Shane Wilson

 

Adelaide.

I started out where most Chefs do as a young dishy working at my local pub, keen to leave school I was offered an apprenticeship.

 

I enjoyed the rush of service working in a busy pub but by the end of my apprenticeship I had really found a passion for cooking and I was hungry to learn more and wanted to gain experience in fine dining.

Helping out at a gourmet traveller young Chefs dinner really inspired me at the time and I knew that I wanted to work in restaurants which lead me to eventually running restaurants like Hentley Farm and Bistro Dom to now co-owning Anchovy Bandit, Bandit Pizza and Wine and Bottega Bandito.

I feel like I realised I wanted to be a Chef by about the third year of my apprenticeship, but now I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

I would say my style is very flavour driven. I like big punchy flavours, sourcing quality ingredients and little pops of native Australian flavours. I like using whole animals and really trying to bring the best out of an ingredient.

Salumi XO is a sauce we make from our salumi offcuts that features in a bunch of different ways and dishes. It’s always a bit of a go-to for us.

I never really had a great mentor as a young Chef, but working for a short time with Ayhan Erkoc really impacted me at the time and made me realise how much I had to learn. It was a big turning point in my career.

I love the creative aspect of it, the people you meet and the fact that you never stop learning.

Soy sauce.

 

Green ants.

I don’t really like anything staying on the menu long enough to become a signature dish because customers then get annoyed when you take it off! But my current favourite is duck and chive ravioli, pan sauce and fermented fennel.

I have two pets, both named after rappers - a rabbit named Biggie Smalls and a dog called Sampa the Great.

I have a restaurant that I want to open, so I hope in five years I will be doing that!