Today I’m talking to Bartek (Bert) Glinka & Brendan D’Amelio at Uncle’s Smallgoods. Bert and Brendan are friends, brothers-in-law and the charcuterie makers supplying many Melbourne cult institutions. You’ll find their pastrami at places like Hector's Deli, Nico's and Hugo's and their bacon is fried in cafes like ST ALi, Rustica, and Earl Canteen. Bert and Brendan’s smallgoods journey started when they decided to sell kranskys at the Polish Festival and wondered how they might go about makin...
Dec 05, 2024•53 min
I've had a few chats with Matti Fallon over the years and they have always been good ones, so when he suggested a catch-up over lunch, it was a hard yes from me. We sat by the front window of Mr Vincenzo's with Mornington Park and Port Phillip Bay across the road and we feasted: stracciatella, artichokes, walnut vinaigrette and peas, snapper crudo, zucchini flowers, ricotta filling and whipped avocado, rigatoni with wild garlic pesto and smoked mozzarella. So good! We decided to leave the chat u...
Dec 03, 2024•55 min
Baba’s Deli is lovely. Owners Max and Aleesha have nailed what it means to offer excellent hospitality: friendly service, excellent sandwiches and $3 coffee. While getting chefs in to make sandwiches wasn’t the original plan, it has worked out well for everyone, with friends, Daniel and Luke leaving stressful restaurant jobs to have fun every day wrangling the likes of Mama’s Vodka, the chicken schnitzel sandwich with vodka sauce, Baba’s Egg and Tayta’s Falafel and then go home at 3pm to sociali...
Nov 22, 2024•35 min
Zero95 Alphington was still being set up when I arrived to talk to Executive chef Daniel Mastramico and he gave me a quick tour of the brand-new pizza and gelato venue, There’s a gleaming Marana oven for the pizzas, a mural on the cool room wall by TD Illustrations, and photos in the dining room of Daniel’s parents’ engagement party 52 years ago. With seating for 80 inside and 40 outside overlooking Artisan Park in The Bend, which is part of the YarraBend Development where the old paper mill was...
Nov 15, 2024•22 min
Tracey Lister is a Melbourne-born chef with more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, both in Australia and Vietnam. She is also the author of four cookbooks (KOTO: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam (2008), Vietnamese Street Food (2011), Real Vietnamese Cooking (2014) and Made in Vietnam (2017)) and she is the owner of Brunswick Kitchen cookery school. When I went in to talk with Tracey, she was preparing for that evening's vegan cooking class. Tracey always loved working in...
Nov 11, 2024•37 min
Ben is the award-winning chef and owner of renowned restaurant Attica, where his innovative, boundary-pushing cuisine has earned him global acclaim. Known for his deep connection to sustainable and native ingredients and a commitment to excellence, Ben's culinary vision goes beyond the plate. His book, Uses for Obsession offers a vulnerable, humorous, and hard-hitting exploration of his journey, as well as his thoughts on what it takes to thrive in the hospitality industry, our responsibility in...
Sep 30, 2024•45 min
Circl is a wine-centric restaurant led by a team of friends and hospitality experts in Punch Lane in Melbourne's CBD. Unique in concept, with an impressive 1,500-bottle wine list and strong 150+ by-the-glass offering, Circl wants diners to try some of the world’s most exciting and up-and-coming wines, alongside European-inspired food with Scandinavian finesse. I went in to chat to Executive Chef Elias Salomonsson, who has worked for the Scott Pickett Group and Vue Group and I had a very lovely t...
Sep 11, 2024•45 min
Originally from Adelaide, Chris Rendell grew up in Melbourne and started chef life as an apprentice under Robert Castellani at Carmine’s before heading to Sydney and working for Neil Perry at the Rock Pool Group’s Star Grill and then at Christine Manfield’s iconic The Paramount in Potts Point. After four years in London working with David Thompson, as well as at Sugar Club, The Grocer of Elgin and the Mews of Mayfair, Chris spent 16 years in the States as a chef at legendary New York restaurant ...
Sep 08, 2024•23 min
Santiago Sansone is one of 10 talented young chefs who have been selected for the 2024 Pacific Region S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition. Santiago works as Chef de Partie at the Four Seasons in Sydney, and he was put forward for the competition by the Executive chef. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Santiago grew up watching his grandparents cooking every day, preparing dishes for celebrations and holidays, and making pasta every Sunday. Santiago spent four years doing a law degree but ...
