AUSTRALIAN GOOD FOOD GUIDE - Home of the Chef Hat Awards
Connor Turnbull
Born:
Middlesbrough, England
History:
I’m a strong believer that nobody gets to where they want to go in life on their own. I'm a direct result of the people that believed, guided and inspired me and there have been many. Hard work and discipline can take you half the way but everything else is borrowed.
My Chef journey started with a hunger for travel, adventure and a full belly. In true English fashion my first kitchen job was at a fish and chip bar.
My inability to be stationary for too long quickly progressed me from fish and chips to multiple Michelin-starred kitchens, world travel catering for a Formula 1 team until I eventually landed in the global culinary powerhouse of Melbourne.
After short but inspiring spells at city restaurants such as the likes of Vue De Monde and Society, I woke up as the Head Chef of a brand new cosy wine bar in Neerim South called Neeri Nuff.
Have you always wanted to be a Chef?
In the Chef world I'm somewhat of a late starter and only started cooking at the age of 21. I don’t have a romanticised beginning of baking cookies with my Grandma although she did make the best cookies. I had an appetite that didn’t match my size and a work ethic that could only be tamed by the demands of a kitchen.
How would you define your style?
Opposites attract. Hot and cold, sweet and sour, land and sea, crunchy and soft. Contrasting yet complementary styles and flavours.
What is your feature flavour these days?
Rotates frequently between fermented, pickles or smoked.
Obsessive-compulsive about?
Change. At Neeri Nuff snacks and small bites are the foundation of our menu. they change almost weekly to match the produce we have available through our kitchen garden and suppliers.
Your greatest culinary influence:
Craig Lunn, Niall Keating, Stuart Barber and Greg Anderson.
What do you love about this business?
At Neeri Nuff, I’ve been able to reconnect with all the things that first make you fall in love with the industry. From being able to grow our own produce in the kitchen garden, having direct in person contact with our suppliers, being able to visit the farms and gardens of the suppliers we work with, knowing our restaurant guests by name and of course the creative freedom that comes with a seasonal produce-driven restaurant menu.
An ingredient you can’t live without?
Garden herbs and edible flowers.
Most ‘eyebrow-raising’ menu item?
We recently launched a monthly changing filled chocolate that we make at the restaurant. The flavours utilise the best of local produce and our garden produce. This month’s flavour consists of blue cheese with fermented chili and garden blood plums.
Signature dish:
Gippsland beef sirloin with fermented lettuce, dill and date puree. This dish best highlights the restaurant’s use of contrasting but complimentary flavours such as the sweetness of dates matched with the richness of the beef, the herbaceous flavour of dill combined with our fermented garden lettuce and the smoked beef fat in our sweet and sour beef jus.
What can diners expect when they eat at your restaurant and what makes the experience special?
I often describe Neeri Nuff as unassumingly excellent. We’re a very new restaurant, located in a very small town, nestled between the local hardware store and local café. We have an incredibly small but passionate team, extensive localised wine list, large variety of menu options from snacks to small plates to larger share plates. The guest always comes first and we aim to meet every guest's expectations and more.
What is your go-to meal at home when you don’t feel like cooking?
Sausages from our local butcher ‘Jindi Pig’ and scrambled eggs. Minimum effort, maximum satisfaction.
Tell us something no one knows about you?
I’ve travelled to more than 30 different countries and lived in 4 of them.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
Hopefully I will be a respected and well-regarded contributor to the food scene here in Australia, sharing knowledge, life stories and recipes. I’m very much a work in progress fortunate enough to be located in one of the greatest food regions globally which I intend to take full advantage of.
Neeri Nuff Wine Bar & Kitchen
For a dining experience that is truly connected to the land and people who nurture it, head to Neeri Nuff Wine Bar & Kitchen on Main Neerim Road in Neerim. A stylish vibe of dark teal walls, banquette seating at marble-topped tables and seductive overhead pendent lights sets the mood for romantic rendezvous, family celebrations or after-work catchups. From a menu showcasing the best of Gippsland produce coupled with a broad wine selection, begin with small plates of torched scallops, fermented chilli butter and spring onion, or smoked trout on a brown butter crumpet with fennel jam. For the main, think confit Atlantic salmon, yeast beurre blanc, pickled grapes and a mixed leaf salad on the side with radish and pickled red onion; finish with garden berry souffle, ice cream and candied nuts.
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