Episodes

  • #340 Sam Field | Molly Rose Brewing

    #340 Sam Field | Molly Rose Brewing
    Mar 14 2026
    Sam Field is head chef at Molly Rose Brewing in Collingwood, but his way into kitchens started much earlier as a 13-year-old kitchen porter in England, working after school and learning by watching. Since then he has cooked in pubs, fine dining venues, cafés and now one of Melbourne’s more interesting brewery kitchens, where the menu leans European by way of local produce and very drinkable beer. Sam is thoughtful about kitchens, about the culture inside them as much as the food that comes out. He still carries the discipline of fine dining, even if these days it shows up in something as deceptively simple as a very well considered schnitzel.
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    35 mins
  • #339 George Calombaris | Auto Greek

    #339 George Calombaris | Auto Greek
    Mar 11 2026
    George Calombaris is back in Melbourne with Auto Greek, a pop-up at Bar Yarra in the Ovolo Hotel in South Yarra. A week in, the room is full of familiar faces and new ones too. For George, the project feels a little like bringing the band back together. In this conversation he reflects on nearly three decades in hospitality and what he still believes Melbourne can be as a food city. He also talks about the food itself. Neo-classic Greek cooking that is simple, generous and deeply personal. Think watermelon with feta, lamb chops over wood fire and vegetables grown from heirloom seeds. George is thoughtful, philosophical and still completely animated by the power of a good plate of food to make people happy.
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    17 mins
  • #338 Axel Archenti | Bottega

    #338 Axel Archenti | Bottega
    Feb 21 2026
    Axel Archenti arrived at Bottega in 2017 on a working holiday visa and never left. He broke down three goats at his trial, worked his way through the kitchen, and became head chef in 2023. It’s his first head chef role, and he has embraced it. Axel cooks Italian food with an Australian accent, celebrating local produce and native ingredients. The menu is seasonal, but ever evolving, practical, and grounded in the reality of a busy dining room that fills fast before curtain-up at the nearby theatres. Axel talks thoughtfully about simplicity, about knowing when not to experiment, and about building a kitchen culture where people actually like coming to work. This was a generous conversation, and I loved every minute of it.
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    32 mins
  • #337 Jean-Baptiste Dumas | The Hospitality Cup

    #337 Jean-Baptiste Dumas | The Hospitality Cup
    Feb 16 2026
    Hospitality is a team sport. You feel it most on a busy service, when everyone’s tired, slightly wired, and relying on each other to get through the shift. Jean Baptiste Dumas, JB to his friends knows that world well. He worked at France Soir for years, and noticed something familiar: the same people who thrive in service also light up around sport. In 2019, he turned that overlap into something practical. A five-a-side soccer tournament for hospitality venues. It began as a kick about in a Melbourne park. It’s now the Hospitality Cup, with tournaments across Australia and the US. The Hospitality Cup has united teams from some of Australia’s most iconic venues and groups, including Rae’s, Icebergs, Aria, Merivale, the Scott Pickett Group, Attica, DOC Pizza, Freddie’s Pizza and the Reymond Group.
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    14 mins
  • #336 Aidan Robinson | Chic de Partie

    #336 Aidan Robinson | Chic de Partie
    Feb 11 2026
    I love getting to check back in with someone I’ve spoken to a few years on. When I last spoke to Aidan Robinson from Chic de Partie Cake Couturier in 2022, he was figuring out life after Dinner by Heston. Now his cakes have found their way to Lady Gaga, Chappell Roan and Yungblud, yet the operation is still just him, a spreadsheet and beautiful buttercream. We talk about what the in-between years actually looked like: three-day bakes, clients who want childhood memories encapsulated in cake, and why fondant superheroes are a firm no. There’s also the unglamorous side: rising food costs, Valentine’s Day roulette, and literally doing everything on your own. It’s a relaxed catch up about craft, taste and the reality behind the polish.
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    28 mins
  • #335 Aitor Jeronimo Orive | Basque Txoko at Nobody's Baby Bar

    #335 Aitor Jeronimo Orive | Basque Txoko at Nobody's Baby Bar
    Jan 24 2026
    I sat down with Aitor Jeronimo Orive, who’s in Melbourne right now for a pop-up at Nobody’s Baby in South Yarra. He was born in Madrid, raised in Australia, trained in Valencia, and went on to work in Michelin-starred kitchens in Spain, the Basque Country, London including Nerua, Mugaritz, and The Fat Duck before running his own one-star restaurant in Singapore, Basque Kitchen by Aitor. His cooking is grounded in Basque home food: charcoal, seafood, stews, big cuts of meat, and that’s what he’s cooking here. We talked about growing up between countries, his family’s cooking, life in high-pressure kitchens, and what brought him back to Melbourne.
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    32 mins
  • #334 Nick Deligiannis | Bar Sophia

    #334 Nick Deligiannis | Bar Sophia
    Jan 18 2026
    Nick Deligiannis and I last spoke almost three years ago at Audrey’s in Sorrento, in the thick of summer service and seafood season. Now he’s at Bar Sophia in Glen Iris, a Greek wine bar built around one key limitation that’s also its best feature: a woodfire oven and no stoves. We talk about how that shapes everything, from menu thinking to prep discipline, plus his recent time in Greece, the Athens Riviera influence, and his focus on simple food finished with bold dressings, freshness and acidity, including house-made halloumi made from scratch each week.
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    22 mins
  • #333 Ben John | Bistro X at The StandardX

    #333 Ben John | Bistro X at The StandardX
    Dec 30 2025
    Ben John is the chef behind BistroX at The StandardX in Fitzroy. He trained in Aotearoa New Zealand, came up through some of Naarm’s most exacting kitchens, and has led teams at places where standards are high and pressure is constant. At BistroX, he’s building something deliberately more relaxed: a neighbourhood bistro inside a hotel that doesn’t really feel like a hotel at all. We talk about suppliers and seasons, teaching young chefs properly, breaking down whole animals, and what leadership looks like now compared with when he was coming up. We also talk about balance, longevity, and how to stay generous in a demanding industry. I really enjoyed this conversation. Ben is thoughtful, grounded and deeply committed to the craft.
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    28 mins