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Marco Valcarcel Alonso at Pontoon
Marco went from loving cooking with his mother and grandmother in León in the northwest of Spain to working in research and development at Mugaritz, a restaurant in the Basque country that annually makes it into the top ten restaurants in the world. He would spend 45 hours a week working on all the possible…
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Akad Al-Guepa at Balagan Kitchen
Akad, or AK, as he is known, always loved cooking as a child and couldn’t wait to leave school to become a chef. Having learned the ropes at Rockpool, he went on to Il Bacaro in Little Collins Street and then tried his hand at Chinese Fusion. He’s now happily cooking Middle Eastern street food…
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Charlie Watson at Lupo
I’m a big fan of Scott Pickett’s restaurants and, in fact, my very first Conversation with a chef was with Joe Grbac who, at the time, was co-owner of Saint Crispin With Scott. Having had a chat to two of Scott’s chefs already, Tim from Matilda and Valentin from Estelle, I was not about to…
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Savannah Sexton at Stokehouse Q
My friend, Alycia put me on to Savannah, the junior sous chef at Stokehouse Q. Savannah sounds like an incredibly driven young chef on paper and it is even better talking to her in person. As much as I love talking to people passionate about what they do, I am a terrible phone conversationalist. Lucky…
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Pierrick Boyer at Rêverie Café
Pierrick Boyer has worked with some of the top chefs in the world, the likes of Alain Ducasse, Christophe Michalak, Pierre Marcolini and Stephane Leroux. Pierrick himself, has won many awards and most recently was acknowledged as the Gault and Millau Pastry Chef of the Year in 2017. What’s even more impressive is that having…
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Charlie Snadden-Wilson at Etta
When I step into Etta on a grey and bitter day, the first thing that strikes me is how delicious it smells in there. The open kitchen is a hive of industry and whatever it is they are preparing, I wish I was staying for dinner. The second thing I notice is how great the…
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Jess Liemantara at Nobu
Creating a recipe is like an adventure, like when you walk down the street and smell roasty flavour and you think, ooh, I want to make a dessert with roasty flavours. Or when you see kumquats, because I love kumquats, and then I think about them being bitter, so I pair it with a sweet…
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James Kummrow at Fatto Bar & Cantina
I visit James Kummrow on the coldest day in Melbourne so far this year. Dodging hail showers, I’m happy just to get through the doors of Fatto Bar & Cantina relatively unscathed. Then I meet James, a man who exudes contentment. This is a man who loves what he does. Talking to him, I am…
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Tom Peasnell at Cheek
On the day I chatted to Tom, it was his 32nd birthday. He has plenty to celebrate. Co-owning three popular restaurants in Melbourne with your brother and best mate is not something to downplay. And Cheek is super cool. It spaces the fun out over three levels. The first floor I knew about and boasts…
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Paolo Masciopinto at Aromi
I first spoke to Paolo at the end of 2017 when he was working at Bar Carolina in South Yarra. It was nice to catch up with him in his new place, Aromi, in Brighton, where he has clearly already made his mark and created a place where people feel at home. People wave out…