The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry
Lee Tran Lam
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry: Lee Tran Lam quizzes chefs, critics, bar staff and other people from the food world about their dining habits, war stories and favourite places to eat and drink in Sydney.
Kerby Craig – Ume
In memory of Kerby Craig, here's the podcast I recorded with him in 2014. I listened back to this episode after I heard about Kerby being gone and it made me re-remember all these great things from that day, so I thought I should share these stories again, in tribute to Kerby and his enthusiasm for cooking, Japanese food culture and hospitality … As a 15 year old, Kerby Craig was fascinated by the world of restaurants – seeing a chef breakdancing in the middle of service (!) confirmed for him th
Billy Wong – Golden Century, XOPP
The best dish in the world, according to chef David Chang, could be found at Golden Century – the Sydney institution that Billy Wong's family ran in Chinatown for more than three decades. There was more to Golden Century than the XO pipis, though (despite Chang's major endorsement of the dish). The restaurant's fan base included shift workers taking advantage of the restaurant's famous 4am closing time, as well as massive stars like Rihanna and Lady Gaga, royalty from Tonga and Morocco, and even
Paul Carmichael – Momofuku Seiobo
“I literally got here and the first two weeks, everybody quit." Despite this challenging start to becoming Momofuku Seiobo's executive chef, Paul Carmichael has since scored many awards (both Gourmet Traveller and Time Out named him Chef of the Year) and he's been called one of the world's greatest chefs by his boss, David Chang. The restaurant has received two glowing reviews in The New York Times and been ranked as one of the best places to eat in the world by Besha Rodell in Food & Wine. Pa
Joanna Hunkin – Gourmet Traveller
Reporting from murder scenes and interviewing Lorde live at the Grammys – that's what Joanna Hunkin did before she became editor at Gourmet Traveller. Enduring these high-pressure situations meant she wasn't too shaken by her first year at the magazine – which has been incredibly eventful and challenging, and involved her relocating from Auckland to take up the role. On her very first day on the job, at the Restaurant Awards at Bennelong last year, she was handing out honours to chefs Ben Shewry
Topher Boehm – Wildflower
They're not obvious candidates for making beer: wattle, strawberry gum and leftover sourdough from Ester. Topher Boehm turns to flower cuttings and other NSW-only ingredients to create wild ales for Wildflower, the Sydney brewery he runs with brother-in-law Chris Allen. They've named beers after their children – including the wild-raspberry-flavoured St Phoebe, which was selected over 1500 drinks to be named Australia's best beverage. And his curiosity with fermenting has led to Topher brewing 2
Natalie Paull – Beatrix and "Beatrix Bakes"
Natalie Paull once pointed a brûlée torch flame in the wrong direction – and accidentally set a whole docket rail of dessert orders on fire. She's endured brownie explosions and baking disasters, too. But people rightly associate Natalie with oven-baked triumphs – like the brilliant sweets from her popular Beatrix bakery in Melbourne. Think passionfruit cloud chiffon cakes, Tart-A-Misu, Moroccan Snickers tarts, cinnamon-glazed apple fry pies (without the fryer’s remorse!) and more. Her sugar-
Shinobu Namae – L’Effervescence, Bricolage Bread & Co.
Shinobu Namae runs one of Tokyo's best restaurants: L'Effervescence. It has two Michelin stars and is known for its sustainable focus (nearly everything served to diners comes from Japan, even the cheese) and the menu is inspired by everything from McDonald's fried apple pie to world peace. Even the dish names are memorable (you can order something called 'Hurrah')! Namae-san has worked for Michel Bras in Hokkaido (the story behind this proves that overeating in New York is always a good thing t
Charlotte Ree – "Just Desserts"
Charlotte Ree once ate 30 different kinds of croissants during a trip to France – then got a croissant tattoo afterwards. She's so dedicated to pastries that she'll stay up until 5:30am to finish a baking marathon. Pulling 120 cakes out of the oven during the hours people reserve for sleeping – and then going to work the next day, as communications manager for Pan Macmillan (the publisher of Hetty McKinnon's cookbooks) – well, that's just a normal whirlwind day for Charlotte. Charlotte's love of
Angie Prendergast-Sceats – Angie's Food, Two Good
Angie Prendergast-Sceats once was an olive oil judge, where she had to watch out for vintages that tasted like "rancid feet" and "baby vomit" (such references really did appear on the flavour chart that's deployed in these contests). But for the last three years, she's been the culinary director and head chef of Two Good, which used recipes by top chefs (Peter Gilmore, Christine Manfield, Ben Shewry) to create soups and salads that would be sent to women in domestic violence shelters. You'd orde
Monty Koludrovic – The Dolphin, Icebergs Dining Room and Bar
“I was the guy who had the cream gun explode, trying to top the iced coffee.” Monty Koludrovic's early days in hospitality were "pretty calamitous", but one triumph was ending up in the kitchen of The Boathouse at Blackwattle Bay. It was a meal there, at age 12 (that he can still recap with incredible accuracy), that inspired him to pursue a career in restaurants. Since 2014, Monty Koludrovic has overseen dishes at Icebergs Dining Room and he later became executive chef of Maurice Terzini's othe
Josh Niland – Saint Peter, Fish Butchery
Josh Niland can make fish scales taste like sugary cereal and fish eyeballs resemble prawn crackers. In his hands, seafood can become Christmas ham, mortadella and caramel slice. He can even turn calamari sperm into something you'd want to eat (no really)! His creative, waste-free approach to using every fin and scale is a response to the typical method of ditching 60 per cent of everything caught from the sea (“How is that 40 per cent of a fish is getting all the credit?”) and his innovative th
Jordan Toft – Bert's, Coogee Pavilion, Bar Topa, The Collaroy
Jordan Toft has been a chef for Saudi royalty and he's run a chalet in the Haute-Savoie in the French Alps. In Sydney, he's known for his work at Bert's (which was nominated for New Restaurant of the Year in the last Gourmet Traveller restaurant awards), The Collaroy, Bar Topa and Coogee Pavilion. His next venture – a restaurant on the middle floor at Coogee Pavilion – has been more than four years in the making. Jordan started his career as a teenager and has since worked with many great chefs
Kirsha Kaechele – Eat The Problem, MONA
Sweet and sour cane-toad legs. Multiple cat recipes. A deadly cocktail you’re not meant to serve. These are some of the fascinating (and deliberately provocative) things you’ll find in Eat The Problem, the 544-page book by American artist and curator Kirsha Kaechele. It’s part cookbook and art project, with an impressive list of collaborators (including chefs Dominique Crenn, Peter Gilmore, Christine Manfield and Enrique Olvera) and pages that are filled with creative ways of dealing with invasi
Ardyn Bernoth and Roslyn Grundy - Good Food and Good Food Guide
Eating near a nuclear submarine base on a Chinese island and dining with Tamil tea pickers in Sri Lanka – these are some of the memorable meals that Ardyn Bernoth and Roslyn Grundy have experienced over the years. Given their many years covering food (Ardyn is currently the national editor of Good Food, Ros is the deputy print editor of Good Food – and both have senior roles on the Good Food Guide), it's not surprising that they've eaten far and wide. What is surprising is how restaurant life is
