Shows
Spooko265. Heretic feat. Lee Tran LamThis film poses the most existentially difficult question of all: can Hugh Grant be scary?Once again we're joined by fellow podcaster Lee Tran Lam to dissect a24's latest horror film beginning with the letters "Here-".Find Lee Tran on:https://www.sbs.com.au/audio/podcast/should-you-really-eat-thathttps://powerhouse.com.au/stories/culinary-archive-podcast Follow us on Insta: @_spooko_And Join the Feel Bad Club on our discord: https://discord.gg/mJAJYCChGyCheck out our OTHER pod (about Gordon Ramsay): @peachandshagsnightmaremethodAnd find us on the dark...
2025-03-231h 19
The Content ByteLee Tran Lam on building a career in the food mediaThis week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne talk to freelance writer, podcaster and multi-tasker Lee Tran Lam about food, podcasting and trying to carve out a career as a freelancer, while still doing what you love. We talk about: The need to support young journalists Why podcasting is the future - and how you can make it pay Creating a podcast with the Powerhouse museum Her favourite meals and why writing about it helps to capture those moments forever How her early days as a subeditor informed and helped her writing Where to find Lee...
2023-01-2950 min
Dirty Linen - A Food Podcast with Dani ValentLee Tran Lam (New Voices on Food) - Difference is everything!Difference is everything! This week on Dirty Linen we're celebrating New Voices on Food #2, the food writing anthology that showcases diversity. Sydney-based editor Lee Tran Lam kicks off the series. Why do we need a book like this? What does it tell us about the state of food media and the hospitality industry? And what are some of the most delicious and diverse bites Lee Tran has enjoyed recently?New Voices On Food 2: https://somekindpress.com/products/new-voices-on-food-2New Voices On Food 1: https://somekindpress.com/products/new-voices-on-foodInstagram: https://www...
2022-12-0441 min
Roots HospitalityEp. 29 Journalist Roundtable (Lee Tran Lam, Nick Jordan, Yvonne C. Lam)Ever wanted to ask those questions you've been asking yourself for years but had no-one from the field to talk to? Well, if you are in hospitality and curious about the perceptions of journalists in food media then you have come to the write place. I've taken this opportunity to bring together some of the best journalists in the Sydney food writing scene at the moment doing some incredible things. With Lee Tran Lam's focus of bringing out a new range of diverse voices in food media (Also published a great book with Somekind Press which is av...
2021-06-041h 53
One BiteS01 E12: Lee Tran Lam, Diversity in Food MediaIn this episode we hear from Lee Tran Lam, a freelance journalist and editor of New Voices on Food. Lee Tran has written about food for various publications, including Good Food, Gourmet Traveller, SBS Food, The Sun-Herald and The Guardian. She runs The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry podcast, Diversity in Food Media and presents Local Fidelity on FBi radio.
We talk about the impacts of COVID on hospitality and producers, how businesses have pivoted, food ecosystems, food media during the pandemic, racism and the need for diverse voices in food. You can find Lee Tran on...
2020-12-0647 min
The Fat - A Mary's PodcastTHE FAT #29 LEE TRAN LAM - New Voices on FoodThe definition of LOW-KEY BOSS, Lee Tran Lam is one of the most important voices in the wonderful world of Food.Lee Tran is a food writer, critic, podcaster and commentator, and is one of our favourite people.Her latest project, "New Voices on Food" & "Diversity in Food Media" is profound, important and inspiring. BUY IT NOW!VIVA LA DIVERSITE!!NOW FUCKING SUBSCRIBE!CHECK OUT LEE TRAN HEREhttps://somekindpress.com/products/new-voices-on-foodhttps://www.instagram.com/leetranlam/https://www.instagram.com/diversityinfoodmedia.au/
2020-11-261h 21
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryNatalie Paull – Beatrix and "Beatrix Bakes" 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 with oven-baked triumphs – like the brilliant sweets from her popular Beatrix bakery in Melbourne. Think passionfruit cloud chiffon cakes, Tart-A-Misu, Moroccan Snickers tarts, cinnamon-glazed apple fry pies (without the fryer’s remorse!) and more. Her sugar-laced cakes have a transformative power – even for people who've undergone heartbreak and tragedy. Natalie has received letters of appreciation that have made...
2020-06-1743 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryShinobu Namae – L’Effervescence, Bricolage Bread & Co.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 from McDonald's fried apple pie to world peace. Even the dish names are memorable (you can order something called 'Hurrah')! Namae-san has worked for Michel Bras in Hokkaido (the story behind this proves that overeating in New York is always a good thing to do) and he was Heston Blumenthal's sous-chef at The Fat Duck. Even though Namae-san...
2020-05-1141 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryCharlotte Ree – "Just Desserts"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 oven during the hours people reserve for sleeping – and then going to work the next day, as communications manager for Pan Macmillan (the publisher of Hetty McKinnon's cookbooks) – well, that's just a normal whirlwind day for Charlotte. Charlotte's love of all things sweet is clear on every page of Just Desserts, her latest cookbook. It features recipes for Nu...
2020-03-2546 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryAngie Prendergast-Sceats – Angie's Food, Two GoodAngie 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 the last three years, she's been the culinary director and head chef of Two Good, which used recipes by top chefs (Peter Gilmore, Christine Manfield, Ben Shewry) to create soups and salads that would be sent to women in domestic violence shelters. You'd order two soups: keep one and the other would be donated to someone in...
2019-12-231h 12
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMonty Koludrovic – The Dolphin, Icebergs Dining Room and Bar“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 there, at age 12 (that he can still recap with incredible accuracy), that inspired him to pursue a career in restaurants. Since 2014, Monty Koludrovic has overseen dishes at Icebergs Dining Room and he later became executive chef of Maurice Terzini's other venues: The Dolphin, Scout, Bondi Beach Public Bar and Ciccia Bella. Besides introducing exce...
2019-11-2938 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryJosh Niland – Saint Peter, Fish ButcheryJosh 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 (no really)! His creative, waste-free approach to using every fin and scale is a response to the typical method of ditching 60 per cent of everything caught from the sea (“How is that 40 per cent of a fish is getting all the credit?”) and his innovative thinking is showcased at his acclaimed Saint Peter restaurant, Fish Butchery shop, and within the...
2019-09-141h 14
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryJordan Toft – Bert's, Coogee Pavilion, Bar Topa, The CollaroyJordan 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 restaurant awards), The Collaroy, Bar Topa and Coogee Pavilion. His next venture – a restaurant on the middle floor at Coogee Pavilion – has been more than four years in the making. Jordan started his career as a teenager and has since worked with many great chefs (he was mentored by Peter Doyle during an infl...
2019-08-111h 11
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryKirsha Kaechele – Eat The Problem, MONASweet 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 curator Kirsha Kaechele. It’s part cookbook and art project, with an impressive list of collaborators (including chefs Dominique Crenn, Peter Gilmore, Christine Manfield and Enrique Olvera) and pages that are filled with creative ways of dealing with invasive species (pig's eyeball margaritas or starfish-on-a-stick, anyone?). Eat The Problem is also the inspiration behind an exhibition of the...