Sep 08, 2024•23 min
#264 Annie Smithers | Kitchen Sentimental by Jo Rittey
Aug 28, 2024•45 min
Walking up Canning Street to The Wine Corner Store on a sunny day is joyous. There are people sitting at outside tables and lounging on the grass strip in the middle of the road with bottles of wine and snacks, catching up with friends and enjoying the tease of a possible early spring. It's a vibe. Steven "Stevie" Mifsud-Ellul opened The Wine Corner Store back in 2016 with a concept of mirroring the relationships that milk bar owners have with a neighbourhood - but instead of selling milk, bread...
Aug 26, 2024•27 min
#263 Matilde Razzoli | Elio's Place by Jo Rittey
Aug 25, 2024•28 min
When I first met Aleksis Kalnins, I was writing a First Look story for Broadsheet about Molli. It was the afternoon of the soft opening and Aleks took me on a super fast tour of the kitchen, restaurant and up to the rooftop to admire the raised garden beds. He talked about the food he liked to cook and his vision for the restaurant and I knew I had to come back and hear more once Molli was up and running. In between times I went in to Molli with friends and I loved every single dish we ordered f...
Aug 18, 2024•29 min
The Tiffy Group is known for its imaginative venues which transcend the ordinary. Ryan Spurrell is Executive chef for and so oversees the group’s Goldilocks Rooftop Bar, House of Correction, Lost Boys, The Clarendon and latest Snow White inspired beauty, Mirror Mirror Rooftop Lounge. I spoke to Ryan in The Clarendon which has recently been renovated and is a really beautiful makeover of the great bones of the original Clarendon Hotel, established in 1858 and then had a quick trip up the elevator...
Aug 17, 2024•35 min
I was lucky enough to be invited to stay at Oakwood Premier in Southbank, Melbourne for two nights. We stayed on the 37th floor in a glorious one bedroom apartment with a view out across the river and the city to the Richmond, Kew and even a glimpse of the Dandenongs. Everything looks different from so high up and I loved taking in the lights of the city by night and then watching the sun rise up between the buildings in the morning. The apartment was super comfortable and had we wanted to stay ...
Aug 13, 2024•25 min
When I was asked whether I would like to try Gamze Smokehouse’s Gold Bacon and chat to Brendan Gamze about the process behind it as well as the philosophy behind the family owned and operated Smokehouse, I was thrilled. Gamze Smokehouse was started by Felix Gamze, Brendan’s father, who migrated to Australia with his parents as a boy, went to school before starting an apprenticeship in butchery. Felix was ahead of his time, enjoying experimenting with different ways of preserving and curing and s...
Aug 12, 2024•22 min
I met Orlando Marzo when I was writing about Joe Vargetto’s Bianchetto and Orlando was curating the drinks list. Orlando is passionate about what he does and a great storyteller. When I ran into him again at the Little Food Market recently and he suggested catching up to tell me his story and take me through some of the Loro drinks, I said, no way. Are you kidding? A world class bartender and winner of the prestigious 2018 Diageo World Class Cocktail Competition coming by with drinks? Of course ...
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Jess Liemantara, also known as Jess Lemon, is a pastry chef, self-published author and now Head of Innovation and Development at Ned’s Bakes. Jess has graced the MasterChef kitchen three times, first making waves in 2018 as the youngest contestant ever to compete and earning a spot in the top four, then in 2020 for Season 12 – Back to Win and then in MasterChef’s Dessert Masters where she finished 3rd against Australia’s industry best. I first spoke to Jess just after her first MasterChef season...
Aug 01, 2024•16 min
Some of Australia’s best chefs (and quite a few friends of the podcast) are heading north for a feast in the tropics and it’s all thanks to chef Spencer Patrick and his Taste Port Douglas. Founder and culinary director of Chef-hatted Harrisons in the Sheraton Grand Mirage in Port Douglas, Spencer started his career in the UK where he was head chef at three of Marco Pierre White’s restaurants in London before coming across to Australia in the early 2000s. At the Cafe Royal, Spencer garnered natio...
Jul 28, 2024•26 min
What a wild and impressive ride of a career. When I went in to chat to Sunny Gilbert at the Hofbrauhaus, I did not expect to hear about cooking whole crocodiles in a bread oven in China. A career as a chef can certainly take you places. Sunny hadn’t planned on being a chef, but once he got into a kitchen as a kitchenhand, he was quickly hooked, loving the adrenalin rush of service and wanting to push himself as quickly as possible. From starting his career in Darwin and taking the crocodiles to ...
