February 25th, 2015 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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, re-engineered them so that a strong voltage of fun charges through the places he oversees. He looks after Ms G’s, Mr Wong, El Loco and Papi Chulo and there’s […]
February 23rd, 2015 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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, […]
February 3rd, 2015 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
Here’s a podcast that I recorded on the night of the Electrolux Appetite For Excellence Awards last year. For this episode, I got to talk to chef, competition judge and total legend David Thompson about everything from his collection of century-old Thai cookbooks and the painful hunt for tropical produce – to his recent triumph […]
January 10th, 2015 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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 […]
December 4th, 2014 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | 3 Comments »
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 […]
November 4th, 2014 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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 […]
October 10th, 2014 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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 […]
September 9th, 2014 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | 1 Comment »
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 […]
September 6th, 2014 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
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, […]
August 24th, 2014 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts | 2 Comments »
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 […]