Conversations
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Mario Manabe at Hana
Born in Honolulu and raised in Pearl City, with a couple of sojourns in mainland USA, Mario Manabe really cares about the food he is putting up. He has created a menu for that follows the seaside theme, focusing on raw seafood and using native Australian ingredients including salt bush, finger limes and lemon myrtle.…
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Christy Tania at Glacé
Chatting to Christy Tania at her artisanal ice cream store, , in Windsor was up there as the most stimulating 16 minutes I have ever spent. Sparking with ideas and with a yes-to-everything attitude, Christy is inspiring, not only for her incredible way with desserts, but also for her thoughtful articulation of women in industry…
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Gerard Curto Rodriguez at Bohemian Bar and Restaurant
Having worked at two of the world's finest restaurant, El Bulli and El Celler de Can Roca, Gerard Curto Rodriguez came to Melbourne a year ago, armed with a wealth of culinary knowledge and the desire to learn even more. When did you become a chef? I started when I was 18 years old. I…
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Tyler Preston at Dr Morse
Tyler Preston is the epitome of hospitality. We first met him when we were checking out the Sunday night barbeque at Dr Morse. He could see we were wondering what it was all about and strolled on over and started chatting. That’s what you want in your local bar; good food and drink and people…
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Gabriel Alonso at Juliet Melbourne
Talking to Gabriel Alonso, you can feel his love for hospitality, food and the people he works with and cooks for. After our chat he took me on a circuit of so I could appreciate the dry ageing beef cabinet and the charcuterie larder which looked like a shrine to all things cheese and cured…
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Tony Moss at Sagra
With a raft of awards and experience that belie his years, Tony Moss is a passionate and creative chef whose belief is that if you’re going to put your name to something, you should do it well. He certainly lives and breathes this ethos and you can taste it in his new incarnation at Italian…
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Danny Parreno at The Bridge Hotel
Danny Parreno is a multi-faceted chef who loves cooking, learning about and sharing food. With a Peruvian Japanese background, Danny has been cooking for over 20 years, has taught at the Queen Victoria Market cooking school, contributed to the ABC Radio National’s First Bite program and he has demonstrated some of his recipes on SBS…
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Suren Perera at Posty
Suren Perera loves making pizza. And not just any pizza. Having learned his craft in Italy, he is now proving his dough for 90 hours to create a premium product at Posty on Swan Street. Lucky us. Hi Suren. I’ll start by asking how long you’ve been a chef? 20 years. I started in 1997…
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Shu Liu at Shu
Fashion designer and enthusiastic dinner party host, Shu Liu has turned his love of cooking inventive and tasty food for his friends into a restaurant. Shu specialises in reinvented Sichuan cuisine, favouring sustainable, seasonal and organic products. The industrial chic décor adds another twist to the dining experience. Tell me about the food at The…
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Michael Baker at Henry Sugar
When Michael Baker went to El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, he walked into the development kitchen, and the walls were covered in whiteboards. He felt like he was at design school, and loved the way they’d take certain ingredients, research them, break them down, and create a dish. He thought, that was the…