Jul 21, 2024•34 min
Grace Loke is a PhD student at RMIT in Melbourne and is co-lead in a team of researchers exploring the role of our sensory perception in the way we enjoy eating. More specifically, they are looking at the reasons why astronauts report meals taste bland in space and as a result are failing to eat their normal nutritional intake. Previous research has shown that aroma plays a large role in how we perceive food, but could it also be that aroma might affect mood and willingness or openness to the en...
Jul 20, 2024•17 min
A couple of months ago I ate at Locavore Studio and it was glorious. For a start, the dining room is beautiful with its cathedral ceiling and rich and textural nature mural by local graphic artists Sonsie Studios. Head chef Ryan Lynch is putting up delicious dishes that reflect the seasons and the region. Most memorable was the mushroom anolini that was like a warm hug in its cosy, savoury goodness. There’s a lot going on out there with the providore, the cafe, the coffee roastery out the back a...
Jul 15, 2024•41 min
Andrea Rigodanza is an Italian chef from Vicenza where he learnt how to cook in his family's restaurant. After a short apprenticeship in a 3 Michelin restaurant, he decided to move to Sydney and eventually on to Melbourne. Andrea has been in Australia for more than 8 years and last year decided to start his own business making handmade gnocchi for restaurants around Victoria. Initially he did this as well as working full time as an Executive chef in a private restaurant in the city but a couple ...
Jul 11, 2024•31 min
I love it when people get in touch with me and suggest chefs to talk to. Robert, a retired chef got in touch with me and suggested Bottarga as a local gem with a solid chef. Chef Federico Bizzaro and his partner and wine expert Somi Paremanee opened Bottarga in 2021 and when I read more about the restaurant, I became increasingly fascinated. Dani Valent had a similar experience to me when someone suggested she check it out and she wrote glowing things in Good Food. Bottarga received a hat in the...
Jul 09, 2024•27 min
Diana Desensi is an incredible chef and a lovely person. I have heard her name so often from other chefs I have spoken to who hold her in high esteem, and it was so refreshing to sit down with her and hear how highly she regards the chefs that she has worked for and is now working for. Diana lived and breathed food and fostered a love for cooking from an early age, growing up with a Nonno and a Nonna who she watched and emulated and it is all she has ever wanted to do. I just finished watching S...
Jul 07, 2024•29 min
Owning one restaurant, let alone two with a vision for even more was not part of the plan when Kabir Singh came to Australia for a month-long stay from New Delhi in 2020. Now Singh, as his regulars call him, is a Fitzroy local with a huge heart for the neighbourhood, hospitality and for his beloved Mukka, the restaurant he bought as Melbourne went into lockdown. I have always loved Mukka. I sat down with the original owners Prateek and Aditya Dhawan and their mother Rekha when they first opened ...
Jul 03, 2024•25 min
I last spoke to Anthony Thalassinos when he was newly head chef at The Hellenic House Project. Anthony is enthusiastic and passionate and it is no wonder he has been snapped up by Project North Hospitality Group who oversee Tickled Pink Venues in Elwood, Thornbury and Bali and well as a dessert bar in Coolaroo. Anthony is just as enthusiastic and passionate and now he is jet-set as well, flying between Melbourne and Bali and discovering new things. Anthony brings his knowledge of the kitchen as ...
Jun 26, 2024•18 min
When I was asked if I’d like to talk to Michael Wilson, chef patron at Michelin Star fine dining Marguerite as well as Hortus in the Gardens by the Bay Flower Dome in Singapore I of course said yes. Then I got nervous. Michael trained in Melbourne under Guy Grossi and Andrew McConnell before heading to Shanghai where he earned his first Michelin Star, 5 months after opening Phenix in the Puli Hotel and Spa. Now he is executive chef and part of the group who owns the incredible Marguerite. But I ...
Jun 19, 2024•32 min
If you have not been to Dessous, you are missing out. I say this with absolute certainty, because I, like you, had absolutely been missing out until I went and spoke to head chef Dan Sawansak and then spent a glorious evening completely in his hands with the Leave it to us menu, my favourite way to eat. If you are amongst the wise people who have eaten at Dessous, then you already know how good it is down there in that intimate low-lit basement vibe that is Dessous. Dan is one of those chefs tha...
Jun 13, 2024•30 min
Tyler Preston is a passionate chef who discovered his love for cooking at just 12 years old in Wellington. After graduating high school, he moved to Melbourne at 18 to start his culinary adventure. With over 20 years of experience, Tyler began his career at the iconic Vegie Bar in Fitzroy, mastering the art of wok cooking. After a brief stint in music and audio engineering, Tyler returned to the kitchen, becoming Head Chef at Melbourne hotspots like Declieu and Seven Seeds and working at Chin Ch...
Jun 11, 2024•41 min
