By Leigh O’Connor.
Hats off to all the hard-working Australian female Chefs out there…you may not get the same recognition as your male counterparts but we all know who runs the kitchen in many restaurants around the country.
As we prepare to announce the 2023 AGFG Chef Hat Awards, here are five Chefs you need to put on your radar:
Meals have always been associated with tradition, family and memories for Hentley Farm Executive Chef Clare Falzon.
In charge of the kitchen at this iconic 17-hatted dining destination in the Barossa Valley, Clare’s career began as a 15-year-old washing dishes at her local Italian restaurant in Sydney. Completing her apprenticeships at a club, Clare says she was cooking very basic food but loved being in the kitchen – the satisfaction of cooking a new dish and having good service.
Moving to Hentley Farm meant she could work closely with a community producing exceptional produce, allowing her to highlight key ingredients and letting subtle flavours lift each other and shine in their own light.
Young George Executive Chef and co-owner Melissa Palinkas runs a sustainable kitchen, making the best use of every part of vegetables and meat, minimising waste and plastic use.
Reducing the restaurant’s carbon footprint is paramount to her ethos, sauces are stored in recycled glass jars and single-use plastics have all but been eliminated.
Her nose-to-tail and ‘root-to-shoot’ approach to cooking have put this 13-hatted Fremantle restaurant on the Australian culinary map; nestled in a beautiful heritage building, expect a unique neighbourhood bar with a serious focus on food.
Melissa produces globally-inspired dishes perfect for sharing – start with snacks of beef chop chop taratare, salsa fresca, fried jalapenos and cremar; followed by pork belly, cavalo nero, fennel, capers and pistachio. From the wood-fired oven come choices such as buttermilk chicken steak, potato cream and nettle verde.
An embodiment of a new approach to fine dining, 12-hatted Tedesca Osteria in Red Hill is headed in the kitchen by Chef and co-owner Brigette Hafner. This 30-seat restaurant is run alongside a biodynamic farm and works with a handful of produce growers.
"Tedesca is my dream, a beautiful place to eat and drink. It is about art, wine, music, nature, architecture, stories, theatre…life and joy,” she says.
Housed in a 1940s restored farmhouse, converted by Brigette’s architect partner Patrick Ness, Tedesca has an open kitchen centred around a wood-fired brick hearth and delivers dishes from antipasto and handmade pasta to seafood, meat and decadent desserts.
Expect soul-warming country-style fare like crispy coral trout, tangelo citrus sauce and pistachio; duck tortellini, sage and brown butter sauce may tempt, before Malay wood-grilled chicken and sides.
In November 2019, Jung Eun Chae began a six-seat namesake Korean restaurant out of her one-bedroom apartment in Brunswick.
This modest, yet unique restaurant epitomised her commitment to eliminating all noise associated with running a traditional restaurant and focused on one simple aim – cooking. It has now morphed into a unique space where Chae shares her journey of mastering traditional Korean fermentation techniques and promoting holistic wellness through healthy eating.
Now located in the middle of the hills and surrounded by greenery in Cockatoo, 50 km from Melbourne’s CBD, Chae’s natural approach to cooking harmonises with the backdrop of whispering gum leaves and the laugh of kookaburras.
Be prepared to wait to sample the fare as 12-hatted CHAE has a months-long wait list for a reservation and even operates a ballot system on the first Monday of every month to ensure all diners have an equal chance for a memorable meal.
Italian roots are the basis for the menu at 15-hatted Fico in Hobart, where co-owner and co-Head Chef Federica Adrisani works her magic in the kitchen along with her husband Oskar Rossi. The pair met when Oskar was working in the north of Italy, moving back to Hobart to stage a series of pop-up restaurants before opening Fico.
Focusing on local, seasonal and sustainable produce sourced from local growers and distributors, the menu changes weekly depending on what is available and draws on Italian heritage to provide a dining experience reflecting history and culinary tradition from the tables of Europe to Australia.
Think starters like Bass Strait scallops, carpaccio, yoghurt, capers, cumquat and fig leaf; and mains such as squid ink pappardelle with oyster emulsion and charred broccolini, before indulgent desserts to finish like brown butter sorbet, limoncello and pistachio.
