what would you suggest?

Come curious and leave happy. Once you come through the doors, it immediately has old style of black and white tiles, like a little runaway we have going into the restaurant, and you can see the full dining room. We have a dry ageing cabinet arriving in the next couple of weeks, which will be unbelievable. You can see it from the corner of the street as you’re walking down. You won’t miss us with the neon sign, which is awesome. The kitchen is an open kitchen, so we have about 10 seats up at the kitchen. You can sit up at the pass and watch the chefs in action, relax, and let the chefs serve you, or go into the main dining room, where you can sit in the Chesterfields, and just relax in there. I think every part of the restaurant has got different vantage points. There are a few little spots that are my favourites: you can sit at the back of the restaurant where you can see everything, sit up at the pass, sit in the booths, or come to the private dining room. I don’t think any one visit will be the same.

In terms of the menu, obviously, meat is the hero, are there the snacks, smaller dishes leading into that?

You can start off with some oysters, or we do Argentinian chapa flat bread on the grill, and then some empanadas. We’ve got different types of ceviche on and a tuna carpaccio I’m using a bit of spanner crab up here. There’s a fried broccoli with stracciatella. It’s not just coming in for a meat fest. But then, obviously, there is the meat and fish as well. We do most of them on the grill as well. There’s a little bit of everything.

You’re a co-owner now as well as a chef. How does having a level of ownership change the way you lead the kitchen?

I’m not sure yet. It’s hard to say, it’s hard to say. We’ve been open five, six weeks now. But I feel like I’ve always had that level of ownership in terms of running the kitchen as though I owned it. I was invested. Maybe if you ask me that in a couple of years, I’ll have a completely different answer because we’re just so entrenched in it at the moment. We’ve been so busy, which is awesome, but it’s hard to really take stock at the moment.

Fair enough. And it’s really great to hear that you’ve been invested in the business and doing your job really well even without being an owner.

I walked in off the street into San Telmo in 2012. I had just arrived off the plane from Ireland, and I had the idea of just handing my CVs out, just walking around different restaurants, and whoever called first probably would be the one. That’s kind of how it started, and then to be here 14 years in, to be sitting here, talking about this is pretty surreal, really. I never would have expected it from that one decision.

Where did it all start for you in terms of being a chef? Did you always know that’s what you wanted to do?

I didn’t really, to be honest with you, but I always was drawn to TV food shows and just watching people cook. I remember just coming home from school, just putting on the TV and I’d always flick around to see what was on, but was always drawn to food for some reason. When I was 14, I went up to the local hotel and asked for a job. I was pot washing for a while, and then I was just chopping veggies down the back. That turned into summer work, doing on larder. I did that until I was at that crux of whether I’d go to uni, or stay with the cooking. I ended up staying with the cooking. I went to cooking school then, and that started my love affair, really.

What do you love about it? Has that changed since those early days?

Oh, I think my love for cooking has grown. I think it just keeps on growing. Food interactions are always the best interactions. Wherever I go in the world, I have a great time, because all I want to do is eat the food, and everything revolves around the food: the drink, the local producers, you’re probably going to be sitting down and having a great conversation about food and hospitality. I feel like that has all grown. I’m still finding new ingredients, still finding new ways to do things. I feel like it’ll just never end: buying books, or reading, or watching stuff, it’s just never ending. I feel like that’s something that I really love about it.

You started at San Telmo in 2012, but you had some time away in other places?

I was at San Telmo for a bit, and did I went to a place in St. Kilda, which is while I were there? It was a very short thing, but I was with Pablo Diaz for about six months, and I learned a lot about Spanish food from him. He was very passionate. He’s from Spain and one of the most passionate cooks I’ve ever met. But then I went back for the opening of Palermo. I stayed there for five years, and one of the other owners, Ben and I had a chat about Brisbane. He’s up here now at the moment as well. And we just said, What about Brisbane? We talked to the other owners, and that’s where we blossomed into San Telmo Brisbane.

Mikey, it sounds as though you’re such an intentional chef. You love what you do and you’re finding out all these things and you’ve worked your way up, but you’re still learning, which is so great. What would your advice be to a young person starting out as a chef?

It’s a good very good question. It’s a long road. If you talk to people who are 20 years in the industry, we’re only getting to this stage as a head chef after 15 years. Some people think they’re ready after three or four, and they kind of know everything. You can never stop. You can never get to a point where you know everything. You are learning every day. And it’s a long road. There’s so much to learn. So, I would say, be a sponge, write things down, be in there for the long haul. The rewards are there for the people that put it in. Cooking has had its challenges. Back in the day you were doing long hours. But it’s changing a little bit. So in terms of environments, it’s probably the best it’s ever been. Those starting out are in a good position to really take everything in their stride. It’s hard, but the rewards will come.

San Telmo Brisbane, 60 Edward Street, Brisbane