Luke Burgess – Only In Tokyo
Tokyo isn't the most obvious place to seek out pizza, but the wood-fired slices here are better than anything you'd find in Italy. That's what chef Luke Burgess believes – and it's a case he makes in Only In Tokyo, the new book he's co-authored with fellow chef (and Japan-o-phile) Michael Ryan. In the podcast, we really nerd out about Tokyo's best pizza spots (from the life-changing Savoy to new favourite Pizza Studio Tamaki, both photographed by Luke for the book). We also talk about the book's
Hugh Allen – Vue de Monde, Noma
You don't need a roof or floor to run a great restaurant – that's what Hugh Allen learnt while working at Noma's Mexico pop-up. And yes, there were issues. "If it rained, the guests had to come sit in the kitchen," he says. Simple things, like boiling water, became a mission that could take hours. And yet, this ended up being one of the best working experiences of his life. The chef's three years with Noma also spanned its Sydney residency and its recent relocation in Copenhagen. I met Hugh last
Mark Best – The Final Table, Bistro by Mark Best, Marque
Imagine being a 16-year-old working in a Western Australian gold mine. This was Mark Best's life, straight after high school. It was a tough way to earn money as an electrician, so he eventually left. “I arrived in Sydney and found myself unqualified for above-ground work.” He ended up even deeper underground, claustrophobic and covered in fibreglass and varnish, trying to install battery packs on submarines at Cockatoo Island. “I literally will die if I don’t do something with my life,” he told
Tim Watkins – Black Market Sake, Automata
Tim Watkins' parents needed a cooking course to learn how to use a microwave (which led to one Christmas turkey disaster) and he didn't eat broccoli or cauliflower until he was an adult. So life in the restaurant world might not have been the most obvious career path. After a few detours (including a stint as a shoe salesman), he ended up serving diners at acclaimed restaurants such as Pilu at Freshwater. He got a reputation for singing "Happy Birthday" in Italian to guests and he would go on to
Kate Reid – Lune Croissanterie
Would you line up at two AM in zero-degree weather, just for a croissant? People would regularly do that all the time, purely for the chance to try Kate Reid's pastries. The New York Times, after all, said her croissants are "the finest you will find anywhere in the world, and alone worth a trip across the dateline". Other fans include René Redzepi, Nigella Lawson and Helen Goh. Originally, Kate spent over a decade pursuing her dream job of being an aerospace engineer for Formula One car racing.
Daniel Puskas – Sixpenny
Daniel Puskas started his career slicing tomatoes, but eventually ended up in the kitchen of Alinea, the acclaimed Chicago restaurant known for turning mozzarella curds into balloons filled with tomato foam. His experience there was part of his Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year prize. It's one of many honours he's earned throughout his career: he was also named the Citi Chef of the Year in 2018’s Good Food Guide, and Sixpenny is one of only three Sydney restaurants that's achieved three
Caitlyn Rees – Cirrus, Fred's, Momofuku Seiobo
How to make cider from 300-year-old pear trees, what it's like to work alongside Dan Barber at one of the world's best restaurants and how it feels scoring Gourmet Traveller's Sommelier of the Year award – Caitlyn Rees can give you a first-hand account of all of these standout experiences. When she was at Fred's in Sydney (where she served fascinating wines from the Adelaide Hills to Armenia), she was singled out by Gourmet Traveller as Australia's best sommelier in the magazine's 2018 restaura
Carlo Mirarchi – Roberta's, Blanca
A near-death experience in Australia plays a surprising role in the launch of Roberta's, the much-loved New York pizzeria. When Carlo Mirarchi almost drowned on the NSW coastline, it inspired him to rethink his career path – and galvanised him to help start Roberta's in Bushwick. In 2007, it opened with such a minimal set-up (there was no gas and staff had to boil water in the wood-fired oven), so the chef often prepped food at home before getting to the restaurant. Despite its lo-fi beginnings,
Adam Wolfers – Etelek
"You can't f--k with the matzo ball soup." That's what Adam Wolfers learnt from his grandmother. Etelek, his pop-up restaurant, is inspired by the chef's Eastern European background. It's a history that draws on memories of his grandmother tending to six pots on the stove at a time, as well as his grandfather Julius' time as a concentration camp survivor (an extraordinary tale that's been documented by Steven Spielberg). Carrot schnitzel, scallop pretzel puffs and honey cake with wattleseed hone
Shannon Martinez, Mo Wyse, El Rosa – Smith & Deli, Smith & Daughters
People actively smuggle Smith & Deli's food onto planes – that's how addictive the dishes are. Interstate regulars even bring their own Tupperware containers and cooler bags, so they can enjoy the food at home. That's the power of what Shannon Martinez, Mo Wyse and El Rosa are doing at the popular Melbourne vegan deli – which is the subject of their new book, Smith & Deli-cious: Food From Our Deli (That Happens to be Vegan). They've reconnected people to dishes they thought they never could eat
Jowett Yu – Ho Lee Fook, Mr Wong, Ms.G's, Canton Disco
Jowett Yu was working at Tetsuya's – then in the Top 5 of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants – but couldn’t even afford a bed. It was a wild time (just listen to the memorable "pep talk" that head chef Martin Benn gave when the restaurant reached #4 on the list) and the kitchen was full of upcoming stars: Daniel Puskas (Sixpenny), Clayton Wells (Automata), Phil Wood (Laura), Luke Powell (LP's Quality Meats) and Dan Hong – who Jowett bonded with, because they basically had the same haircut and simil
Christine Manfield – Tasting India, Universal
$10,099 – that's how much someone is asking for their copy of Christine Manfield's Tasting India cookbook on Amazon. Sure, India Today called it the book to give native newlywed couples once they head overseas, so it's a prized publication – but luckily, the new updated version of the award-winning book is much more budget-friendly (and includes new chapters on Hyderabad, Punjab and Gujarat, too). While Christine Manfield is known as the acclaimed chef behind restaurants such as Paramount, East@
Bo Bech – Geist
"The most interesting place in Europe to eat” – that's how Noma's René Redzepi described Bo Bech's first restaurant, Paustian. The Copenhagen venue was located in the last building Jørn Utzon ever designed – and the Sydney Opera House architect was one of Bech's regular diners. (You need to hear the story behind the dish that Bech created for Utzon, which the chef talks about near the end of the podcast.) "When I stepped into the kitchen at the age of 24, my world flipped." Bech became a chef at
Su Wong Ruiz – Momofuku Ko, Momofuku Seiobo
“It was probably the singular worst experience of my life, because Noodle Bar will kick your ass.” Sure, Su Wong Ruiz's first go at working for David Chang's Momofuku restaurant empire wasn't exactly a success. (“My ass was completely flattened by that experience,” she says.) But over time, she became part of the acclaimed, three-hat-earning launch team for his Momofuku Seiobo restaurant in Sydney (Chang claimed this was his first venue "where the front of house is equal to, if not better than,
Sunny and Ross Lusted – The Bridge Room
They’ve worked in Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Croatia, Greece, Bali and the Carribean. At one point, Ross had a job in Singapore while Sunny was in Chicago – and somehow, they ended up commuting and making it work. The couple were drawn back to Australia, though, because Ross had his eye on a restaurant location in Sydney: it had been his dream venue for 10 years. And once the site became available, the pair turned it into The Bridge Room (despite a floor that literally exploded and some awkward $50,000
