May 25th, 2019 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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 […]
April 19th, 2019 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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 […]
April 19th, 2019 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
Annabel Crabb baked her laptop (and it wasn’t even her worst cooking disaster), while Kate Reid’s croissants inspired people to line up at two AM in zero-degree weather, just to try her pastries. Those are two of the many stories I’ve earnt from creating 100 episodes of The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry podcast. Other […]
March 7th, 2019 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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 […]
March 5th, 2019 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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 […]
February 16th, 2019 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
How to make cider from 300-year-old pear trees, what it’s like working 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 […]
January 22nd, 2019 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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 […]
December 24th, 2018 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
“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 […]
December 17th, 2018 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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 […]
November 20th, 2018 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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 […]