alex herbert

You’re such a multi-talented person! Do you have any specialties?
You could say I’m a bit of an all-rounder! I’ve done a lot of different jobs in a wide range of restaurants, from starting in the pastry section at the fine dining Berowra Waters Inn twenty years ago, running the more casual Hardy’s Bay RSL bistro, to doing stints at the modern Asian Sailors Thai and Longrain.

What do you like eating?
I like to eat just about everything! I’ll try anything once — the most adventurous thing I’ve probably eaten was bull’s testicles, at the Symposium of Gastronomy in Orange NSW. It was part of a feast offered by some wonderful local chefs and it’s not something you often get the chance to try, so I just had to do it. If I remember correctly, they were crumbed and fried, a bit like brains — crispy on the outside and not chewy at all. I don’t think they were that bad, actually!

stefano manfredi

What makes Bell’s so special?
I’m sure people will come and try it once. But we keep them coming with sparklingly fresh produce handled in a professional and skilfully Italian way. It’s simple, nourishing food. But the most attractive element’s the whole experience we create here. I think restaurants are site-specific, and we’re developing flavours and dishes, as well as an atmosphere and service that’s specific to Bells at Killcare.

What are the challenges of cooking in the Italian way, with seasonal ingredients, and reconciling the traditions you learnt from your mother and grandmother with new cooking techniques?
That’s always been the challenge for me. Considering new techniques and methods and reconciling them with my roots! I try to present my family’s traditional cooking in a modern restaurant situation – which is a challenge anyway, because where we come from in Italy the produce is completely different! Take gnocchi for example, back in Italy they’d use potatoes that were consistently the same. Here in Australia – even the same variety of potatoes might come one week from Tasmania and the next week from Victoria. So the produce is always different! My mother would always make it by eye, judging it by texture and consistency, not following a recipe. And that’s what I try to do. I think that’s the most valuable lesson I ever learnt from her. To cook by feel, not by a recipe.

paul kuiper – chef

So you really are a “back to basics” kind of guy?
Absolutely! I love the simple things that lead the rest of the meal. Like bread: think sandwich, or soup, or braised dish. Or puff pastry that leads to tart, pie, pâté en croute or apple tarte tatin. I love older style cooking. Making terrines, pâtés, braised dishes, offal and pastries.

What foods wouldn’t you eat and why?
McDonald’s. Ethical and economic reasons aside, it’s just not good food. The money would be better spent on a box of vegetables.

If you had your own food/travel show, what would you call it, and why?
I’d call it “What the Farmer Said” because it all comes down to a story. Every ingredient’s got a story, and the farmer is the best person to tell it. I deal with fifteen farmers every week, and when I collect food, I hear such amazing stories every day. Stories about the weather and how it affects their crops, stories about how hard they work to raise the food we eat, what they go through to get it to us. If we think chefs work hard, you should look at farmers – they’re doing 70 to 80 hours a week!

Describe your last meal on earth. What would it be, and who would you share it with?
A Sunday meal with the family. In winter it’d be a roast, definitely. A pork roast – a leg or shoulder – with crisp crackling and lots of roast vegetables – potatoes, onions, parsnips, sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, and cauliflower in white sauce. And in summer, probably a barbecue. On the barbeque would be good sausages and rissoles, sirloin steaks and marinated chicken. I’d wash it down with a good Margaret River cab sav.

nigel rich, peter and jo reschke

You have a real rapport with your suppliers. Is this important to you and your local approach to your food?
Nigel: Yeah, definitely. Initially, it was about creating a culture more in tune with what’s available locally and naturally with the seasons. The true flavour and texture of many of our everyday foods have been compromised by mass-market production techniques. Buying local and smaller production brings real flavour and texture back to our dishes, ultimately delivering a better culinary experience for our diners – and us. There’s nothing better than the heady aroma of herbs plucked from just outside the kitchen door or the piquant mist of lime oil pressed from our own thriving trees.