2019-08-0556 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryArdyn Bernoth and Roslyn Grundy - Good Food and Good Food GuideEating 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 covering food (Ardyn is currently the national editor of Good Food, Ros is the deputy print editor of Good Food – and both have senior roles on the Good Food Guide), it's not surprising that they've eaten far and wide. What is surprising is how restaurant life is something they both experienced very early on – when their families entered the ho...
2019-07-2234 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryLuke Burgess – Only In TokyoTokyo 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 with fellow chef (and Japan-o-phile) Michael Ryan. In the podcast, we really nerd out about Tokyo's best pizza spots (from the life-changing Savoy to new favourite Pizza Studio Tamaki, both photographed by Luke for the book). We also talk about the book's other Tokyo highlights (from the city's best egg sandwich to a tr...
2019-06-2938 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryHugh Allen – Vue de Monde, NomaYou 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 boiling water, became a mission that could take hours. And yet, this ended up being one of the best working experiences of his life. The chef's three years with Noma also spanned its Sydney residency and its recent relocation in Copenhagen. I met Hugh last year, after saving up to ea...
2019-06-1838 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMark Best – The Final Table, Bistro by Mark Best, MarqueImagine 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 unqualified for above-ground work.” He ended up even deeper underground, claustrophobic and covered in fibreglass and varnish, trying to install battery packs on submarines at Cockatoo Island. “I literally will die if I don’t do something with my life,” he told himself. So he decided to cook professionally. Not long after this...
2019-05-251h 05
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryTim Watkins – Black Market Sake, AutomataTim 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 most obvious career path. After a few detours (including a stint as a shoe salesman), he ended up serving diners at acclaimed restaurants such as Pilu at Freshwater. He got a reputation for singing "Happy Birthday" in Italian to guests and he would go on to win Sommelier of the Year in the...
2019-04-191h 11
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryKate Reid – Lune CroissanterieWould 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 will find anywhere in the world, and alone worth a trip across the dateline". Other fans include René Redzepi, Nigella Lawson and Helen Goh. Originally, Kate spent over a decade pursuing her dream job of being an aerospace engineer for Formula One car racing. She was the only woman in her role (and i...
2019-03-071h 05
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryDaniel Puskas – SixpennyDaniel 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 Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year prize. It's one of many honours he's earned throughout his career: he was also named the Citi Chef of the Year in 2018’s Good Food Guide, and Sixpenny is one of only three Sydney restaurants that's achieved three chef hats in the latest guide. You currently have to book two months ahead to...
2019-03-0456 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryCaitlyn Rees – Cirrus, Fred's, Momofuku SeioboHow 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 account of all of these standout experiences. When she was at Fred's in Sydney (where she served fascinating wines from the Adelaide Hills to Armenia), she was singled out by Gourmet Traveller as Australia's best sommelier in the magazine's 2018 restaurant guide. And because she won Melbourne Food and Wine Festival’s Hostplus Hospitality Scho...
2019-02-151h 20
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryCarlo Mirarchi – Roberta's, BlancaA 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 to help start Roberta's in Bushwick. In 2007, it opened with such a minimal set-up (there was no gas and staff had to boil water in the wood-fired oven), so the chef often prepped food at home before getting to the restaurant. Despite its lo-fi beginnings, Roberta's would end up ranked #6 on list of 20 Most Important Restaurants by Bon Appétit and...
2019-01-2141 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryAdam Wolfers – Etelek"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 tending to six pots on the stove at a time, as well as his grandfather Julius' time as a concentration camp survivor (an extraordinary tale that's been documented by Steven Spielberg). Carrot schnitzel, scallop pretzel puffs and honey cake with wattleseed honeycomb are just a few of things you’ll find at Etelek, which is running at Potts Point un...
2018-12-2458 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryShannon Martinez, Mo Wyse, El Rosa – Smith & Deli, Smith & DaughtersPeople 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 Martinez, Mo Wyse and El Rosa are doing at the popular Melbourne vegan deli – which is the subject of their new book, Smith & Deli-cious: Food From Our Deli (That Happens to be Vegan). They've reconnected people to dishes they thought they never could eat again, with clever and convincing replicas of meaty and dairy-heavy recipes. Shannon's plant-based take on s...
2018-12-1540 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryJowett Yu – Ho Lee Fook, Mr Wong, Ms.G's, Canton DiscoJowett 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 #4 on the list) and the kitchen was full of upcoming stars: Daniel Puskas (Sixpenny), Clayton Wells (Automata), Phil Wood (Laura), Luke Powell (LP's Quality Meats) and Dan Hong – who Jowett bonded with, because they basically had the same haircut and similar cultural backgrounds. Together, Dan and Jowett would go on to open Lotus, Ms...
2018-11-1951 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryChristine Manfield – Tasting India, Universal$10,099 – that's how much someone is asking for their copy of Christine Manfield's Tasting India cookbook on Amazon. Sure, India Today called it the book to give native newlywed couples once they head overseas, so it's a prized publication – but luckily, the new updated version of the award-winning book is much more budget-friendly (and includes new chapters on Hyderabad, Punjab and Gujarat, too). While Christine Manfield is known as the acclaimed chef behind restaurants such as Paramount, East@West and Universal, we spend a lot of this podcast talking about her travels to India – a country that she's constan...
2018-11-0236 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryBo Bech – Geist"The most interesting place in Europe to eat” – that's how Noma's René Redzepi described Bo Bech's first restaurant, Paustian. The Copenhagen venue was located in the last building Jørn Utzon ever designed – and the Sydney Opera House architect was one of Bech's regular diners. (You need to hear the story behind the dish that Bech created for Utzon, which the chef talks about near the end of the podcast.) "When I stepped into the kitchen at the age of 24, my world flipped." Bech became a chef at a relatively late age – enduring terrible food during a peacekeepi...
2018-10-2047 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungrySu Wong Ruiz – Momofuku Ko, Momofuku Seiobo“It was probably the singular worst experience of my life, because Noodle Bar will kick your ass.” Sure, Su Wong Ruiz's first go at working for David Chang's Momofuku restaurant empire wasn't exactly a success. (“My ass was completely flattened by that experience,” she says.) But over time, she became part of the acclaimed, three-hat-earning launch team for his Momofuku Seiobo restaurant in Sydney (Chang claimed this was his first venue "where the front of house is equal to, if not better than, the kitchen team"). Then Su went on to work for Momofuku's Ma Peche (where she met future S...
2018-10-1255 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungrySunny and Ross Lusted – The Bridge RoomThey’ve worked in Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Croatia, Greece, Bali and the Carribean. At one point, Ross had a job in Singapore while Sunny was in Chicago – and somehow, they ended up commuting and making it work. The couple were drawn back to Australia, though, because Ross had his eye on a restaurant location in Sydney: it had been his dream venue for 10 years. And once the site became available, the pair turned it into The Bridge Room (despite a floor that literally exploded and some awkward $50,000 phone calls to ensure the interiors met heritage restrictions). Previously, Ross...