Kylie Javier Ashton – Momofuku Seiobo
Kylie Javier Ashton has dealt with forged bookings and martini glass accidents; she's disguised Alex Atala with garbage bags, and endured countless people throwing up when she's been on the job (“you could see the frequency of the voms go up when the scampi dish was on” is one of the most memorable lines from this interview). Having survived all that, it's clear that she still loves her work and wants people to join the industry (as her involvement in Women In Hospitality, Appetite For Excellenc
Travis Harvey – OzHarvest
Turning unwanted coconuts into 2000 curries, 10 tonnes of donated squash into soup, leftover egg yolks from 16,000 Black Star Pastry watermelon-strawberry cakes into banana curd and working out what to do with 800 kilograms of airplane food picked up from the domestic airport gate – these are just some of the things that Travis Harvey handles as executive chef of a food-rescue charity. Working at OzHarvest means he's had to be pretty creative: for instance, he takes the most wasted ingredient i
Joe Beddia – Pizzeria Beddia
Joe Beddia makes "America's best pizza", according to Bon Appétit magazine. The chef/owner of Philadelphia’s Pizzeria Beddia has also been referred to as Pizza Jesus and the Jiro of Pizza. He shrugs off what he does as "just pizza", but people would line up many hours (sometimes even arriving before Joe got to work!) just to try his pies. He only made 40 pizzas a night – and he produced each one from scratch over the restaurant's five-year run. Joe is currently on a world tour that he hopes does
Sharon Salloum – Almond Bar, 3 Tomatoes, Cook For Syria
It's not surprising that Sharon Salloum would pursue a career in food – her dad has a thing for DIY cooking devices and even pioneered a shopping trolley/fridge shelf/lawnmower barbecue. Her mother and grandmother taught her the power of food around the family table, and their recipes inspired her Almond Bar cookbook – which landed her two international Gourmand Cookbook awards. Just hearing Sharon talk about Syrian dishes is the very opposite of a hunger suppressant; it will make you want to or
Samin Nosrat - Author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
Samin Nosrat has written one of the most-talked-about and celebrated cookbooks of the last year, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Her trophy shelf includes a James Beard Award for General Cooking and the Julia Child First Book Award. It's an amazing effort for an "uncookbook" that she's spent 15 years working on. While in college, she saved for seven months to eat at Chez Panisse, the Californian farm-to-table restaurant run by Alice Waters – this life-changing meal convinced Nosrat that she needed to wor
Eve Yeung - Noma
The first restaurant Eve Yeung ever worked at was Noma - yes, the Copenhagen establishment named the World's Best Restaurant four times. So how did she end up in René Redzepi's renowned kitchen at the age of 18? The young pastry chef actually considered becoming a competitive hockey player (a path she pursued while working at Noma) and before she was preparing desserts in the high-profile restaurant, she worked at Long Island's best bakery – making extravagant cakes to celebrate people's milesto
Alexandra Carroll (Alex Craig) - Author of New York and Paris
They're two of the dining capitals of the world and they're explored (and beautifully photographed) by Alexandra Carroll in her books, New York: An Inspired Wander Through Manhattan and the Brooklyn Boroughs and Paris: An Inspired Wander Through the City of Lights. So it's no surprise that we talk about memorable bagels and croissants, the fact that Alex had to eat a lot of cheese to get the job done, as well as remarkable venues that are not Michelin-starred institutions – from Clown Bar, with
Jock Zonfrillo - Orana, Bistro Blackwood
At age 11, Jock Zonfrillo started working in restaurants - initially, as a dishwasher. "I very quickly surmised that I was on the wrong side of the flying frying pan." Only a few weeks in, he became a chef, an experience that would take him from Scotland to the rest of the world: from cooking for Prince Charles in Paris (assisting Marco Pierre White, who attempted to enter France by sticky-taping his photo on top of someone else's passport – true story) to Australia, where a four-hour life
Myffy Rigby, Palisa Anderson, Trisha Nelson – Live at Rootstock
Good Food Guide editor Myffy Rigby, Chat Thai and Boon Cafe co-director Palisa Anderson and an actual legit winemaker, Trisha Nelson who runs Ajola in Lazio, Italy, joined me for a chat recorded live at the most recent Rootstock food and wine festival at Sydney's Carriageworks. So, we talk about memorable experiences with booze, totally nerd out about agriculture (given that Trisha produces organic wine via a vineyard in Italy and Palisa runs the Boon Luck Farm in Byron Bay), how to deal with p
Morgan McGlone – Belles Hot Chicken
Morgan McGlone's fried chicken has scored a standing ovation. At an event run Noma's Rene Redzepi, no less. Feeding the top chefs at MAD, the famous Copenhagen food symposium, is just one of many memorable instances of Morgan's eventful career. Long before he launched Belles Hot Chicken, Morgy started out cooking for huge volumes of Japanese tourists at a revolving restaurant in Sydney as well as working for Luke Mangan and Merivale. He staged for Pierre Gagnaire in Paris and assisted fashi
Ben Shewry – Attica
Ben Shewry's Attica is ranked #32 in the World's 50 Best Restaurants list and it's Restaurant of the Year in the first national Good Food Guide – but according to his son Kobe, Attica is "not bad" for a restaurant that doesn’t have a burger on the menu. Many years before Ben gained international acclaim for Attica's uniquely Australian dishes (from his inventive take on avocado on toast to a savoury pavlova), he was shaping margarine sculptures for hotel buffets and cooking New Zealand's big
Sarah Doyle – Bodega, Porteno, Continental Deli Bar Bistro, Wyno
Sarah Doyle has played a pivotal role in Sydney's hospitality scene. But there was a time she worked three jobs just to help keep Bodega running. It was the first restaurant she opened with husband and chef Elvis Abrahanowicz, fellow co-owner and chef Ben Milgate and their business partner/sommelier Joe Valore. And it was a game-changer – its fun, punk, loud focus on good food and good times was a contrast to the mannered French fine-dining scene that was reigning in Sydney hospitality at the t
David McGuinness – Bourke Street Bakery, The Bread and Butter Project
David McGuinness has frequently taken his sourdough starter on holidays with him to keep it alive. "You have to feed it regularly, like a baby," he says. This dedication to bread is not surprising, given that he's the co-founder of Bourke Street Bakery, the Sydney institution that is loved for everything from its chocolate ganache tarts to its meat pies (Amy Schumer famously stopped by, straight from the airport, to try one during her Trainwreck press tour). Along with the bakery's co-founder,
Shannon Martinez – Smith and Daughters, Smith and Deli
"The chef said he was going to the bank and never came back." Shannon Martinez was working as a bartender at The East Brunswick hotel in Melbourne when she was asked to take over the kitchen. She happened to put a vegan parma on the menu and it blew up – the pub sold close to 300 portions on a Monday night, attracted huge queues and Pink even turned up with her security detail to try the dish. It proved to Shannon there was a massive interest in vegan food and it led to her running Smith & Dau