Does this mean you’ll go anywhere for good supplies, or are food miles a factor?
Peter: We source a majority of our supplies locally. Supporting smaller producers that care about their produce, picked at the right time and used within its natural life span. We do not, however, settle for inferior produce for the sake of food mile ‘brownie points.’Besides the fact that the produce is better, fresher and more rewarding, I was trying to find a way of simplifying the style of food we did at Courtney’s. This started with the idea to buy direct from farmers, which meant buying locally. When I started to look, there was so much available in the Sydney basin that I was able to support the farmers by passing on the money to them directly, and not third-hand with commissions. Sustainability is important to me and I get great enjoyment from taking my kids to suppliers’ farms, or just growing things at home. Teaching them about the cycle of planting, harvesting and giving back to the ground with composting.

miccal cummins

How did your love affair with food begin?
Growing up in a very large and diverse family, where several different languages were spoken, coming together to feast and share and laugh made food a great middle ground. My Australian grandmother from country Victoria was a wonderful woman and an amazing cook — one of my earliest memories was “helping” her bake bread, although I reckon I was more of a hindrance than a help! [laughs] But I loved being in the kitchen and helping her bake — it was just the most wonderful thing ever, and inspired me to keep cooking and eating.

Did you eat traditional Tongan cuisine? What were some of the delicacies and specialties you remember best?
We did, all on the floor together and with our hands! I loved special occasions, where an enormous feast would be laid out on banana leaves under a long thatched pavilion. It included whole spit roasted pigs and Lu Bulu corned beef baked with coconut cream while wrapped in native spinach leaves; along with sweet potatoes, yams and garden vegetables cooked in an underground oven called a Umu. I really loved Ota’i, raw fish dish cured with lime juice, coconut and onion and boiled whole mud crabs served from the shell and spread throughout the feast. You could say I got my start in catering helping out at family feasts!

dennis leslie

Who’s been the greatest culinary influence on you?
Oh, definitely Simon, by far. He taught me how to cook right from the start, and he’s continued to be a good friend and great mentor. I’ve learnt so much from so many great chefs, but none greater than Simon. And my mum!

How has South Australia’s food culture changed since you donned the toque?
[laughs] Heaps! My mum Violet’s Filipino and she cooks with great ingredients like fish sauce, fish paste, dried and pickled fish — stuff my friends growing up would never go near, let alone try. Now, of course, they can’t get enough of them. I remember how hard it was getting that stuff growing up, and now, wandering the markets, it’s fantastic to see so many shopping bags filled with interesting and exotic ingredients, or seeing all the Asian restaurants in Gouger Street (Adelaide’s famed “eat street” and gateway to Chinatown, just around the corner from the Adelaide Central Markets) so full and buzzing. It’s just wonderful to see how adventurous people are with the things they’ll try, and how that changes what they cook and enjoy at home. There’s a whole new generation of young cooks who enjoy so much more variety and choice than we ever did, and more than that, it’s through enjoying what other people and cultures enjoy that you can come closer to understanding them, and each other. Multiculturalism hasn’t just enriched Australian cuisine, it’s enriched Australian society. And we’re all much better fed and tolerant for it, I hope!

david campbell

After travelling so widely, what made you come back to Australia?
Well, with all the wonderful experience we got from working with some of the world’s best chefs in some of the world’s most exciting places, we wanted to start our own place. So, after an eighteen month search, in 2004, we finally found the place that would become The Book Kitchen. Bringing together our three loves – books, coffee and food – even we were surprised by how well it took off! We were even named as one of the “Top Ten Places to Eat in the World” by the influential critic Irene Verbene of The Los Angeles Times.

Why did you trade such a successful place for Berry?
We weren’t actually looking to give up The Book Kitchen. We just wanted to have a country restaurant to complement the city place. Hungry Duck did really well from day one, and I love being here a lot more. I’m close to the produce I like to use, we can watch things grow, and we’ve become part of a wonderful community. So when we got an offer on The Book Kitchen, we accepted, and we haven’t looked back.

sam pask & gavin foster

How did Selah start?
Sam: After working in some of the world’s best restaurants, including a fabulous time at Quay, I was itching to use some of the ideas and experience I’d gained from working in fine dining to start my own — and in 2003, Selah kicked off!

Did you always want to own your own restaurant?
Sam: No, not really! I’d owned a café, which had been fun before I sold up to go travelling, but I realised how much I really love hospitality and being my own boss, growing and managing a team. What else could I do? [laughs]

How did you meet?
Sam: After my old chef left, I advertised and up rolled Gavin. We got along really well – I really liked his style and personal manner and we shared the same passions for sophisticated bistro food, lovingly prepared with good green food. We’ve never looked back! Gavin: I was attracted to Selah because it was refined and stylish, while still being warm, inviting and intimate. I was particularly drawn to it because of Sam’s food-focused philosophy – that the quality of the produce was so important. I’m really grateful that he’s given me the opportunity to refine my cooking style while still offering the flexibility to source the best locally-sourced, ethically and sustainably produced green food.