2018-10-021h 00
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryKylie Javier Ashton – Momofuku SeioboKylie Javier Ashton has dealt with forged bookings and martini glass accidents; she's disguised Alex Atala with garbage bags, and endured countless people throwing up when she's been on the job (“you could see the frequency of the voms go up when the scampi dish was on” is one of the most memorable lines from this interview). Having survived all that, it's clear that she still loves her work and wants people to join the industry (as her involvement in Women In Hospitality, Appetite For Excellence and Grow shows). Kylie Javier Ashton got her start at Tetsuya’s, whe...
2018-09-091h 14
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryTravis Harvey – OzHarvestTurning unwanted coconuts into 2000 curries, 10 tonnes of donated squash into soup, leftover egg yolks from 16,000 Black Star Pastry watermelon-strawberry cakes into banana curd and working out what to do with 800 kilograms of airplane food picked up from the domestic airport gate – these are just some of the things that Travis Harvey handles as executive chef of a food-rescue charity. Working at OzHarvest means he's had to be pretty creative: for instance, he takes the most wasted ingredient in Australia – bread – and transforms it into dishes like fried Lazarus bread or ramen noodles at OzHarvest's pop-up cafe at Gratia...
2018-08-0446 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryJoe Beddia – Pizzeria BeddiaJoe Beddia makes "America's best pizza", according to Bon Appétit magazine. The chef/owner of Philadelphia’s Pizzeria Beddia has also been referred to as Pizza Jesus and the Jiro of Pizza. He shrugs off what he does as "just pizza", but people would line up many hours (sometimes even arriving before Joe got to work!) just to try his pies. He only made 40 pizzas a night – and he produced each one from scratch over the restaurant's five-year run. Joe is currently on a world tour that he hopes doesn’t make people hate him – he's been to Fr...
2018-07-2038 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungrySharon Salloum – Almond Bar, 3 Tomatoes, Cook For SyriaIt's not surprising that Sharon Salloum would pursue a career in food – her dad has a thing for DIY cooking devices and even pioneered a shopping trolley/fridge shelf/lawnmower barbecue. Her mother and grandmother taught her the power of food around the family table, and their recipes inspired her Almond Bar cookbook – which landed her two international Gourmand Cookbook awards. Just hearing Sharon talk about Syrian dishes is the very opposite of a hunger suppressant; it will make you want to order her food immediately. But Sharon actually decided to work in healthcare before teaming up with...
2018-06-1152 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungrySamin Nosrat - Author of Salt, Fat, Acid, HeatSamin Nosrat has written one of the most-talked-about and celebrated cookbooks of the last year, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Her trophy shelf includes a James Beard Award for General Cooking and the Julia Child First Book Award. It's an amazing effort for an "uncookbook" that she's spent 15 years working on. While in college, she saved for seven months to eat at Chez Panisse, the Californian farm-to-table restaurant run by Alice Waters – this life-changing meal convinced Nosrat that she needed to work there. And although she started with entry-level duties, such as cleaning the restaurant, she was very ex...
2018-06-031h 02
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryEve Yeung - NomaThe first restaurant Eve Yeung ever worked at was Noma - yes, the Copenhagen establishment named the World's Best Restaurant four times. So how did she end up in René Redzepi's renowned kitchen at the age of 18? The young pastry chef actually considered becoming a competitive hockey player (a path she pursued while working at Noma) and before she was preparing desserts in the high-profile restaurant, she worked at Long Island's best bakery – making extravagant cakes to celebrate people's milestones: one staggering creation, to commemorate someone's law degree, featured a legal book of torts and judge's gavel; she...
2018-04-0750 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryAlexandra Carroll (Alex Craig) - Author of New York and ParisThey're two of the dining capitals of the world and they're explored (and beautifully photographed) by Alexandra Carroll in her books, New York: An Inspired Wander Through Manhattan and the Brooklyn Boroughs and Paris: An Inspired Wander Through the City of Lights. So it's no surprise that we talk about memorable bagels and croissants, the fact that Alex had to eat a lot of cheese to get the job done, as well as remarkable venues that are not Michelin-starred institutions – from Clown Bar, with its surprising history, to Dans Le Noir, a restaurant staffed by blind people th...
2018-03-171h 04
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryJock Zonfrillo - Orana, Bistro Blackwood At age 11, Jock Zonfrillo started working in restaurants - initially, as a dishwasher. "I very quickly surmised that I was on the wrong side of the flying frying pan." Only a few weeks in, he became a chef, an experience that would take him from Scotland to the rest of the world: from cooking for Prince Charles in Paris (assisting Marco Pierre White, who attempted to enter France by sticky-taping his photo on top of someone else's passport – true story) to Australia, where a four-hour life-changing conversation with an Aboriginal busker in Sydney opened him to the wor...
2018-01-1945 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMyffy Rigby, Palisa Anderson, Trisha Nelson – Live at RootstockGood Food Guide editor Myffy Rigby, Chat Thai and Boon Cafe co-director Palisa Anderson and an actual legit winemaker, Trisha Nelson who runs Ajola in Lazio, Italy, joined me for a chat recorded live at the most recent Rootstock food and wine festival at Sydney's Carriageworks. So, we talk about memorable experiences with booze, totally nerd out about agriculture (given that Trisha produces organic wine via a vineyard in Italy and Palisa runs the Boon Luck Farm in Byron Bay), how to deal with people who freak out when they encounter "natural wine", the best places to...
2017-12-3036 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMorgan McGlone – Belles Hot Chicken Morgan McGlone's fried chicken has scored a standing ovation. At an event run Noma's Rene Redzepi, no less. Feeding the top chefs at MAD, the famous Copenhagen food symposium, is just one of many memorable instances of Morgan's eventful career. Long before he launched Belles Hot Chicken, Morgy started out cooking for huge volumes of Japanese tourists at a revolving restaurant in Sydney as well as working for Luke Mangan and Merivale. He staged for Pierre Gagnaire in Paris and assisted fashion photographer Todd Barry in New York – models apparently turned up to Barry's shoots because the food...
2017-12-211h 31
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryBen Shewry – Attica Ben Shewry's Attica is ranked #32 in the World's 50 Best Restaurants list and it's Restaurant of the Year in the first national Good Food Guide – but according to his son Kobe, Attica is "not bad" for a restaurant that doesn’t have a burger on the menu. Many years before Ben gained international acclaim for Attica's uniquely Australian dishes (from his inventive take on avocado on toast to a savoury pavlova), he was shaping margarine sculptures for hotel buffets and cooking New Zealand's biggest nachos for drunk students. While living in New Zealand, he met his wife...