Brent Savage – Bentley, Monopole, Yellow, Cirrus
"It was an old smashed-up pub that had no floor and no ceiling and no roof." It wasn't the greatest site, but Brent Savage and his business partner Nick Hildebrandt (somehow) transformed it into Bentley, the first restaurant they'd ever open together. 11 years later, they now run four acclaimed Sydney venues: Monopole, an award-winning wine bar; Yellow, a popular fine-dining vegetarian restaurant, and Cirrus, a well-reviewed seafood establishment. Brent got his start in the kitchens of renowned
Duncan Welgemoed – Africola
Duncan Welgemoed has the most incredible "becoming a chef" origin story I’ve ever heard – it's a crazy tale that also involves George Clooney and ends with Duncan quitting his job by escaping through a window. Duncan was prepping chicken intestines from the age of eight in South Africa, so maybe it's no surprise he ended up working at Michelin-starred restaurants run by Heston Blumenthal, Gordon Ramsay and Raymond Blanc. As a chef at the Adelaide Showgrounds, Duncan dealt with riders
Katherine Sabbath - Baker and Author of 'Greatest Hits'
Some people have tattoos of Katherine Sabbath's desserts – that's how committed they are to her cakes. Given that the self-taught baker has around 400,000 followers, it's not a surprise that fans are so dedicated. Katherine's blockbuster creations range from a Palm Springs wedding cake to a cantilevered cake she made for an architect that involved actual hardware parts. She's also made birthday cakes for Andy Bowdy and Ken Done – and she's collaborated with fashion label Romance Was Born, too. E
Lennox Hastie - Firedoor
Massimo Bottura once cried while eating Lennox Hastie’s food at Firedoor. When the chef behind Osteria Francescana, named world’s best restaurant in 2016, tears up while eating your steak, you must be doing something right. Perhaps that’s why Lennox was compelled to smuggle his signature dry-aged meat all the way to Italy when he visited Bottura recently. Also on Team Firedoor: Pete Wells, who is probably the most important food critic in the world. The New York Times journalist’s write-up of th
Donato Toce - Gelato Messina, Messina Creative Department
Yes, Donato Toce has gelato for breakfast. And he actually gets paid for it – it's part of his job. He is the "cow milker, sugar hauler, head chef and gelatiere" at Gelato Messina, the much-loved Sydney institution that sells desserts such as Elvis The Fat Years, Robert Brownie Jr, Biggie S’Mores, This Is How We Scroll and the Game of Cones range inspired by the seven kingdoms of Westeros. (There are also great non-pun-related flavours, too, like tiramisu, apple pie and pistachio – the latter m
Jill Dupleix - Australia's Top 100 Restaurants
Jill Dupleix grew up as the daughter of a sheep farmer and took an unusual route to becoming a food writer – it involved a phone book, a bike ride and a stint in the world of advertising. And meeting Terry Durack: “We hated each other on sight.” They not only married each other, they ended up reviewing restaurants together. Since those early days, she's written 16 cookbooks, been the editor of the Good Food Guide, food curator of TEDx and currently she's the co-director of the Australian Fina
Clayton Wells - Automata
“It was pretty crazy, actually,” says Clayton Wells about opening Momofuku Seiobo, but he could also be describing the incredible response to his solo restaurant Automata. Since Automata’s launch in late 2015, Clayton has been named Australia’s Hottest Chef by The Weekend Australian magazine, Time Out Sydney gave him their Chef of the Year award and Automata has been voted #9 restaurant in the Australian Financial Review’s Top 100 Restaurants list for the second year running. Oh and the most imp
Nikki To - Food Photographer
Nikki To's first shoots involved helicopters – an interesting challenge as she's "kind of afraid of heights"! Becoming a food photographer was an unlikely progression from her original plans to be a human rights lawyer, but her eventual career path led to her work appearing in Broadsheet, Gourmet Traveller, Qantas' inflight mag and even Swedish "Gourmet" magazine. After assisting industry veterans such as Daniel Boud, Petrina Tinslay and Anson Smart, she went solo: framing portraits of famous ch
Mike McEnearney - Kitchen By Mike, No 1 Bent St, Carriageworks
Mike McEnearney’s career has been full of surprising turns. Sure, he’s worked for Neil Perry and Gordon Ramsay – but also for Damien Hirst, running the controversial artist’s Pharmacy restaurant, where even the toilets were unlike anything you’d predict. He’s been involved with hatted and Michelin-starred restaurants, but also sold home-made bread in the car park of his kids’ school and nearly been taken out by a life-threatening fireball at a French homewares store while cooking at a pop-up t
Phil Gandevia - Bentley, Eau de Vie, The Roosevelt
A cocktail inspired by Charles Dickens? Or experimental beverages that include Weet Bix milk or charred Jerusalem artichoke? These are just some examples of Phil Gandevia's highly inventive work – he's an award-winning bartender who modestly describes himself as “the bar guy” at Bentley, but there's no other person I would trust to include wasabi vinegar and olive brine in a drink and actually make it delicious. You might've spotted him behind the bar at Rambutan, Eau de Vie, The Roosevelt a
Rob Caslick - Two Good
Rob Caslick has designed lights for the blind, been deployed to Iraq as a naval boarding officer (where he intercepted illegal vessels smuggling oil in the aftermath of September 11), but if you like food, you probably know him for running Two Good. The company produces not-so-ordinary meals using recipes by Yottam Ottolenghi, Ben Shewry, Analiese Gregory, Mitch Orr, Neil Perry and other acclaimed chefs. It's built on a charitable two-for-one model, where you pay for two meals: one for you and t
Pasi Petanen and Giorgio de Maria - That's Amore, Cafe Paci and Giorgio's Fun Wines
2016 Good Food Guide Chef of the Year (and one-time skilled marksman for the Finnish army) Pasi Petanen was done with pop-ups. He'd scored plenty of acclaim for his one-off Cafe Paci restaurant – which was only meant to stick around for a year, but got extended to two and a half years by popular demand – and he'd also undergone temporary guest stints at Yellow and Auto.Lab, too. But friend and former Gourmet Traveller Sommelier of the Year Giorgio de Maria convinced him to take on one last job b
Danielle Alvarez - Fred's
Danielle Alvarez studied art history, but luckily for us, she realised that it was food that monopolised her thoughts - after all, she can happily identify the “eggshell crust” on a Cuban sandwich and was always prioritising her next cooking project. So she decided to spend her life in kitchens. Danielle's first-ever gig was at The French Laundry, Thomas Keller's three-Michelin-starred Californian institution, where she was challenged by a complicated egg dish that often ended up in the bin. The
Toby Wilson - Ghostboy Cantina, The Wedge Espresso
It was dragonboat racing - of all things - that led to Toby Wilson running his own cafe at 22. The Wedge Espresso in Glebe was a sliver of a space; when it launched, Toby managed to run the whole place with just a sandwich press and a fridge - “that was all my cooking equipment”. Despite the limitations he had to battle, the cafe got a cult following, particularly for The Henry, “the unofficial hangover sandwich of Glebe". So after three years there, Toby ended up opening Ghostboy Cantina -
Lauren Eldridge - Pei Modern, Marque
In the last year, Lauren Eldridge has worked at the world's best restaurant (Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana), impressed the greatest living Italian chef with fairy bread and a punch to the face, whipped dessert with ropes in India and rolled croissants in Paris with Guy Savoy, the 'magician of French cuisine'. Not bad for someone who thought she'd end up with a psychology career (and occasionally forgot to add key ingredients in her cakes). While working at Marque restaurant as pastry che
