Conversations

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  • Rob Kabboord at Rühe

    I first spoke to Rob Kabboord six years ago, before COVID upended Melbourne hospitality and changed the shape of the industry. A lot has happened since then. Rob has cooked, travelled, collaborated, co-written a play and, somewhere along the way, made the move to regional Victoria. Now he is part of Rühe alongside sommelier Daniel…

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  • Sumalee Sae-tang, Manpreet Singh & Sahakorn Sanitmacharo at Ladyboy

    Once I’d switched off the recorder at Ladyboy, Sumalee Sae-tang and Manpreet Singh very kindly brought out some dishes from their new Beyond Bangkok menu for me to try. As we talked over the food, Sumalee began to tell me more about how much she loves what she does. I also had the chance to…

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  • Jeremy Sutphin Executive Chef at The Ganley Group

    There’s something very grounded about the way Jeremy Sutphin talks about food. He grew up in the American South around big gardens, smoked meats, family cooking and that wonderful idea of Southern hospitality, where feeding people is simply part of life. Now, 20 years into living in Melbourne, he’s overseeing a growing group of pubs…

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  • Andrea Viglani at Al Dente Enoteca

    Stepping off Nicholson Street into Al Dente Enoteca, I was immediately taken with the exposed brick, the wall of wine and the rare quiet of a restaurant between services. Andrea calls this stretch Melbourne’s “Italian Golden Mile”, with neighbours Scopri and Bar Olo helping make it a very good street to be hungry on. He…

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  • Ryan Dunn at Langlands Hyatt Centric Melbourne

    I had never been up to Langlands, 25 floors above Melbourne in the Hyatt Centric. Ryan Dunn knows it can be a little too well hidden. With the dining room now opened up to the skyline, we sat looking over the wave of Southern Cross Station’s roof and talked about what he and chef Richard…

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  • Pieter Buijsse at Rah Dining

    When I spoke to Pieter Buijsse in 2022, he was appearing on under-30 chef lists and attracting plenty of attention. He’s still only 32, but now he’s a co-owner of a new Chapel Street restaurant, with the keys in his hand and an opening date to work towards. Rah Dining takes its cue from the…

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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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