2017-11-181h 51
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungrySarah Doyle – Bodega, Porteno, Continental Deli Bar Bistro, Wyno Sarah Doyle has played a pivotal role in Sydney's hospitality scene. But there was a time she worked three jobs just to help keep Bodega running. It was the first restaurant she opened with husband and chef Elvis Abrahanowicz, fellow co-owner and chef Ben Milgate and their business partner/sommelier Joe Valore. And it was a game-changer – its fun, punk, loud focus on good food and good times was a contrast to the mannered French fine-dining scene that was reigning in Sydney hospitality at the time. But the queues came – and they took the chance to follow it up with P...
2017-11-1158 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryDavid McGuinness – Bourke Street Bakery, The Bread and Butter Project David McGuinness has frequently taken his sourdough starter on holidays with him to keep it alive. "You have to feed it regularly, like a baby," he says. This dedication to bread is not surprising, given that he's the co-founder of Bourke Street Bakery, the Sydney institution that is loved for everything from its chocolate ganache tarts to its meat pies (Amy Schumer famously stopped by, straight from the airport, to try one during her Trainwreck press tour). Along with the bakery's co-founder, Paul Allam, David has co-authored two baking bibles – the original Bourke Street Bakery publication was ev...
2017-11-0343 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryShannon Martinez – Smith and Daughters, Smith and Deli "The chef said he was going to the bank and never came back." Shannon Martinez was working as a bartender at The East Brunswick hotel in Melbourne when she was asked to take over the kitchen. She happened to put a vegan parma on the menu and it blew up – the pub sold close to 300 portions on a Monday night, attracted huge queues and Pink even turned up with her security detail to try the dish. It proved to Shannon there was a massive interest in vegan food and it led to her running Smith & Daughters and Sm...
2017-10-1936 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryBrent Savage – Bentley, Monopole, Yellow, Cirrus"It was an old smashed-up pub that had no floor and no ceiling and no roof." It wasn't the greatest site, but Brent Savage and his business partner Nick Hildebrandt (somehow) transformed it into Bentley, the first restaurant they'd ever open together. 11 years later, they now run four acclaimed Sydney venues: Monopole, an award-winning wine bar; Yellow, a popular fine-dining vegetarian restaurant, and Cirrus, a well-reviewed seafood establishment. Brent got his start in the kitchens of renowned chefs (such as Phillip Searle's Vulcans and Mark Best's Marque) before going solo and being named Chef of the Year...
2017-10-1751 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryDuncan Welgemoed – Africola Duncan Welgemoed has the most incredible "becoming a chef" origin story I’ve ever heard – it's a crazy tale that also involves George Clooney and ends with Duncan quitting his job by escaping through a window. Duncan was prepping chicken intestines from the age of eight in South Africa, so maybe it's no surprise he ended up working at Michelin-starred restaurants run by Heston Blumenthal, Gordon Ramsay and Raymond Blanc. As a chef at the Adelaide Showgrounds, Duncan dealt with riders for Rammstein (their rider request was kind of adorable) and cooked for his favourite bands. He currently runs Africola...
2017-09-3052 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryKatherine Sabbath - Baker and Author of 'Greatest Hits'Some people have tattoos of Katherine Sabbath's desserts – that's how committed they are to her cakes. Given that the self-taught baker has around 400,000 followers, it's not a surprise that fans are so dedicated. Katherine's blockbuster creations range from a Palm Springs wedding cake to a cantilevered cake she made for an architect that involved actual hardware parts. She's also made birthday cakes for Andy Bowdy and Ken Done – and she's collaborated with fashion label Romance Was Born, too. Even though her desserts are epic, it's surprising to learn that her approach is actually lo-fi. She uses...
2017-09-2157 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryLennox Hastie - FiredoorMassimo Bottura once cried while eating Lennox Hastie’s food at Firedoor. When the chef behind Osteria Francescana, named world’s best restaurant in 2016, tears up while eating your steak, you must be doing something right. Perhaps that’s why Lennox was compelled to smuggle his signature dry-aged meat all the way to Italy when he visited Bottura recently. Also on Team Firedoor: Pete Wells, who is probably the most important food critic in the world. The New York Times journalist’s write-up of the Surry Hills restaurant was so favourable that Lennox ended up on the front cover...
2017-09-2154 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryDonato Toce - Gelato Messina, Messina Creative Department Yes, Donato Toce has gelato for breakfast. And he actually gets paid for it – it's part of his job. He is the "cow milker, sugar hauler, head chef and gelatiere" at Gelato Messina, the much-loved Sydney institution that sells desserts such as Elvis The Fat Years, Robert Brownie Jr, Biggie S’Mores, This Is How We Scroll and the Game of Cones range inspired by the seven kingdoms of Westeros. (There are also great non-pun-related flavours, too, like tiramisu, apple pie and pistachio – the latter made using nuts hand-picked by grandmothers at the foothills of Mount Etna). Donato used to be the...
2017-08-2357 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryJill Dupleix - Australia's Top 100 Restaurants Jill Dupleix grew up as the daughter of a sheep farmer and took an unusual route to becoming a food writer – it involved a phone book, a bike ride and a stint in the world of advertising. And meeting Terry Durack: “We hated each other on sight.” They not only married each other, they ended up reviewing restaurants together. Since those early days, she's written 16 cookbooks, been the editor of the Good Food Guide, food curator of TEDx and currently she's the co-director of the Australian Financial Review's program for Australia's Top Restaurants with Terry...
2017-08-0645 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryClayton Wells - Automata“It was pretty crazy, actually,” says Clayton Wells about opening Momofuku Seiobo, but he could also be describing the incredible response to his solo restaurant Automata. Since Automata’s launch in late 2015, Clayton has been named Australia’s Hottest Chef by The Weekend Australian magazine, Time Out Sydney gave him their Chef of the Year award and Automata has been voted #9 restaurant in the Australian Financial Review’s Top 100 Restaurants list for the second year running. Oh and the most important food critic in the world, Pete Wells, also held up Automata as a restaurant worthy of global recognitio...
2017-07-1833 min
The Mitchen with Andrew Levins and Mitch OrrEpisode 69: Master Of Buns (with Lee Tran Lam)We recorded this episode with one of our favourite regular guests Lee Tran Lam yesterday after lunch. On our ways home we received the news about our friend Jeremy Strode, an incredibly kind and generous chef who passed away early this week. He's someone who has appeared on the show in our early days and has probably inspired almost every other guest we've had on since. We'll speak about Jeremy and his legacy many, many times in the future but Mitch and I decided to record a short intro over the phone that we added to this episode this morning...
2017-07-181h 04
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryNikki To - Food PhotographerNikki To's first shoots involved helicopters – an interesting challenge as she's "kind of afraid of heights"! Becoming a food photographer was an unlikely progression from her original plans to be a human rights lawyer, but her eventual career path led to her work appearing in Broadsheet, Gourmet Traveller, Qantas' inflight mag and even Swedish "Gourmet" magazine. After assisting industry veterans such as Daniel Boud, Petrina Tinslay and Anson Smart, she went solo: framing portraits of famous chefs (Jamie Oliver, Marco Pierre White) and local talents (she's taken possibly the best-ever picture of Mitch Orr, ever). She's ended up...