Mike Bennie - Rootstock Sydney
In a past life, Mike Bennie used to help famous figures like Russell Crowe, A Tribe Called Quest, Baby John Burgess, as well as (future Prime Minister) Malcolm Turnbull and then Lord Mayor Lucy Turnbull pick wines. The Rootstock Sydney co-founder and award-winning wine communicator takes us on a few flashbacks to that memorable time (the Russell Crowe anecdote is particularly great) and - inspired by this very amusing Herald article that bagged Turnbull’s public wine collection ('Malcolm Turnbul
Nancy Singleton Hachisu - "Preserving the Japanese Way", "Japanese Farm Food"
Arriving as an exchange student from California, Nancy Singleton Hachisu originally planned a short visit to Japan, but 26 years later - she's still there. A relationship with a Japanese organic farmer is what upended her plans and saw her settling into an 80-something-old farmhouse that's been passed down his family for multiple generations. During this time, she's met fascinating Japanese producers - such as a "salmon whisperer", unique salt raker and a ninth-generation sake brewery owner - an
Glen Goodwin - Bentley, Monopole, Yellow
The band Kiss has played a surprising role in Glen Goodwin’s career. A love of the group led to his first job, as delivery boy to restaurateurs such as Neil Perry. It also played a pivotal part in how he ended up in New York. He worked there for 12 years – with bosses such as Bobbie Flay and Wylie DuFresne – in a pre-gentrified Manhattan that had drug dealers on every corner. During this ultra-eventful time, Glen also ended up being quoted in a story called ‘Hey, Is That Sommelier Old Enough To
Ibrahim Kasif - Stanbuli, Porteno
“The fire was creeping up on me,” says Ibrahim Kasif. “It was pretty scary.” He was working at Porteno when smoke began to billow through the atrium. He headed up to to the roof to check for problems – and found it seriously in flames. The building had to be evacuated, firefighters were called and the street was shut down. The Porteno fire was one of many incidents that delayed the opening of Ibrahim’s first solo restaurant, Stanbuli. There were also the epic battles with council (which involv
Helen Yee - Grab Your Fork
Helen Yee is one of Sydney's OG food bloggers. Even unreformed blog haters probably make an exception for her site, Grab Your Fork, which she started back in 2004 – before the iPhone was even invented, let alone Twitter or Instagram. Since then, Grab Your Fork has been listed as one of the world's 50 best blogs by Times Online and it's been an excellent source for where to eat in Sydney. She's also written lots of great articles as a freelancer, including an epic top 50 cheap eats feature for th
Elijah (EJ) Holland - Noma Australia, Nature's Pick
How do you make an impression on Rene Redzepi? Turn up with 300 wild plants - painstakingly gathered over four days - to present to Noma's award-winning chef. That's what Elijah (EJ) Holland did - and hand-picking lemon aspen and diving for seaweed definitely paid off as EJ became a key part of the Noma Australia team when it opened in Sydney earlier this year. He joined the kitchen as a forager and a chef. EJ is the most casually fearless people I've ever met - and he's unafraid to scale a clif
Palisa Anderson - Chat Thai, Boon Cafe
“We’re never going to work in a restaurant, nevertheless a Thai restaurant.” That's what Palisa Anderson told herself and her brother when they were growing up, but after some detours living in four different countries (and through other careers), she's ended up as co-director of the many Chat Thai restaurants across Sydney and the spin-off venues (like Boon Cafe, which is one of Dan Hong's favourite places to eat breakfast in Sydney). David Chang and Rene Redzepi ate at Chat Thai after their MA
Corie Sutherland - Edition Coffee Roasters
From drinking supermarket Nescafe to the buzz of making coffee for his hero Rene Redzepi every morning (and being the Noma chef's personal barista), Corie Sutherland has certainly had an unexpected career.
He tells his story of living in Japan, getting into 'specialty coffee' (a term he's wary of using), how he came to start the award-winning Edition Coffee Roasters with his brother Daniel Jackson, the next-level things he's witnessed at coffee championships, how his life intersected with Noma (
Alex Elliott-Howery - Cornersmith
This has to be one of my favourite podcast episodes. Alex Elliott-Howery, who co-owns the Cornersmith Cafe and Picklery in Marrickville, was awesome to talk to. Her award-winning cafe has a hyper-focus on preservation, fermentation, urban beekeeping, avoiding waste and produce-bartering. As a flipside to the acclaim, she's also endured pickling disasters that've left her crying into her gin and tonic; and she once tried to preserve a summer bounty of tomatoes, only to find herself still up at 3
Patrick Friesen – Papi Chulo, Queen Chow
Patrick Friesen originally thought he was going to be a doctor. He also planned to be in Sydney for a short spell - but luckily for Australians (and their appetites), he did a U-turn on both points and we're now fans of the talented chef and his menu-ruling work at Merivale's many venues: Ms Gs, Work In Progress, Papi Chulo and the upcoming Queen Chow (which you may know via Insta-stalking its #enmorechinese hashtag).
In this podcast, we talk about the true story behind his ‘Phat Pat’ nickname,
Stuart Krelle - Luchetti Krelle
From producing macaron wallpaper for Adriano Zumbo to making dynamite-stick lights for ACME - and creating the "zombie-proof" exteriors for Momofuku Seiobo - Luchetti Krelle has been behind the attention-hooking designs for Sydney's noteworthy restaurants, bars and eateries. Co-director Stuart Krelle has worked on hospitality projects of all budgets and styles - from the mega-pop charm of the Hello Kitty diner to an installation of toy soldiers parachuting down into Single Origin's Surry Hills c
Mike Eggert - Pinbone
Mike Eggert studied environmental science - a career path he returned to, in a way, when he cooked feral animals for a Pinbone/Young Henrys event for 2015's Good Food Month (an occasion that lead to a truly spectacular, poncho-staining food fight).
After detouring from his studies and becoming a chef, he went on to work at many acclaimed Sydney restaurants – such as Oscillate Wildly, Sepia, Duke Bistro (with Mitch Orr, who is his co-host on The Mitchen podcast) and Billy Kwong (which is where he
Magnus Nilsson - Faviken, The Nordic Cookbook
I chat to Magnus Nilsson about his epic new publication (The Nordic Cookbook, which has 700+ recipes that he collated from the region - including 400 recipes that he personally tested at home and features some of the 8000 photographs he took of the area), whether he believes as many World's 50 Best judges actually visit his tiny restaurant Faviken, why a sandwich can tell you a lot about a country's cuisine, what it's like to eat puffin and the recent time he got pulled over by American cops.
Annabel Crabb – Kitchen Cabinet, Special Delivery
Annabel Crabb once put a laptop in the oven and it wasn’t even the worst thing she’s ever cooked.
Rare culinary slip-ups aside, the host of Kitchen Cabinet is brilliant at mastering recipes (she’s just released an excellent cookbook, after all). And her food-transporting game is pretty strong, too – for her ABC TV show, she once carried a honey fig semifreddo cake to Senator Nick Xenophon’s place, with zero melting tragedies. Getting serving implements through airport security is another matter
Ben Greeno – The Paddington, Merivale
“There’s no $10 steak, that's for sure,” says Ben Greeno.
