エピソード

  • #276 Raj Shreshtha | Denmark House

    #276 Raj Shreshtha | Denmark House
    2026/08/02
    Denmark House feels like a small pocket of Copenhagen tucked above Little Collins Street. Light pours through the large, black-framed windows, Danish drifts across the room, and Raj Shrestha looks completely at home. After spending almost 15 years in Denmark, he has found a place in Melbourne where that part of his life still feels close. Raj is deeply passionate about being a chef, but there is nothing showy about him. He speaks beautifully about learning, leadership and the responsibility of looking after people, whether they are working beside him or walking through the restaurant door. We talked about growing up in Nepal, discovering himself in Copenhagen and now his new life in Melbourne. I especially loved the way Raj spoke about energy, and the importance of noticing how people are feeling before the first ticket even comes in, as well as his curiosity and desire to always be better at what he does.
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    32 分
  • #375 Sunil Tyagi | Indian Star

    #375 Sunil Tyagi | Indian Star
    2026/07/30
    Over a fragrant samosa, kofta and garlic naan, with a cup of chai in hand, I sat down with Sunil Tyagi at Indian Star and listened as he traced an extraordinary life in food spanning more than five decades. He began his training in India in the 1970s, learning from great chefs and grinding spices by hand, before his work took him to London, Japan and eventually Melbourne, where he opened Indian Star in Moonee Ponds in 1984. Sunil spoke about discipline, instinct, generosity and the deep knowledge of spices that has shaped his cooking. Warm, forthright and gloriously expressive, he has a story for every dish and an unwavering belief that being a chef is not simply a job, but something you devote yourself to completely.
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    50 分
  • #374 Reki Reinantha | Sachi, Atsu, & Common Cuts

    #374 Reki Reinantha | Sachi, Atsu, & Common Cuts
    2026/07/20
    There is something very easy and generous about the way Reki Reinantha tells his story. He came to Australia from Indonesia as a high school student, began studying architecture, then slowly found himself pulled towards the kitchen and the pleasure of making people happy through food. Since then, his path has taken him through Japanese restaurants, major hospitality groups, pop-ups, setbacks and, eventually, businesses of his own. Since then, his path has taken him through Japanese restaurants, major hospitality groups, pop-ups, setbacks and, eventually, ventures of his own. Today, that includes Sachi, his seafood and sushi restaurant built around the idea that exceptional Japanese food can be both highly skilled and genuinely accessible; Atsu, which has earned a loyal following for its fun katsu, skewers and highballs; and Common Cuts, a newer venture that applies the same philosophy of quality and approachability to Melbourne's steakhouse scene. But what stayed with me most was not the scale of what he has built. It was the way he talks about the people around him: the responsibility of leading a team and the very lovely belief that good things happen when you are surrounded by good people. Listening to Reki, it becomes clear that the restaurants are only part of the story. At the heart of everything he has created is a commitment to community, opportunity and the relationships that make hospitality.
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    37 分
  • #373 Amar Singh | Bibi Ji

    #373 Amar Singh | Bibi Ji
    2026/07/10
    Amarjeet Singh is not someone who naturally enjoys being on a microphone or in front of a camera. He was shy when we began talking at Bibi Ji, which is about to celebrate its second birthday, but the more we spoke, the more his deep attachment to hospitality came through. Once the recording stopped, Amar became much more animated. He talked about how restaurant owners have to be able to multitask, and how he carries a toolkit with him whenever he visits one of his venues. He can fix plumbing and gas problems, check in with the kitchen, talk to staff and move on to the next restaurant. After Covid, he lost three venues, and people told him he was crazy to open Bibi Ji. But Amar sees failure as part of learning, and two years on, the restaurant is full of colour, families and regulars who travel across Melbourne to eat there.
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    21 分
  • #372 Aaron Schembri | Kadota

    #372 Aaron Schembri | Kadota
    2026/07/10
    As I drove out of Melbourne and left the fog behind, the day opened up into that bright, golden Daylesford light and the whole town seemed to be out walking, eating, browsing and making the most of it. I’d arrived a little early, wandered up one side of Vincent Street, back down the other, bought a scarf and a block of soap from Marseille, then stepped into Kadota to meet chef and co-owner Aaron Schembri. Kadota is calm, beautiful and deeply considered, but Aaron’s path to it has been anything but straightforward. He grew up around here, left school young, found his way into kitchens, and later into Japan, where food opened up something much bigger for him than technique. Sitting with him in the restaurant he has built with his wife, Risa, what struck me most was how thoughtful he is, and how lightly he wears what he has already achieved. There is no sense of wanting to settle into success. He is still questioning, still pushing, still learning, still trying to make Kadota more fully itself.
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    49 分
  • #371 Mark Tagnipez | Marmont

    #371 Mark Tagnipez | Marmont
    2026/07/07
    I sat down with Mark Tagnipez at Marmont to talk truffles, but the conversation very quickly became about much more than that. Mark is warm, funny and wonderfully unguarded, and his story moves from Los Angeles to Hawaii to Melbourne, from Filipino food at home to Chicano neighbourhood cooking, deep fryers, hay fever, fried chicken, monkey bread and the thrill of discovering that maybe truffles aren’t overrated after all. There’s a lovely openness to the way Mark talks about food: where it comes from, who it is for, and how much of yourself you can quietly leave on the plate.
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    37 分
  • #370 Shannon Martinez | Smith & Deli

    #370 Shannon Martinez | Smith & Deli
    2026/07/04
    I first spoke to Shannon Martinez almost a decade ago, when Smith & Daughters was already changing the way Melbourne thought about vegan food. A lot has happened since. Smith & Deli has grown, Degraves Street has opened, Made by Smith is beginning to supply chefs with high-quality plant-based products, and deliveries are heading interstate. But what I loved about this conversation is that Shannon doesn’t smooth over any of it. She talks openly about how close the business came to falling over, the brutal maths of hospitality, and the challenge that has kept her in plant-based cooking for 20 years: making food people want to eat, not because it is vegan, but because it is good.
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    25 分
  • #369 Jeremy Spradbery | Supercheese

    #369 Jeremy Spradbery | Supercheese
    2026/07/03
    I knew when I went to the launch of High Cheese at The Westin that Jeremy Spradbery from Supercheese would be a great person to talk to, and visiting his Richmond shop proved it. We stood together beside his impressive hero fridge: a glorious lineup of cheeses that each show off their style, while he told me how he became a self professed curd nerd, weaving in stories from kitchens, farms, and festivals around the world. His enthusiasm was irresistible, and I walked out not only with a deeper appreciation for cheese, but with a beautifully curated selection for my dinner party this weekend.
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    26 分