Andrew N. Email & Phone Number

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

My friend was the head chef there, Shayne Austin and is now at La Renaissance Patisserie in the rocks with our other friend who is currently head chef their, Jason Leggat, I worked with Shayne to get hands on experience with desserts, daily fresh made sweets, manage proper storage and production to cater for wholesale and retail, we had just been given a contract from Star City Casino and often stayed back late to fill orders, it was being thrown in the deep end, though It may have took me a few years to use what I'd learnt, I find tips and tricks in my own work that some originate from the experience I had here. In all honesty, if I wasn't friends with Shayne I would not of got the job based on my current experience back then as it was only commercial cookery at the time, thanks ShaynO

After my 4th Starche, (excuse the spelling as its a French term for working for free in awarded kitchens to gain experience) the Head Chef Simon Bestley directly said "so what's yr problem mate? when you gonna take a job here? I mean, you keep coming in & working with us on your days off, your obviously keen, so what's the matter?"He advised me that I'm in the right place if I wanna learn every technique correctly and be able to repeat it in order to get in perfect, every time, he said Id learn everything, the longer I stayed, the more I moved up, and I did. When a more senior chef decided to resign, I was put to the test, I went from Commis to Sous in less than 3 yrs, only 1 other guy had done that whilst he was head chef, this other guy went on to Europe, good on him! It was not easy and without the quiet words of support from the head chef in the cool room, or in the pub, or on the pass when I made mistakes, I wouldn't of been able to appreciate how good you need to be to do this style of cuisine. I was there when Spanish personality Miguel Maestre was on the fish section, his energy was very good to be around and would always invite us younger chefs to watch him plate up on the pass, my time there tho was hands down my hardest most stressful job I've had, it only started to get easier near the end. Bathers Pavilion by Iconic French Canadian Chef and Executive Head Chef of the Regent Hotel (The Three Seasons) Serge Dansereau, has numerous cooking books available from the Café and the Restaurant for the public to try with many stages of skill required.There's 3 kitchens in that building, my favorite was the pastry kitchen, I spent a lot of down time there talkin with the chefs when they were baking, my friend Shayne was working there at the time as a Senior Chef de Partie, the Pastry Kitchen was run at the time by Master Chef Judge Anna Polyviou, she does the best peanut butter Pettit fours you'll ever have I swear.