2017-07-0350 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMike McEnearney - Kitchen By Mike, No 1 Bent St, Carriageworks Mike McEnearney’s career has been full of surprising turns. Sure, he’s worked for Neil Perry and Gordon Ramsay – but also for Damien Hirst, running the controversial artist’s Pharmacy restaurant, where even the toilets were unlike anything you’d predict. He’s been involved
2017-05-2654 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryPhil Gandevia - Bentley, Eau de Vie, The Roosevelt A cocktail inspired by Charles Dickens? Or experimental beverages that include Weet Bix milk or charred Jerusalem artichoke? These are just some examples of Phil Gandevia's highly inventive work – he's an award-winning bartender who modestly describes himself as “the bar guy” at Bentley, but there's no other person I would trust to include wasabi vinegar and olive brine in a drink and actually make it delicious. You might've spotted him behind the bar at Rambutan, Eau de Vie, The Roosevelt and The Apothecary – where he concocted superfoods cocktails that even a skeptical Ned Brooks (DRNKS, Moon Park) approved of. And for s...
2017-04-1758 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryRob Caslick - Two GoodRob Caslick has designed lights for the blind, been deployed to Iraq as a naval boarding officer (where he intercepted illegal vessels smuggling oil in the aftermath of September 11), but if you like food, you probably know him for running Two Good. The company produces not-so-ordinary meals using recipes by Yottam Ottolenghi, Ben Shewry, Analiese Gregory, Mitch Orr, Neil Perry and other acclaimed chefs. It's built on a charitable two-for-one model, where you pay for two meals: one for you and the other to be donated to a shelter. Two Good's soups and salads are made by women from...
2017-03-2052 minThe Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryPasi Petanen and Giorgio de Maria - That's Amore, Cafe Paci and Giorgio's Fun Wines2016 Good Food Guide Chef of the Year (and one-time skilled marksman for the Finnish army) Pasi Petanen was done with pop-ups. He'd scored plenty of acclaim for his one-off Cafe Paci restaurant – which was only meant to stick around for a year, but got extended to two and a half years by popular demand – and he'd also undergone temporary guest stints at Yellow and Auto.Lab, too. But friend and former Gourmet Traveller Sommelier of the Year Giorgio de Maria convinced him to take on one last job before pop-up retirement: That's Amore. Running throughout March at Mecc...
2017-03-0147 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryDanielle Alvarez - Fred'sDanielle Alvarez studied art history, but luckily for us, she realised that it was food that monopolised her thoughts - after all, she can happily identify the “eggshell crust” on a Cuban sandwich and was always prioritising her next cooking project. So she decided to spend her life in kitchens. Danielle's first-ever gig was at The French Laundry, Thomas Keller's three-Michelin-starred Californian institution, where she was challenged by a complicated egg dish that often ended up in the bin. The head chef at the time was Corey Lee, who went on to open Benu (one of the best...
2017-02-131h 04
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryToby Wilson - Ghostboy Cantina, The Wedge Espresso It was dragonboat racing - of all things - that led to Toby Wilson running his own cafe at 22. The Wedge Espresso in Glebe was a sliver of a space; when it launched, Toby managed to run the whole place with just a sandwich press and a fridge - “that was all my cooking equipment”. Despite the limitations he had to battle, the cafe got a cult following, particularly for The Henry, “the unofficial hangover sandwich of Glebe". So after three years there, Toby ended up opening Ghostboy Cantina - an eatery unlike any seen in Sydney before...
2017-01-0659 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryLauren Eldridge - Pei Modern, MarqueIn the last year, Lauren Eldridge has worked at the world's best restaurant (Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana), impressed the greatest living Italian chef with fairy bread and a punch to the face, whipped dessert with ropes in India and rolled croissants in Paris with Guy Savoy, the 'magician of French cuisine'. Not bad for someone who thought she'd end up with a psychology career (and occasionally forgot to add key ingredients in her cakes). While working at Marque restaurant as pastry chef, Lauren won the 2016 Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year award - and...
2016-12-1749 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMike Bennie - Rootstock SydneyIn a past life, Mike Bennie used to help famous figures like Russell Crowe, A Tribe Called Quest, Baby John Burgess, as well as (future Prime Minister) Malcolm Turnbull and then Lord Mayor Lucy Turnbull pick wines. The Rootstock Sydney co-founder and award-winning wine communicator takes us on a few flashbacks to that memorable time (the Russell Crowe anecdote is particularly great) and - inspired by this very amusing Herald article that bagged Turnbull’s public wine collection ('Malcolm Turnbull's wine list is embarrassing and boring: industry experts') - Bennie also covers the hilariously bad state of politician’s taxp...
2016-11-191h 03
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryNancy Singleton Hachisu - "Preserving the Japanese Way", "Japanese Farm Food"Arriving as an exchange student from California, Nancy Singleton Hachisu originally planned a short visit to Japan, but 26 years later - she's still there. A relationship with a Japanese organic farmer is what upended her plans and saw her settling into an 80-something-old farmhouse that's been passed down his family for multiple generations. During this time, she's met fascinating Japanese producers - such as a "salmon whisperer", unique salt raker and a ninth-generation sake brewery owner - and published two cookbooks, "Japanese Farm Food" and "Preserving the Japanese Way", resulting in a fan base that includes Joel...
2016-11-1547 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryGlen Goodwin - Bentley, Monopole, YellowThe band Kiss has played a surprising role in Glen Goodwin’s career. A love of the group led to his first job, as delivery boy to restaurateurs such as Neil Perry. It also played a pivotal part in how he ended up in New York. He worked there for 12 years – with bosses such as Bobbie Flay and Wylie DuFresne – in a pre-gentrified Manhattan that had drug dealers on every corner. During this ultra-eventful time, Glen also ended up being quoted in a story called ‘Hey, Is That Sommelier Old Enough To Drink?’ in the New York Times....
2016-09-291h 29
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryIbrahim Kasif - Stanbuli, Porteno“The fire was creeping up on me,” says Ibrahim Kasif. “It was pretty scary.” He was working at Porteno when smoke began to billow through the atrium. He headed up to to the roof to check for problems – and found it seriously in flames. The building had to be evacuated, firefighters were called and the street was shut down. The Porteno fire was one of many incidents that delayed the opening of Ibrahim’s first solo restaurant, Stanbuli. There were also the epic battles with council (which involved an expensive pre-DA that turned out to be useless...
