In memory of Kerby Craig, here's the podcast I recorded with him in 2014. I listened back to this episode after I heard about Kerby being gone and it made me re-remember all these great things from that day, so I thought I should share these st

Billy Wong – Golden Century, XOPP

Feb 8th, 2022 47m 31s

The best dish in the world, according to chef David Chang, could be found at Golden Century – the Sydney institution that Billy Wong's family ran in Chinatown for more than three decades. There was more to Golden Century than the XO pipis, thou

Paul Carmichael – Momofuku Seiobo

Mar 30th, 2021 1h 17m

“I literally got here and the first two weeks, everybody quit." Despite this challenging start to becoming Momofuku Seiobo's executive chef, Paul Carmichael has since scored many awards (both Gourmet Traveller and Time Out named him Chef of th

Joanna Hunkin – Gourmet Traveller

Oct 23rd, 2020 1h 1m

Reporting from murder scenes and interviewing Lorde live at the Grammys – that's what Joanna Hunkin did before she became editor at Gourmet Traveller. Enduring these high-pressure situations meant she wasn't too shaken by her first year at the

Topher Boehm – Wildflower

Oct 18th, 2020 1h 23m

They're not obvious candidates for making beer: wattle, strawberry gum and leftover sourdough from Ester. Topher Boehm turns to flower cuttings and other NSW-only ingredients to create wild ales for Wildflower, the Sydney brewery he runs with b

Natalie Paull – Beatrix and "Beatrix Bakes"

Jun 17th, 2020 43m 12s

Natalie Paull once pointed a brûlée torch flame in the wrong direction – and accidentally set a whole docket rail of dessert orders on fire. She's endured brownie explosions and baking disasters, too. But people rightly associate Natalie wit

Shinobu Namae – L’Effervescence, Bricolage Bread & Co.

May 11th, 2020 41m 59s

Shinobu Namae runs one of Tokyo's best restaurants: L'Effervescence. It has two Michelin stars and is known for its sustainable focus (nearly everything served to diners comes from Japan, even the cheese) and the menu is inspired by everything

Charlotte Ree – "Just Desserts"

Mar 25th, 2020 46m 44s

Charlotte Ree once ate 30 different kinds of croissants during a trip to France – then got a croissant tattoo afterwards. She's so dedicated to pastries that she'll stay up until 5:30am to finish a baking marathon. Pulling 120 cakes out of the

Angie Prendergast-Sceats – Angie's Food, Two Good

Dec 23rd, 2019 1h 12m

Angie Prendergast-Sceats once was an olive oil judge, where she had to watch out for vintages that tasted like "rancid feet" and "baby vomit" (such references really did appear on the flavour chart that's deployed in these contests). But for th

Monty Koludrovic – The Dolphin, Icebergs Dining Room and Bar

Nov 29th, 2019 38m 45s

“I was the guy who had the cream gun explode, trying to top the iced coffee.” Monty Koludrovic's early days in hospitality were "pretty calamitous", but one triumph was ending up in the kitchen of The Boathouse at Blackwattle Bay. It was a meal

Josh Niland – Saint Peter, Fish Butchery

Sep 14th, 2019 1h 14m

Josh Niland can make fish scales taste like sugary cereal and fish eyeballs resemble prawn crackers. In his hands, seafood can become Christmas ham, mortadella and caramel slice. He can even turn calamari sperm into something you'd want to eat

Jordan Toft – Bert's, Coogee Pavilion, Bar Topa, The Collaroy

Aug 11th, 2019 1h 11m

Jordan Toft has been a chef for Saudi royalty and he's run a chalet in the Haute-Savoie in the French Alps. In Sydney, he's known for his work at Bert's (which was nominated for New Restaurant of the Year in the last Gourmet Traveller restauran

Kirsha Kaechele – Eat The Problem, MONA

Aug 5th, 2019 56m 11s

Sweet and sour cane-toad legs. Multiple cat recipes. A deadly cocktail you’re not meant to serve. These are some of the fascinating (and deliberately provocative) things you’ll find in Eat The Problem, the 544-page book by American artist and c

