Thanks to our booming food culture and reality cooking shows like My Kitchen Rules and Masterchef taking over our television screens for the past decade, Australia is home to many well-known celebrity chefs. Here, we’ve rounded up 10 of our favourites:
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1. Curtis Stone
43-year-old Curtis Stone shot to fame following his performance on season three of The Celebrity Apprentice. After starting cooking at the age of four under the watch of his grandmother, he went on to study a Bachelor of Business before turning his interests to food. Curtis began his culinary career at the Savoy Hotel at the age of 18 before moving to London to work for Marco Pierre White.In 2014, he opened his first restaurant in Beverly Hills, Maude Restaurant, which focuses on seasonal cuisine and superb wine. He also owns Gwen, a fine dining restaurant in Los Angeles.While Curtis has never starred in his own show, he has appeared on Surfing the Menu, Dinner in a Box, Good Food Live and Saturday Kitchen. He was also the host of the first season of My Kitchen Rules in Australia and is now the face of Coles supermarkets.Curtis is best known for his fresh, seasonal Australian-style meat dishes, which have been the inspiration behind six cookbooks: Surfing the Menu (2005), Surfing the Menu again (2005), Cooking with Curtis (2006), Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone (2009), What’s For Dinner? (2013) and Good Food, Good Life (2015).RELATED:Sticky chilli Asian greens
2. Pete Evans
(Credit: Getty)Pete began his career as chef and restaurateur at the age of 19. The now 46-year-old went on to open numerous award-winning restaurants across the country and has since cooked in some of the finest restaurants around the world. Pete is a firm believer in the paleo lifestyle and this is reflected in his cooking and passion for health and wellness. He has hosted and produced two seasons of The Paleo Way, is a presenter on the Moveable Feast and has been the co-host and a judge on My Kitchen Rules for 9 seasons. He has recently featured in the award-winning documentary The Magic Pill which shows the impact food can have on our bodies.Pete has written 14 books including, Eat Your Greens, Low Carb, Healthy Fat and his latest, Heal: 101 Simple Ways To Improve Your Health In A Modern World.
3. George Calombaris
(Credit: Getty)George Calombaris is an Australian chef, best known for his role as a judge on all 10 seasons of MasterChef as well as his love of Greek, Cypriot and Italian food. He studied at the Box Hill Institute of TAFE and won the Bon Land scholarship in 1999 while still an apprentice. George then went on to spend two years working at Reserve, in Melbourne’s Federation Square where he won Young Chef of the Year. In 2004 George was voted one of the ‘Top 40 chefs of Influence in the World.’Today, he owns five restaurants in Melbourne, including his flagship, the critically acclaimed The Press Club. He is the co-author of Your Place or Mine? (2010) and Cook with Us (2011), and author of The Press Club: Modern Greek Cookery (2008),Georgie Porgie (2011) and Greek Cookery from the Hellenic Heart (2015).
In 2013, Emma Dean was the winner of the fifth season of MasterChef, with her first cookbook, A Homegrown Table published later that year. Her cooking style is inspired by her regional upbringing and combines farm-fresh produce with her enthusiasm for urban foraging.She is also the host of television series, My Market Kitchen, which is currently in its third season.RELATED:Roasted cheesy garlic broccoli
5. Adam Liaw
(Credit: Getty)Adam Liaw is a Malaysian Australian chef that gained notoriety following his win on the second season of MasterChef.The 40-year-old lives in Sydney and is the host of Destination Flavour, as well as a regular columnist for GoodFood, Sunday Life magazine and The Guardian. He has authored five cookbooks; Two Asian Kitchens (2011), Adam’s Big Pot (2014), The Zen Kitchen (2016), Adam Liaw’s Asian Cookery School (2017) and Destination Flavour: People and Places (2018).
(Credit: Getty)Adriano Zumbo is an Australian patisser known for his intricate, fun and magical sweet creations. The 37-year-old first became interested in desserts as a boy, when he would raid the cake mix and lolly aisle at his parent’s supermarket in Coonamble. He went on to study as a pastry chef both in Australia and France under culinary greats such as Neil Perry, Ramon Morato and Pierre Herme. However, it wasn’t until he appeared as a guest chef on MasterChef in 2009 and set the contestants a croquembouche challenge, that he became a household name. A decade later and Adriano has a number of retail stores across Sydney and Melbourne, as well as many books and Ebooks, including Zumbo (2011), Zumbarons (2012) and The Zumbo Files (2015.)
8. Matt Moran
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Matt Moran is the culinary genius behind some of Australia’s most celebrated restaurants, such as Chiswick, Aria Sydney and North Bondi Fish. The 50-year-old is known for his love of quality produce and fresh, light, seasonal meals. Matt’s food career began in his 20’s as an apprentice at La Belle Helene, where he quickly rose up the ranks to the role of head chef.To date, he’s hosted many TV shows including The Great Australian Bake Off, The Chopping Block and Paddock To Plate and regularly appears as a judge on MasterChef. Matt has released four books, Matt Moran (2008), Dinner at Matt’s (2011), Matt Moran’s Kitchen Garden (2015), Matt Moran’s Australian Food (2017).
9. Neil Perry
(Credit: Getty)As the founder of the uber-successful ‘Rockpool’ empire, Neil Perry is one of the country’s most influential chefs to-date. The 62-year-old is renowned for his commitment to freshness and quality Australian produce across all seven of his restaurants and is also considered an expert in Asian cuisine.Neil’s career in hospitality began when he was working in front of house at Sails restaurant in McMahons Point and Rose Bay, but his passion for cooking quickly saw him progress to a role in the kitchen. By the age of 24, he had already begun to hone his craft under the likes of Damien Pignolet, Gay Bilson, Stephanie Alexander, Steve Manfredi and David Thompson. Just years later (in 1986) he opened his first business, the Blue Water Grill, in Bondi Beach and became an overnight success.Neil is the host of The LifeStyle Channel’s multi-award-winning food program, Food Source – Neil Perry, Neil Perry Fresh & Fast and Neil Perry Rockpool Sessions. He is also the author of four cookbooks; Rockpool Bar & Grill (2010), Easy Weekends (2013), Simply Good Food (2013) and Spice Temple (2015).
10. Peter Gilmore
(Credit: Getty)51-year-old Peter Gilmore – the executive chef at Sydney restaurant Quay – attended his first cooking class at the tender age of four. 12 years later he began his apprenticeship, before moving to the UK to work in various places across the country, including London. Upon moving home to Australia, he took over the reins at Quay and just a year later led the establishment to be crowned the Good Food Guide’s Restaurant of the Year. In 2015, he reopened Bennelong restaurant in the Sydney Opera House and took out the title for ‘Best New Restaurant’ at all three major Australian Restaurant Awards. As a keen gardener, Peter’s speciality cuisine is best described as food inspired by nature. He has written three cookbooks: Quay: Food Inspired by Nature (2010), Organum: nature, texture, intensity, purity (2014), and From The Earth: World’s Great, Rare and Almost Forgotten Vegetables (2018).Peter regularly appears as a guest chef and judge on MasterChef and famously invented the Snow Egg which set the final challenge of the series’ second season. He’s also enjoyed stints on such shows as Netflix’s The Restaurant Australia.RELATED:Everything you need to know about Curtis Stone