There's nothing standard-issue about his upcoming ventures with Merivale, which is no surprise – Ben is far from a standard-issue chef. (In fact, there's question about whether The Paddington – the 'pub' he's opening for the hospitality group – is even actually a pub. And the chicken shop that will follow is not going to be your average takeaway outlet, either.)
So there are many dynamite reasons why people are majorly excited about this
James Hird – Rootstock Sydney
Within the first minute of chatting, James Hird mentions the time his sister got caught up in a Chilean coup in Uruguay at the age of 11 – so you know it's going to be a good interview.
And while overseas escapades in India and France played a role in shaping James' ideas about eating and drinking, there's no doubt that the local landscape strongly influences his outlook about what should end up on our dinner plates or in our glasses.
After starting a law degree, James became an accidental somme
Ben Sears – Moon Park
When Ben Sears was working at Cutler & Co, the “biggest highlight” was when Quentin Tarantino came in for dinner. He's picked up quite a collection of memorable experiences throughout his career – from the time he worked at L’enclume, with its remote location (and tourist-magnet appeal as home of the sticky toffee pudding) to his burnout from having to make The Age's Dish of the Year way too many times, and his final spell as head chef at Claude's, when it closed after 37 years.
“That was one of
Claire van Vuuren and Mitch Grady – Bloodwood, Newtown Locals
Claire van Vuuren and Mitch Grady did not plan to become chefs. She wanted to be an artist and he thought he'd be a golfer. Luckily for Sydney diners, their career paths got redirected – and the pair met while working at renowned Sydney institution Claude's, where they bonded over practical jokes.
They went on to open Bloodwood in Newtown – a venue that marked the tectonic shift towards young chefs running casual-but-brilliant places that they personally enjoyed, instead of the high-end fine-din
Luke Powell – LP's Quality Meats
Luke Powell was very young when he snuck into the world of food – he was enrolled in culinary classes at 15 (despite being far below the 17-year minimum cut-off) and by 19, he found himself in the kitchen at the prestigious Rockpool, while crashing at the dodgiest hostels in his off-hours.
Throughout his career, he’s witnessed amazing things – the strangest party trick performed by a head chef in New Zealand; staff tackling 10-kilogram zucchinis at Mugaritz in Spain; and many memorable incidents
Myffy Rigby – Good Food Guide, Good Food Month
Since I last talked to Myffy Rigby, she's left Time Out Sydney (and boy did she go out memorably – one of her last hurrahs was an incident involving a nude bartender and dog track). Then she became the current editor of the Good Food Guide and the creative director of Good Food Month.
In this podcast, we talk about the sleep she's lost over working on the guide, and how she tracked down the guests she wanted for Good Food Month (including the ones who got away, but hopefully will appear next yea
Barbara Sweeney – Food and Words Festival
Barbara Sweeney has made a great career out of her appetite. She's been regional editor for Good Food Guide, oversaw Cheap Eats for nine years, spends Saturdays as a 'talking cookbook' and even has been a honey judge.
In this podcast, she also chats about her fascinating assignments – from interviewing wasabi farmers to rating vinegar. (Also, did you know that 'hen caravans' existed?). There's also a time trip to the oddball retro dishes that she remembers from decades past and plus, it's hard
Jake Smyth – Mary's
Jake Smyth knows a hell of a lot about burgers. Along with Kenny Graham, he runs Mary's – which, despite only being two years old, has quickly become a much-worshipped Sydney institution. It's easily titleholder of the best burgers in Sydney and inspires the craziest queues, even on the coldest winter nights.
David Chang, who famously said Australia screws up burgers like no other country, endorses Mary's as the exception he's on board with. No wonder Mary's sells 10,000 burgers a week between i
Min Chai – N2 Extreme Gelato
Min Chai was an “unhappy accountant” before a tragedy inspired him to change the course of his life and open N2 Extreme Gelato. He had zero experience and friends even warned him against going ahead, but his one-of-a-kind way of making flavours soon led to four-hour queues at his first store.
Min’s flavours can be wonderfully attention-seeking (such as Ferrero Reveal or Chinese Couch Syrup), cheeky and controversial (think 2 Girls, 1 Cup) and straight-up great (Buttered Popcorn, Tease Ma Malt).
Gregory Llewellyn – Hartsyard, The Gretz
Working at a restaurant run by the Mafia – that was no big deal for Gregory Llewellyn. In fact, whether it’s blitzing through 300 covers a service in New York, enduring sanity-testing celebrity demands for hotel riders or watching smoke clouds billow into parts of a restaurant where they definitely don’t belong – Gregory has proven himself to be an unflappable chef. He started in hospitality as a 15-year-old, incredibly psyched just to be a dishwasher because it was a front-row seat to the full-
Analiese Gregory – Funemployed
“Analiese, you’re going to have to move your car, we’re going to blow up your car.”
This has to be one of my favourite-ever interviews – Analiese Gregory is one of the most fascinating chefs that I've been lucky enough to talk to.
Not that working in food was an obvious pathway for her – in fact, having a father who was acclaimed in the industry actually dissuaded her from cooking (her dad, Mark Gregory, was the first New Zealander to receive the Meilleur Ouvrier de France, a big culinary award)
Matt Swieboda – Waterman Lobster Co.
By opening Waterman's Lobster Co in Potts Point, Matt Swieboda wanted to create the "Mary's … of lobster roll places".
Here, Matt not only serves the classic American dish in both the Maine and Connecticut styles, but even includes a vegetarian egg-nori version that unexpectedly teleports you to Japan. (This roll is a delicious butter-mayo bomb, by the way.) The menu also includes raw milk Wisconsin cheese with jalapenos and fish rillettes – but the stadium headliner here is the iconic crustacea
Christopher Thé – Black Star Pastry
The fan base for Black Star Pastry is pretty large – after all, its stores attract long lines, have scored many Sydney food awards and even drawn the attention of an Argentinean TV show (its crew called up and asked for an updated pavlova).
Black Star Pastry's success may seem unlikely when you consider that its creator Christopher Thé originally had a BA in Psychology and was also told the original Newtown location was "cursed" when he moved in; the DIY attitude that powered the first store mea
Dan Barber and Eric Kayser – Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
Where do you even begin when listing Dan Barber's achievements? You could point out that he's the award-winning chef behind the Blue Hill & Blue Hill At Stone Barns restaurants in New York. Or note that Time included him in their list of the World's 100 Most Influential People (with a write-up by Ferran Adria, no less). Or name-check the fact that he advises President Obama on nutrition.
He's also the author of The Third Plate, a fascinating book that any food-curious person should read (it was
Mitch Orr – ACME
Mitch Orr got into cooking after realising there were plenty of perks to studying food tech in high school (such as being the only dude in the class). Scoring an extra lunch as a byproduct didn’t hurt, either. Jamie Oliver’s TV show only added to the appeal of mastering recipes.
Mitch went on to become 2010 Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year while at Sepia, picked up Time Out‘s Best New Talent and People’s Choice Award honours while running the kitchen at Duke Bistro with Thomas Lim and e
Andrew Levins – TwoThousand
In the year since I first talked to Andrew Levins on my podcast, he's notched up some major achievements – such as becoming a dad and accidentally ending up as face of the opposition to Barry O'Farrell's lockout laws. He also closed The Dip (where he found himself making 200 burgers in an hour) and landed on the other side of food-reviewing game – writing criticism as editor of TwoThousand.
