Cru means raw in French and I'm always going to be drawn to anything French. I'm also drawn to the fact that Cru is very close to where I live and is just one of those lovely neighbourhood wine bar treasures that serve excellent food and wine in a lovely setting. Whether you're sitting out the front in the buzz of the caf deli area or out the back in the courtyard, it's just a really nice place to be. Sam Green and I sat out the back and talked about food, which at Cru is not just French, but Mediterranean with some fusion along the way and Sam's own journey as a chef.
Hi Sam, how are you? You're the Executive chef at Cru, is that a new role?
I've been head chef at Cru for three years and now that the new project is getting closer to finishing, it means I'll be overseeing both kitchens but working in just one of them.
Ok. And the new project is Crudo Warehouse in the city?
It's just out there.
Oh! It's just out there! I must have got confused when I read lane. Well that's exciting and much handier that it's just out there, you don't have too far to go then! So, warehouse implies big. Is it bigger than here or are you doing a different kind of thing through there?
A different kind of thing. It used to be an actual warehouse, so we've just kept that name, I guess.
Well, that's easy.
The plans are that Monday to Friday it will be takeaway nutritional based salad sandwiches, gluten free to FOD MAP to vegetarian and vegan and then it will be a function space at night on weekends and there's also going to be a pizza oven in there and a bar for jazz nights.
Ok, how big is it? How many would be in there for an event?
120 sit down.
So, great for weddings and so on. And Cru itself is quite different to that. What would you say, is it an Italian pasta kind of place?
Sort of. Our menu is more based around the Mediterranean Islands, so involving every single country, whatever is in the Mediterranean. We've just done a menu change and to flair it up a little, we've mixed in some Middle Eastern and some Japanese flavours in the style of food from the Mediterranean.
That would work well because Japanese is quite light and Mediterranean is all about light and seasonal and healthy.
It blends very well.
What made you become a chef in the first place?
I was very practical through school; I wasn't very brainy, but more on the practical side and my uncle had owned restaurants and still does in the city, so I've got hospitality in the blood.
So you started off doing an apprenticeship? Did you do that with your uncle?
No, I did my apprenticeship and finished when I was 19. By 20, I was head chef. I opened a caf in Camberwell, Santucci's. That was my first head chef job.
Head chef at 20! Wow. That's going from zero to hero really fast. How was that?
Challenging. I worked for a really good group, they were family, actually, and we all worked and grew and learned together. I was there from the opening of the venue, so we were all learning together.
How many staff did you have under you?
Five.
That's substantial. That's the thing I think people sometimes don't understand when they come into a restaurant, head chef obviously sounds important, but it's not just cooking; you've got to do all the food costs and staff management, teaching, all of that. How did you manage that when you were 20?
Learn on the job. Through the third year of my apprenticeship, I worked in a place that was very much into showing the paperwork and the money side of things; weekly spendings and all that sort of thing to the chefs. I was running that place with another guy; I was a sort of sous chef, third year apprentice and we were given all these and they would break it all down for us so I did a lot of learning from that. And managing people, I learned that on the job. I'm still learning that now how to do it properly and how to get the best out of people; it's a skill that never stops.
Absolutely. And are you more of a showing type of person or a telling type of person?
Showing. Thats the best way to do it.
We see what the trend is, but we dont really focus on what it is and we see if we can do something slightly different. I also use my other staff to come up with ideas and involve them. It keeps them interested and keeps them wanting to come to work. Many minds help to make a good menu.
So you were in Camberwell and then?
I was in Camberwell at Santucci's for three years and then moved to their sister restaurant in Carnegie for two years. Then London for two years and worked in high end cafes over there.
When were you there?
14 and 15.
Often when I speak to chefs about working in London, they say it's a really great learning curve, but that in London the venues often don't respect what have what we now have in terms of only working a certain amount of hours and they've ended up working crazy hours. What was your experience of London?
The pay wasn't fantastic but I didn't work long hours because it wasa breakfast, lunch, high end caf and the owner was an Australian guy and it was good.
Did you get to travel while you were there and try some other food?
Sort of, but we didn't get enough pay to fully travel.
That's true and once you are in London and working, it can be really easy to get into that cycle of working and then when you have time off, you're washing your clothes and getting your groceries.
My wife and I went over on a two-year working visa. She's a chef as well, so between both of us working and how tight money is over there, you can get distracted and you don't get to travel as much as you want to, but you make do with what you can.
But it was a good move, going over there?
Oh yeah. The places that we worked in were unique in London for their caf style.
Wow, so your wife is a chef as well. Do you both or either of you cook at home or are you both too tired to cook once you get home?
It's mainly me cooking but we share it sometimes and it's mainly pretty simple stuff because we are tired once we get home.
When you're thinking about food for the menu here, where do you get your inspiration? Do you have cookbooks, do you look on Instagram, do you look at wat other chefs are doing?
Cookbooks and I work with Tony, the boss here, a lot. He loves his food and has great knowledge of the Mediterranean. He has a good collection of cookbooks upstairs, so we go through all that. We see what the trend is, but we dont really focus on what it is and we see if we can do something slightly different. I also use my other staff to come up with ideas and involve them. It keeps them interested and keeps them wanting to come to work. Many minds help to make a good menu.
That's right. The best ideas can come from sharing thoughts with each other. What are some things on the menu now that youve worked on as a team?
We've got a Kingfish tartare on the menu at the moment with roasted hazelnuts, pear, toasted sesame, nori and a miso yuzu dressing. We're taking a tartare style from around Alba on the Mediterranean and then chucking in a bit of a Japanese feeling to it.
And that's with raw fish? What's the difference between a ceviche and a tartare?
The tartare isnt marinated, or sat in the acid for as long.
And you have pastas on the menu as well. Do you enjoy cooking that style of food?
Yes. I grew up eating pastas and lots of Italian food and I worked in a few places, especially in London, where we used different flavours, like a bit of Japanese. Then another caf I worked at in Camberwell when we got back was very Japanese styles too. The guy originally owned Hammer and Tong.
Hammer and Tong comes up a lot. What would your advice be to young people who are thinking of becoming a chef?
Work hard, but don't overwork. Make sure you have a work life balance, otherwise it becomes too much.
That's good advice.
916 Glenferrie Road, Kew