2016-08-281h 18
Hey Fam..! with Andrew Levins and Angus TruskettEpisode 48: The Weho Ho (featuring Lee Tran Lam)Who you gonna call fam? We saw the new Ghostbusters movie and so did our mate Lee Tran Lam, food writer and host of food podcast The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry. Together we review the movie, plus do a recap of TV we’ve watched recently - including Mr Robot, Silicon Valley and Game of Thrones (which LTL tries to convince us to watch). Plus, we accidentally give a very helpful guide to streaming services in Australia! Hey Fam is a weekly pop culture podcast hosted by good pals Andrew Levins and Angus Truskett, reviewing the la...
2016-07-222h 00
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryHelen Yee - Grab Your ForkHelen Yee is one of Sydney's OG food bloggers. Even unreformed blog haters probably make an exception for her site, Grab Your Fork, which she started back in 2004 – before the iPhone was even invented, let alone Twitter or Instagram. Since then, Grab Your Fork has been listed as one of the world's 50 best blogs by Times Online and it's been an excellent source for where to eat in Sydney. She's also written lots of great articles as a freelancer, including an epic top 50 cheap eats feature for the Good Food Guide (and Good Food website), where she si...
2016-07-201h 21
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryElijah (EJ) Holland - Noma Australia, Nature's PickHow do you make an impression on Rene Redzepi? Turn up with 300 wild plants - painstakingly gathered over four days - to present to Noma's award-winning chef. That's what Elijah (EJ) Holland did - and hand-picking lemon aspen and diving for seaweed definitely paid off as EJ became a key part of the Noma Australia team when it opened in Sydney earlier this year. He joined the kitchen as a forager and a chef. EJ is the most casually fearless people I've ever met - and he's unafraid to scale a cliffside to pluck Spanish...
2016-06-2649 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryPalisa Anderson - Chat Thai, Boon Cafe“We’re never going to work in a restaurant, nevertheless a Thai restaurant.” That's what Palisa Anderson told herself and her brother when they were growing up, but after some detours living in four different countries (and through other careers), she's ended up as co-director of the many Chat Thai restaurants across Sydney and the spin-off venues (like Boon Cafe, which is one of Dan Hong's favourite places to eat breakfast in Sydney). David Chang and Rene Redzepi ate at Chat Thai after their MAD Sydney appearances this year - and Palisa and her mum, Amy Ch...
2016-05-211h 02
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryCorie Sutherland - Edition Coffee RoastersFrom drinking supermarket Nescafe to the buzz of making coffee for his hero Rene Redzepi every morning (and being the Noma chef's personal barista), Corie Sutherland has certainly had an unexpected career.
He tells his story of living in Japan, getting into 'specialty coffee' (a term he's wary of using), how he came to start the award-winning Edition Coffee Roasters with his brother Daniel Jackson, the next-level things he's witnessed at coffee championships, how his life intersected with Noma (and the amazing amount he was offered for his reservation at the booked-out Noma Australia!) and what it's...
2016-03-091h 04
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryAlex Elliott-Howery - CornersmithThis has to be one of my favourite podcast episodes. Alex Elliott-Howery, who co-owns the Cornersmith Cafe and Picklery in Marrickville, was awesome to talk to. Her award-winning cafe has a hyper-focus on preservation, fermentation, urban beekeeping, avoiding waste and produce-bartering. As a flipside to the acclaim, she's also endured pickling disasters that've left her crying into her gin and tonic; and she once tried to preserve a summer bounty of tomatoes, only to find herself still up at 3am, waiting for the water to boil (this definitely lead to more tears). She r...
2016-02-2441 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryPatrick Friesen – Papi Chulo, Queen ChowPatrick Friesen originally thought he was going to be a doctor. He also planned to be in Sydney for a short spell - but luckily for Australians (and their appetites), he did a U-turn on both points and we're now fans of the talented chef and his menu-ruling work at Merivale's many venues: Ms Gs, Work In Progress, Papi Chulo and the upcoming Queen Chow (which you may know via Insta-stalking its #enmorechinese hashtag).
In this podcast, we talk about the true story behind his ‘Phat Pat’ nickname, the food scene in Canada (where he grew up) and...
2016-02-0846 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryStuart Krelle - Luchetti KrelleFrom producing macaron wallpaper for Adriano Zumbo to making dynamite-stick lights for ACME - and creating the "zombie-proof" exteriors for Momofuku Seiobo - Luchetti Krelle has been behind the attention-hooking designs for Sydney's noteworthy restaurants, bars and eateries. Co-director Stuart Krelle has worked on hospitality projects of all budgets and styles - from the mega-pop charm of the Hello Kitty diner to an installation of toy soldiers parachuting down into Single Origin's Surry Hills cafe. The company has even managed to turn hidden parts of the Hinky Dinks bathroom into clever spots for wine storage. And toilets...
2016-02-0251 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMike Eggert - PinboneMike Eggert studied environmental science - a career path he returned to, in a way, when he cooked feral animals for a Pinbone/Young Henrys event for 2015's Good Food Month (an occasion that lead to a truly spectacular, poncho-staining food fight).
After detouring from his studies and becoming a chef, he went on to work at many acclaimed Sydney restaurants – such as Oscillate Wildly, Sepia, Duke Bistro (with Mitch Orr, who is his co-host on The Mitchen podcast) and Billy Kwong (which is where he met his future Pinbone co-head-chef Jemma Whiteman).
Along with Je...
2016-01-0150 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMagnus Nilsson - Faviken, The Nordic CookbookI chat to Magnus Nilsson about his epic new publication (The Nordic Cookbook, which has 700+ recipes that he collated from the region - including 400 recipes that he personally tested at home and features some of the 8000 photographs he took of the area), whether he believes as many World's 50 Best judges actually visit his tiny restaurant Faviken, why a sandwich can tell you a lot about a country's cuisine, what it's like to eat puffin and the recent time he got pulled over by American cops.
2015-12-1826 min
Hey Fam..! with Andrew Levins and Angus TruskettEpisode 23: Aquamom (with Lee Tran Lam, Jon Valenzuela, Matt Roden and Sophie Braham)Every episode of Hey Fam this month is a BEST OF 2015 episode and this week we kick it off with a huge BEST OF TV IN 2015 special featuring a panel of experts including Gruen's Sophie Braham, Sydney Story Factory's Matt Roden, Jon Valenzuela from Soap Creative and Lee Tran Lam from The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry - plus your baby bros Angus and Levins.What TV did we love in 2015? More importantly, what did we hate? Tune in to some of the hottest arguments of the year about one of the strongest years in television ever!
2015-12-021h 20
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryAnnabel Crabb – Kitchen Cabinet, Special DeliveryAnnabel Crabb once put a laptop in the oven and it wasn’t even the worst thing she’s ever cooked.
Rare culinary slip-ups aside, the host of Kitchen Cabinet is brilliant at mastering recipes (she’s just released an excellent cookbook, after all). And her food-transporting game is pretty strong, too – for her ABC TV show, she once carried a honey fig semifreddo cake to Senator Nick Xenophon’s place, with zero melting tragedies. Getting serving implements through airport security is another matter, though. “You try and take a cake fork anywhere – you’re in massive trouble,” she sa...