Ardyn Bernoth and Roslyn Grundy - Good Food and Good Food Guide

Jul 22nd, 2019 34m 38s

Eating near a nuclear submarine base on a Chinese island and dining with Tamil tea pickers in Sri Lanka – these are some of the memorable meals that Ardyn Bernoth and Roslyn Grundy have experienced over the years. Given their many years coverin

Luke Burgess – Only In Tokyo

Jun 29th, 2019 38m 35s

Tokyo isn't the most obvious place to seek out pizza, but the wood-fired slices here are better than anything you'd find in Italy. That's what chef Luke Burgess believes – and it's a case he makes in Only In Tokyo, the new book he's co-authored

Hugh Allen – Vue de Monde, Noma

Jun 18th, 2019 38m 15s

You don't need a roof or floor to run a great restaurant – that's what Hugh Allen learnt while working at Noma's Mexico pop-up. And yes, there were issues. "If it rained, the guests had to come sit in the kitchen," he says. Simple things, like

Mark Best – The Final Table, Bistro by Mark Best, Marque

May 25th, 2019 1h 5m

Imagine being a 16-year-old working in a Western Australian gold mine. This was Mark Best's life, straight after high school. It was a tough way to earn money as an electrician, so he eventually left. “I arrived in Sydney and found myself unqua

Tim Watkins – Black Market Sake, Automata

Apr 18th, 2019 1h 11m

Tim Watkins' parents needed a cooking course to learn how to use a microwave (which led to one Christmas turkey disaster) and he didn't eat broccoli or cauliflower until he was an adult. So life in the restaurant world might not have been the m

Kate Reid – Lune Croissanterie

Mar 7th, 2019 1h 5m

Would you line up at two AM in zero-degree weather, just for a croissant? People would regularly do that all the time, purely for the chance to try Kate Reid's pastries. The New York Times, after all, said her croissants are "the finest you wil

Daniel Puskas – Sixpenny

Mar 4th, 2019 56m 16s

Daniel Puskas started his career slicing tomatoes, but eventually ended up in the kitchen of Alinea, the acclaimed Chicago restaurant known for turning mozzarella curds into balloons filled with tomato foam. His experience there was part of his

Caitlyn Rees – Cirrus, Fred's, Momofuku Seiobo

Feb 15th, 2019 1h 20m

How to make cider from 300-year-old pear trees, what it's like to work alongside Dan Barber at one of the world's best restaurants and how it feels scoring Gourmet Traveller's Sommelier of the Year award – Caitlyn Rees can give you a first-hand

Carlo Mirarchi – Roberta's, Blanca

Jan 21st, 2019 41m 58s

A near-death experience in Australia plays a surprising role in the launch of Roberta's, the much-loved New York pizzeria. When Carlo Mirarchi almost drowned on the NSW coastline, it inspired him to rethink his career path – and galvanised him

Adam Wolfers – Etelek

Dec 24th, 2018 58m 9s

"You can't f--k with the matzo ball soup." That's what Adam Wolfers learnt from his grandmother. Etelek, his pop-up restaurant, is inspired by the chef's Eastern European background. It's a history that draws on memories of his grandmother tend

Shannon Martinez, Mo Wyse, El Rosa – Smith & Deli, Smith & Daughters

Dec 15th, 2018 40m 7s

People actively smuggle Smith & Deli's food onto planes – that's how addictive the dishes are. Interstate regulars even bring their own Tupperware containers and cooler bags, so they can enjoy the food at home. That's the power of what Shannon

Jowett Yu – Ho Lee Fook, Mr Wong, Ms.G's, Canton Disco

Nov 19th, 2018 51m 11s

Jowett Yu was working at Tetsuya's – then in the Top 5 of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants – but couldn’t even afford a bed. It was a wild time (just listen to the memorable "pep talk" that head chef Martin Benn gave when the restaurant reached