In this guise, he's really tested himself – such as enduring a Vegemite-crust-stuffed pizza so that we don
Dan Hong – Merivale
A good restaurant doesn't have to be a stuffy one – Dan Hong has highjacked traditional expectations of fine dining in Sydney, and as executive chef at Merivale, a strong voltage of fun charges through the places he oversees, such as Ms Gs, Mr Wong, El Loco and Papi Chulo. He has helped redefine how we eat in this city. Yes, he has an impressive CV – which includes being named Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year when he was at Bentley and time in the kitchen at Tetsuya's when it was #4 bes
Carlos Heng and Dan Pigott - MakMak Macarons
A princess cake and a corporate job in banking seem like unlikely ingredients for a macaron company, but they each played a part in kickstarting MakMak Macarons. Carlos Heng and Dan Pigott began their venture in DIY style, with Carlos overtaking Dan's kitchen and selling his sweets in an underground fashion. Eventually MakMak went legit, getting crowned with the honour of Sydney's best macarons in Time Out magazine and opening a flagship store in Newtown, in a shop initially decked in fake seagu
David Thompson, Katrina Birchmeier, Emma Barnes - Electrolux Appetite For Excellence Awards
This special episode was recorded on the night of the Electrolux Appetite For Excellence Awards last year.
For the podcast, I was lucky to be able to talk to competition judge David Thompson about everything – from the century-old Thai cookbooks he's collected to the time he recently won Best Restaurant in Asia (an experience that actually annoyed him, surprisingly)!
I also got to chat to Katrina Birchmeier of Garagistes, who won Young Restaurateur in 2012, and returned as a judge in the Young W
Massimo Bottura – Osteria Francescana, Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef
Massimo Bottura is considered to be the greatest living Italian chef. He runs Osteria Francescana in Modena, in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy, which is currently ranked #3 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards list.
His brilliant new cookbook, 'Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef' (out through Phaidon) covers 20 years of his iconic dishes, which include items such as Tortellini Walking On Broth, Memory of a Mortadella Sandwich, A Potato Waiting To Become A Truffle, Oops I Dropped The Lemo
Kylie Millar - Pei Modern, Burch and Purchese
Kylie Millar has a masters of physiotherapy – and has even worked with the Sydney Swans AFL team! – but that’s probably not why you’ve heard of her. She’s done time at Mugaritz in Spain, which is ranked no. 6 on the World’s Best Restaurants list, and also has worked as a pastry chef at the sugar-laced wonderland that is Burch and Purchese in Melbourne and is currently turning out desserts at the acclaimed new Sydney outpost of Pei Modern. In 2012, she also was a contestant on a TV show you may h
Kerby Craig - Ume
As a 15 year old, Kerby Craig was fascinated by the world of restaurants – seeing a chef breakdancing in the middle of service (!) confirmed for him that this was the industry that he wanted to work in. By accident, he ended up at the original Tetsuya's as a teenage apprentice chef and, after stints in Sydney and overseas, later helped Koi earn a hat in The Good Food Guide. To mark this achievement, he actually got a chef's hat tattooed on his neck – an act that was memorably referred to in Terr
Hetty McKinnon - Arthur Street Kitchen
Hetty McKinnon is the creative force – and salad-making ace – behind Arthur Street Kitchen. Her one-woman business saw her taking lunch orders from locals, creating meals from scratch at her Surry Hills home, and personally delivering these salads every Thursday and Friday on her bike.
To pull this off, Hetty had to single-handedly cook 100 salads a week in her domestic kitchen, playing a game of ingredient Tetris just to fit all the required produce into her very normal-sized fridge. And even i
Nick Smith – Rising Sun Workshop
Nick Smith's early fascination with food was marked, literally, with a bang. A childhood cooking incident – which led to an unexpected visit from the bomb squad – did not deter his culinary interests, nor did a 10-year career in stockbroking. Along the way, he started his own catering company, became involved with Single Origin Roasters and, most recently, is the reason why people have been blitzing through bowls of ramen at the Rising Sun Workshop pop-up noodle bar and communal motorcycle garag
Chui Lee Luk - Claude's, Chow Bar and Eating House, Celestial City
Chui Lee Luk grew up in Malaysia, visiting the markets early in the day – fascinated and repelled by how "gruesome" they could be. When she moved to Australia, she was introduced to French food, thanks to "one of the weirdest competitions I've entered ever".
After a career dealing with stamp duty and commercial transactions, Chui found herself switching paths to work in restaurants – there she was, a former commercial lawyer learning how to cook from teenagers who had more culinary experience th
Ambrose Chiang - Momofuku Seiobo
Ambrose Chiang's love of food started early on – at the age of six, he was already handling big knives and other serious kitchen hardware in his family's kitchen in Hong Kong. Later, he moved to Australia, and after battling early alarm-clock starts and hill sprints, he moved on from the world of football to the world of hospitality – which proved just as gruelling as any contact sport, particularly when working at Cafe Sydney, where you could be juggling 600 covers a day.
In this podcast, he a
Hanz Gueco - Cafe Paci
Hanz Gueco has discovered some pretty surprising things as a chef. Orange juice can be the best part of a $300 meal. You can get sent home for the most unusual reason when working at an establishment in Japan. And there's a sneaky way to get around America's legal drinking age of 21 that does not involve a false ID.
In this podcast, Hanz also describes what it's like to be the sous chef at one of Sydney's most inventive restaurants – Cafe Paci – which is run by acclaimed chef Pasi Petanen (who,
Andy Bowdy (Andrew Bowden) - Hartsyard
Andrew Bowden is the "lord pastry master of Hartsyard". You may know him as Andy Bowdy if you follow him on social media, where you can see the next-level desserts he makes for the hatted Newtown restaurant. This includes his ever-changing soft serves and pies – which incorporate everything from deep-fried cheesecake, wasabi peas, toasted bourbon marshmallow and duck fat choc chips – and his spectacular bespoke cakes (one particular creation was bartered for 18 cheeseburgers from Mary's). One of
Ferran Adria - elBulli
When Ferran Adria – one of the world's greatest chefs – was recently in Sydney for a day, I was lucky enough to get a chance to interview him.