2015-11-2943 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryBen Greeno – The Paddington, Merivale“There’s no $10 steak, that's for sure,” says Ben Greeno.
There's nothing standard-issue about his upcoming ventures with Merivale, which is no surprise – Ben is far from a standard-issue chef. (In fact, there's question about whether The Paddington – the 'pub' he's opening for the hospitality group – is even actually a pub. And the chicken shop that will follow is not going to be your average takeaway outlet, either.)
So there are many dynamite reasons why people are majorly excited about this acclaimed chef's next moves.
After all, Ben was Rene Redzepi's first employee when the Dan...
2015-11-201h 04
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryJames Hird – Rootstock SydneyWithin the first minute of chatting, James Hird mentions the time his sister got caught up in a Chilean coup in Uruguay at the age of 11 – so you know it's going to be a good interview.
And while overseas escapades in India and France played a role in shaping James' ideas about eating and drinking, there's no doubt that the local landscape strongly influences his outlook about what should end up on our dinner plates or in our glasses.
After starting a law degree, James became an accidental sommelier – not that his commitment to wine was...
2015-11-1447 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryBen Sears – Moon ParkWhen Ben Sears was working at Cutler & Co, the “biggest highlight” was when Quentin Tarantino came in for dinner. He's picked up quite a collection of memorable experiences throughout his career – from the time he worked at L’enclume, with its remote location (and tourist-magnet appeal as home of the sticky toffee pudding) to his burnout from having to make The Age's Dish of the Year way too many times, and his final spell as head chef at Claude's, when it closed after 37 years.
“That was one of the weirdest services I’ve ever done – by far,” he says.
2015-10-3049 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryClaire van Vuuren and Mitch Grady – Bloodwood, Newtown LocalsClaire van Vuuren and Mitch Grady did not plan to become chefs. She wanted to be an artist and he thought he'd be a golfer. Luckily for Sydney diners, their career paths got redirected – and the pair met while working at renowned Sydney institution Claude's, where they bonded over practical jokes.
They went on to open Bloodwood in Newtown – a venue that marked the tectonic shift towards young chefs running casual-but-brilliant places that they personally enjoyed, instead of the high-end fine-diners that had defined "good food" in Sydney.
During this podcast, they also talk about the...
2015-10-1540 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryLuke Powell – LP's Quality MeatsLuke Powell was very young when he snuck into the world of food – he was enrolled in culinary classes at 15 (despite being far below the 17-year minimum cut-off) and by 19, he found himself in the kitchen at the prestigious Rockpool, while crashing at the dodgiest hostels in his off-hours.
Throughout his career, he’s witnessed amazing things – the strangest party trick performed by a head chef in New Zealand; staff tackling 10-kilogram zucchinis at Mugaritz in Spain; and many memorable incidents at New York’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns – including an encounter with a Jewish pig farmer who...
2015-10-0245 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMyffy Rigby – Good Food Guide, Good Food MonthSince I last talked to Myffy Rigby, she's left Time Out Sydney (and boy did she go out memorably – one of her last hurrahs was an incident involving a nude bartender and dog track). Then she became the current editor of the Good Food Guide and the creative director of Good Food Month.
In this podcast, we talk about the sleep she's lost over working on the guide, and how she tracked down the guests she wanted for Good Food Month (including the ones who got away, but hopefully will appear next year – I have my fingers cros...
2015-09-1541 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryBarbara Sweeney – Food and Words FestivalBarbara Sweeney has made a great career out of her appetite. She's been regional editor for Good Food Guide, oversaw Cheap Eats for nine years, spends Saturdays as a 'talking cookbook' and even has been a honey judge.
In this podcast, she also chats about her fascinating assignments – from interviewing wasabi farmers to rating vinegar. (Also, did you know that 'hen caravans' existed?). There's also a time trip to the oddball retro dishes that she remembers from decades past and plus, it's hard not give your jealousy a workout when Barbara describes the staff meals she experienced wh...
2015-09-0550 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryJake Smyth – Mary'sJake Smyth knows a hell of a lot about burgers. Along with Kenny Graham, he runs Mary's – which, despite only being two years old, has quickly become a much-worshipped Sydney institution. It's easily titleholder of the best burgers in Sydney and inspires the craziest queues, even on the coldest winter nights.
David Chang, who famously said Australia screws up burgers like no other country, endorses Mary's as the exception he's on board with. No wonder Mary's sells 10,000 burgers a week between its two outlets.
Even though it was "carnage" with Jake's daughter being born on th...
2015-08-2542 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMin Chai – N2 Extreme GelatoMin Chai was an “unhappy accountant” before a tragedy inspired him to change the course of his life and open N2 Extreme Gelato. He had zero experience and friends even warned him against going ahead, but his one-of-a-kind way of making flavours soon led to four-hour queues at his first store.
Min’s flavours can be wonderfully attention-seeking (such as Ferrero Reveal or Chinese Couch Syrup), cheeky and controversial (think 2 Girls, 1 Cup) and straight-up great (Buttered Popcorn, Tease Ma Malt). He’s even collaborated with everyone from Christina Tosi to Young Henrys.
He talks about the inte...
2015-08-2439 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryGregory Llewellyn – Hartsyard, The GretzWorking at a restaurant run by the Mafia – that was no big deal for Gregory Llewellyn. In fact, whether it’s blitzing through 300 covers a service in New York, enduring sanity-testing celebrity demands for hotel riders or watching smoke clouds billow into parts of a restaurant where they definitely don’t belong – Gregory has proven himself to be an unflappable chef. He started in hospitality as a 15-year-old, incredibly psyched just to be a dishwasher because it was a front-row seat to the full-blaze drama of the kitchen. Now, he runs Hartsyard with his wife, Naomi Hart. The hatt...
2015-07-2835 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryAnaliese Gregory – Funemployed“Analiese, you’re going to have to move your car, we’re going to blow up your car.”
This has to be one of my favourite-ever interviews – Analiese Gregory is one of the most fascinating chefs that I've been lucky enough to talk to.
Not that working in food was an obvious pathway for her – in fact, having a father who was acclaimed in the industry actually dissuaded her from cooking (her dad, Mark Gregory, was the first New Zealander to receive the Meilleur Ouvrier de France, a big culinary award). And even though she made, "what...
2015-07-2244 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMatt Swieboda – Waterman Lobster Co.By opening Waterman's Lobster Co in Potts Point, Matt Swieboda wanted to create the "Mary's … of lobster roll places".
Here, Matt not only serves the classic American dish in both the Maine and Connecticut styles, but even includes a vegetarian egg-nori version that unexpectedly teleports you to Japan. (This roll is a delicious butter-mayo bomb, by the way.) The menu also includes raw milk Wisconsin cheese with jalapenos and fish rillettes – but the stadium headliner here is the iconic crustacean.
In this podcast, we talk about how this sea animal went from being seen as a lo...
