I was born on Sydney’s northern beaches and at 4 years of age went across to New Zealand to live on my mothers Mothers farm in Rotorua. Nanna was my first culinary inspiration, and tagging along on her apron strings I learnt about how to grow food, where it came from and how to be seasonal and resourceful in creating sustenance for the family from what the farm produced. After college I went to Flock House Farming school and did a Diploma in Agriculture. I then started my hospitality career in the leading French Restaurant in Wellington called La Normandie, here I was the wine waiter and cocktail barman, and as I had an interest in food I spent time in the kitchen assisting the chefs and watching their every move, and discovered that I knew a lot of the basic skills already.
At 21 I moved back to Sydney and spent time working in the Sydney Restaurant scene before settling in the northern beaches in Manly. I worked my way up to Head Chef at the Old Manly Boatshed restaurant a spent 3 years there before opening my own catering business in Seaforth with my wife, specializing in handmade cocktail food, I also opened Sydney’s 2nd gourmet pizza operation.
After 6 years of growth and success we sold the business and moved with our daughter to Tasmania. We opened Perfectly Dunn Pizza in Cygnet and established a musical reputation, giving Carey Lewincamp his first gigs.
We set off adventuring around Australia and ended up in Broome, working at the Cable Beach Club, then ran the Broome Health and Healing centre. Whilst there we met Robert Ruse, a well known Perth restaurateur who sold us his Perth restaurant CinCin. We ran CinCin for 3 years before selling it and returning to Tasmania.
In Tasmania I continued to work in the industry, and branched out into live cooking, I established the Food Theatre at the Taste of Tasmania, the Red Hat Tours and a live music and cooking show called Kitchen Jam.
Stints at Cascade Brewhouse and Cadbury as a Site Manager and Head Chef for the Spotless Group followed before I started work with Cloverhill vineyard assisting with marketing and Festivals, working for AEG kitchen appliances as the Tasmanian Demonstration Chef and as House Manager and Chef for the Archbishop of Hobart.
I also during this time joined Tasmanian band SoundBites as their lead singer and rhythm guitarist.
I am excited to be on the Elite Appliance Team now as their Demonstration Chef, showing customers the technical intricacies of modern appliances and developing some exciting new projects like our cooking classes and other social fun things.
I look forward to seeing you in our demonstration kitchen, and to provide culinary help onsite.