In the car ride from the airport to his hotel, I got to ask him about whether he actually eats plane food; we went into detail about elBulli 2005-2011, his spectacular seven-book set about the ground-breaking restaurant's last chapter; whether he still considers himself a punk (he used to blow up tomatoes and claim it was a "punky" phase he was going thro
Richard Hargreave - Momofuku Seiobo
Not many people look into a wine glass and see a career. When Richard Hargreave was at Quay in his first-ever serious sommelier role, he was juggling a business degree – with plans to graduate and land a "grown-up job". He never ended up going down that road and ignoring the "grown-up" path has definitely paid off. In fact, Richard was named Sommelier of The Year at the latest Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Awards for his work at Momofuku Seiobo – a restaurant so great that people have forged c
Renee Creer - Perfect South and Sydney Tea Festival
Renee Creer is doing something unusual in Australia – she's selling locally grown green tea under her label Perfect South. She's taken an unusual route to get to this point – a journey that involves a visit to an 800-year-old tea shop in Kyoto, becoming a tea master, and enduring the occasional "tea high" from too many tastings in one go. Renee's teas are now served at Rockpool and Cornersmith and she's also one of the organisers of the Sydney Tea Festival, which takes place at Carriageworks on
O Tama Carey - Berta
O Tama Carey grew up "eating nothing, refusing all food", so it may be surprising that she ended up as a chef. In fact, she jokes that she was "tricked" into this career. She's made a name for herself in Sydney, through working at Billy Kwong, running pop-up dinners with Billy Kwong co-conspirator Hamish Ingham (who now heads Bar H) and for the last three years, she's been adding a contemporary twist to Italian food at Berta in Surry Hills (her Sri Lankan background leads her to sneaking some cu
Mike Bennie - Rootstock Sydney
Mike Bennie was studying law and looking for a no-brainer job that wouldn't interfere with his late nights out. He found one stacking shelves and driving a van for a local bottle shop – and it ended up being the gateway into his interest in wine. After run-ins with E Annie Proulx, the world of radio, and ditching law, he ended up as an award-winning wine writer. He's travelled the world via his wine glass – literally and figuratively: he's physically climbed a Swiss mountain - conquering 600-met
Andrew Levins - The Dip
Andrew Levins once got offered a cookbook deal during a DJ set. This happened after he opened The Dip, the popular American-inspired eatery that he runs in Sydney with his wife, Bianca. It was namechecked for its hot dogs by Gourmet Traveller when it first launched and Levins' "hot dog expertise" has also been flexed on his TV show, Levins Eating Food, where he highlighted the most interesting dogs in Sydney (including a deep-fried Korean creation that could very well protect you from a killer h
Elizabeth Hewson - Moving Out Eating In and Black Communications (Quay, Otto, Simon Johnson and more)
Elizabeth Hewson gets her inspiration from everywhere: one of the recipes in her new cookbook, "Moving Out … Eating In", comes from an incident involving a hangover. And while her cookbook tackles the reality of creating meals when you've just left home and you're nervously counting down until your next pay packet, her day job can seem like the flipside of producing inventive budget-watching cuisine. Working in PR for Black Communications, she looks after luxury food brands such as Simon Johnson
Adam Humphrey - Arras
"You should be dead." That's what Adam Humphrey's doctor once told him. Despite the physically exhausting nature of his work, the co-head-chef and co-owner of Sydney's Arras has survived life in the kitchen with some pretty amazing tales to tell. Early on, his achievements include scoring against a famous UK goalkeeper, being a pastry chef in a Michelin-starred restaurant at 18 and denying Antonio Banderas some requested carbs. He currently runs the hatted restaurant Arras with his wife Lovaine,
Jaime Wirth - Drink N Dine
There's no doubt that Jaime Wirth has rebooted the idea of Sydney pubs. Via his Drink N Dine empire, he's transformed many old-man drinking holes into places where you can find a deep-fried Golden Gaytime, Kingston Kreme donuts and someone under the age of 55. It hasn't been an obvious – or easy – career path for this former DJ. He's weathered drive-by shootings, firebombs and some seriously unappealing encounters with greasetraps to ensure that places like The Norfolk, The Abercrombie and The F
Joanna Savill - Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Editor and Director of Good Food Month
Here's an interview I did last year with Joanna Savill, editor of the Good Food Guide and director of Good Food Month (previously known as Crave International Food Festival).
Kristen Allan - Cornersmith and Full Circle
What's it like to stage a dinner in the back lot of Opera Australia? Or throw a random soup party in a park and hope you don't get busted? Kristen Allan would know, as these are some of the guerilla culinary events she's organised with Full Circle (the team also behind The Eat-in pop-up restaurant in Chippendale earlier this year). She also runs excellent cheesemaking workshops at Cornersmith, so she's also an expert on ricotta, labne, and all things curds and whey – and in fact, can personally
Christina Tosi - Momofuku Milk Bar
Christina Tosi is a James Beard Rising Star Chef and the creative force behind the popular Momofuku Milk Bar bakeries in New York. But she's taken an unusual path to get to this point. She studied electrical engineering and, even when she ended up in the kitchen of the award-winning WD-50 (as a pastry chef, not an engineer!), she chose to take an unexpected next step: working as a cashier and resolving unsexy problems – such as unclogging toilets – at the newly started Momofuku. In fact, it was
Naomi Hart - Hartsyard
Naomi Hart ended up in hospitality by accident. But her unintentional career path has taken her to some interesting places – such as a New York restaurant where she almost dropped a table on Tom Hanks (he was very nice about it) and the stylish coat-check woman was straight from a Bill Cunningham photograph (in fact, she was often the subject of his lens). After working in LA, she came back to Australia with her husband Gregory to start Hartsyard, a Newtown eatery that quickly became known for i
Nick Palumbo - Gelato Messina
Elvis The Fat Years, Tiramisu, Hansel He’s So Hot Right Now, Sage and BurntButter, Risotto Milanese, Breakfast of Champions: The Sequel, Pavlova andRaspberry & Rose Gelato with Pomegranate Brownie – these are just some of theattention-seeking flavours that have made Gelato Messina famous over theyears. Nick Palumbo, who opened the original gelato parlour in Darlinghurstmore than a decade ago, chats about the very first scoops that launchedMessina, how he and his team come up with such original,
Jack Hanna - The Grounds
Jack Hanna knows his coffee. He has been awarded national roasting competition and won the world latte art competition. He's also one of the people behind The Grounds, the many-things-in-one cafe that opened in Alexandria earlier this year. He talks about the coffee-related adventures he gets up to in the “research facility” at The Grounds, his feelings about coffee snobs, and what latte art he's gotten away with "drawing" (you'd be surprised). Oh and there was the time he fitted out a vintage c
Myffy Rigby - Time Out
Myffy Rigby's pathway towards being Chief Food and Drink Critic at Time OutSydney magazine was not so obvious: she grew up as a vegetarian, dropped outof school early and soon found herself producing kilos of batter a day forPancake At The Rocks. It took her a long while (and a few career detours) tofigure out that she wanted to be writing about food.As someone who covers the most noteworthy places to drink and dine in thiscity, Myffy talks about the upsides and downsides of being a food critic
Josh Nicholls - The Milk Bar by Cafe Ish
Japanese cuisine and Australian bush tucker don't usually go together, but chef Josh Nicholls made this culinary mash-up his signature at Cafe Ish, the popular Surry Hills eatery he opened with his wife, Ai, in 2007. It later morphed into an izakaya and, recently, has transformed into The Milk Bar by Cafe Ish in Redfern, with its menu of $5 burgers, Malteser pies and killer shakes (think Miso Caramel or Rosewater, Berry and Rosella).Josh chats about his accidental career as a chef (mainly inspir
David Ralph - Kakawa
In the first episode of the Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry, Lee Tran Lam catches up with David Ralph, a chef who has worked at diner-impressing restaurants in Sydney (Quay, Flying Fish and Sails at Lavendar Bay) and London (Michelin-starred La Noisette and Kensington Place).David's an expert at placating anyone with a sweet tooth as he currently runs Kakawa, the best chocolatier in Sydney with his partner Jin. He chats about his kitchen war stories (he once had to break up a fight between