2015-07-0830 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryChristopher Thé – Black Star PastryThe fan base for Black Star Pastry is pretty large – after all, its stores attract long lines, have scored many Sydney food awards and even drawn the attention of an Argentinean TV show (its crew called up and asked for an updated pavlova).
Black Star Pastry's success may seem unlikely when you consider that its creator Christopher Thé originally had a BA in Psychology and was also told the original Newtown location was "cursed" when he moved in; the DIY attitude that powered the first store meant that he pretty much built the patisserie from scratch, using his...
2015-06-1945 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryDan Barber and Eric Kayser – Melbourne Food and Wine FestivalWhere do you even begin when listing Dan Barber's achievements? You could point out that he's the award-winning chef behind the Blue Hill & Blue Hill At Stone Barns restaurants in New York. Or note that Time included him in their list of the World's 100 Most Influential People (with a write-up by Ferran Adria, no less). Or name-check the fact that he advises President Obama on nutrition.
He's also the author of The Third Plate, a fascinating book that any food-curious person should read (it was definitely one of my favourite books of last year, but probably way mo...
2015-04-2539 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMitch Orr – ACMEMitch Orr got into cooking after realising there were plenty of perks to studying food tech in high school (such as being the only dude in the class). Scoring an extra lunch as a byproduct didn’t hurt, either. Jamie Oliver’s TV show only added to the appeal of mastering recipes.
Mitch went on to become 2010 Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year while at Sepia, picked up Time Out‘s Best New Talent and People’s Choice Award honours while running the kitchen at Duke Bistro with Thomas Lim and even landed on the shortlist for Cleo...
2015-03-3052 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryAndrew Levins – TwoThousandIn the year since I first talked to Andrew Levins on my podcast, he's notched up some major achievements – such as becoming a dad and accidentally ending up as face of the opposition to Barry O'Farrell's lockout laws. He also closed The Dip (where he found himself making 200 burgers in an hour) and landed on the other side of food-reviewing game – writing criticism as editor of TwoThousand.
In this guise, he's really tested himself – such as enduring a Vegemite-crust-stuffed pizza so that we don't have to (he calls it “one of the worst things I’ve ever eaten” ) a...
2015-03-1655 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryDan Hong – MerivaleA good restaurant doesn't have to be a stuffy one – Dan Hong has highjacked traditional expectations of fine dining in Sydney, and as executive chef at Merivale, a strong voltage of fun charges through the places he oversees, such as Ms Gs, Mr Wong, El Loco and Papi Chulo. He has helped redefine how we eat in this city. Yes, he has an impressive CV – which includes being named Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year when he was at Bentley and time in the kitchen at Tetsuya's when it was #4 best restaurant in the world – but he's a...
2015-02-2438 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryCarlos Heng and Dan Pigott - MakMak MacaronsA princess cake and a corporate job in banking seem like unlikely ingredients for a macaron company, but they each played a part in kickstarting MakMak Macarons. Carlos Heng and Dan Pigott began their venture in DIY style, with Carlos overtaking Dan's kitchen and selling his sweets in an underground fashion. Eventually MakMak went legit, getting crowned with the honour of Sydney's best macarons in Time Out magazine and opening a flagship store in Newtown, in a shop initially decked in fake seagulls, beach balls mid-bounce and 100 kilograms of sand.
As you could guess, MakMak doesn't take...
2015-02-2059 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryDavid Thompson, Katrina Birchmeier, Emma Barnes - Electrolux Appetite For Excellence AwardsThis special episode was recorded on the night of the Electrolux Appetite For Excellence Awards last year.
For the podcast, I was lucky to be able to talk to competition judge David Thompson about everything – from the century-old Thai cookbooks he's collected to the time he recently won Best Restaurant in Asia (an experience that actually annoyed him, surprisingly)!
I also got to chat to Katrina Birchmeier of Garagistes, who won Young Restaurateur in 2012, and returned as a judge in the Young Waiter category in 2014.
And finally, I talked to Emma Barnes, a fi...
2015-02-0151 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryMassimo Bottura – Osteria Francescana, Never Trust A Skinny Italian ChefMassimo Bottura is considered to be the greatest living Italian chef. He runs Osteria Francescana in Modena, in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy, which is currently ranked #3 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards list.
His brilliant new cookbook, 'Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef' (out through Phaidon) covers 20 years of his iconic dishes, which include items such as Tortellini Walking On Broth, Memory of a Mortadella Sandwich, A Potato Waiting To Become A Truffle, Oops I Dropped The Lemon Tart and Snails In The Vineyard.
In this podcast, he talks about everything from th...
2015-01-0836 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryKylie Millar - Pei Modern, Burch and PurcheseKylie Millar has a masters of physiotherapy – and has even worked with the Sydney Swans AFL team! – but that’s probably not why you’ve heard of her. She’s done time at Mugaritz in Spain, which is ranked no. 6 on the World’s Best Restaurants list, and also has worked as a pastry chef at the sugar-laced wonderland that is Burch and Purchese in Melbourne and is currently turning out desserts at the acclaimed new Sydney outpost of Pei Modern. In 2012, she also was a contestant on a TV show you may have heard of called Masterchef.
In this po...
2014-12-0341 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryHetty McKinnon - Arthur Street KitchenHetty McKinnon is the creative force – and salad-making ace – behind Arthur Street Kitchen. Her one-woman business saw her taking lunch orders from locals, creating meals from scratch at her Surry Hills home, and personally delivering these salads every Thursday and Friday on her bike.
To pull this off, Hetty had to single-handedly cook 100 salads a week in her domestic kitchen, playing a game of ingredient Tetris just to fit all the required produce into her very normal-sized fridge. And even if it was plummeting with rain, Hetty would make all the salad deliveries herself – something she's been doing...
2014-10-0747 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryChui Lee Luk - Claude's, Chow Bar and Eating House, Celestial CityChui Lee Luk grew up in Malaysia, visiting the markets early in the day – fascinated and repelled by how "gruesome" they could be. When she moved to Australia, she was introduced to French food, thanks to "one of the weirdest competitions I've entered ever".
After a career dealing with stamp duty and commercial transactions, Chui found herself switching paths to work in restaurants – there she was, a former commercial lawyer learning how to cook from teenagers who had more culinary experience than she did. But the monumental change – and battle scars – were worth it, as Chui went on to be...
2014-09-0435 min
The Unbearable Lightness of Being HungryDavid Ralph - KakawaIn the first episode of the Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry, Lee Tran Lam catches up with David Ralph, a chef who has worked at diner-impressing restaurants in Sydney (Quay, Flying Fish and Sails at Lavendar Bay) and London (Michelin-starred La Noisette and Kensington Place).
David's an expert at placating anyone with a sweet tooth as he currently runs Kakawa, the best chocolatier in Sydney with his partner Jin. He chats about his kitchen war stories (he once had to break up a fight between two chefs), what the staff meals at flash restaurants are like (the...
2012-08-0138 min