The West Australian: December 2011

Photo: Stuart Scott

Making His Marque

From working on the mines of Western Australia to becoming one of the most feted and sought-after chefs in the country, Marque restaurant’s Mark Best has come a long way, baby.

Best was in Perth recently to promote his new cookbook ‘Marque: A Culinary Adventure’, where he took time out from his schedule for a chat about gold, submarines and grief. The book, his first, is a collaborative effort with Marque’s head chef of seven years, Pasi Petanen.

“I like writing,” says Best.

“I’ve written pieces and submitted articles for Gourmet Traveller and I’ve enjoyed the process of being interviewed over the years. So to actually sit down and put it into a cohesive and interesting package was a real process. You understand that chatting like we are now is very different to putting things into words, and writing 6,000-7,000 words is quite difficult. But once I got into it I actually found it a cathartic process. As I mention in the book, my sister was killed when she was seventeen. Long time ago now, but there were memories such as these that came up which made writing a very, very emotional experience. You have to really analyse things, and I loved that part of it.”

Marque has always been a favourite with the critics, and in recent years it has won a slew of accolades, including Gourmet Traveller’s Restaurant of the Year 2012 and listing 70^th in S Pellegrino’s World’s 100 Best Restaurants, arguably making Marque one of Australia’s most illustrious and important restaurants. And after twelve years in the game, it was high time to put pen to paper.

“I think it was about building up a body of work that you could write about,” says Best.

“In 2010 I was really gagging to write a book, but it took Hardie Grant (the book’s publisher) to have the balls to say ‘just do whatever you want and we’ll provide the resources’. Before that, everyone wanted to change what we wanted to do, to dumb down the recipes or make them home-style recipes, which I didn’t want to do. To say a keen home cook can make the recipes when it takes seven of us days to produce a recipe is silly. So the recipes are quantified as working recipes from Marque restaurant, and you can take what you want out of that. People will be able to glean lots from it, particularly about the process of cooking at Marque.”

Things weren’t always so rosy for the self-confessed late-bloomer. Back in the 80s Best was not a particularly happy camper. After re-locating West with his family from the lush farming fields of Murray Bridge in South Australia to the somewhat harsher climes of Norseman, he began the hard slog as an electrical apprentice on the North-West gold mines.

“Sparkies are considered the intellectual trade,” says Best with a wry laugh.

“Working on the mines was hard graft back then, and it was a very basic apprentice wage. I remember spending most of my wage at the pub every fortnight because that’s what everybody else did.”

With feet itching, Best moved to Sydney to re-fit submarines on Cockatoo Island for the Australian military. But still something was amiss, and it was during a stint working at a friend’s restaurant at the ripe age of twenty-five that Best finally found his calling.

“It really struck a chord with me,” he says.

“I mean, people see me as some sort of life-change guru, but it was reasonably haphazard with a bit of design. I sort of got pushed towards cooking and found I had an aptitude for it. And I loved the whole French thing.”

By this stage Best had already met his future wife Valerie and a whirlwind romance ensued. The pair decided to make a go of hospitality and opened a modern French eatery. But despite the restaurant enjoying early critical success, Best felt frustrated by his lack of culinary knowledge and went to work in France. He worked at the legendary ‘L’Arpége’ in Paris, followed by a stint at ‘Le Manoir Aux Quatre Saisons’ in the UK. On his return he and Valerie opened Marque, and the rest is hospitality folklore.

“We are coming into our thirteenth year at Marque now,” says Best.

“And the difference from when we first opened is like night and day. At first you’re your own boss with immature talent, so you start emulating your heroes and gradually, if you’re lucky, you are able to start to define your own style and create a language with what you do. I think we hit our straps in 2004-05 – that was when things started happening. We started to win accolades and we were able to get more staff and became busier. There was a momentum, and we were able to create something unique.”

‘Marque: A Culinary Adventure’ by Hardie Grant is available bookstores now, RRP$79.95.

Marque Restaurant is at 4/5 355 Crown Street, Surry Hills in Sydney.

Mark Best’s new eatery, Pei Modern, will open in Melbourne in February 2012.

The West Australian: October 2011

Photo: Jennifer Susanto-Lee

Like a Fish to Water in Subiaco

It seems that Olympic swimming hero and all-round nice guy Eamon Sullivan can do no wrong these days.

His new cafe in Subiaco, Louis Baxters, is going gangbusters and he has just released his first book - a cookbook called Eamon's Kitchen.

Oh, and he was crowned 2011 Cleo Bachelor of the Year in April.

The just-turned 26-year-old is flitting between Sydney for training commitments and Perth to cosset his new venture - with swimming taking precedence at the moment.

"The London Olympics are next August and that's what it's all about for now," he says. "The trials are in March, so I've got around six months."

That's not to say swimming will always be his number one priority. Sullivan is passionate about cooking and won Celebrity MasterChef in 2009, wowing judges and fans with his culinary prowess.

Not only was he a popular contestant but he also made a few friends along the way, including his cafe business partner, Laki Baker.

"We met on the set of MasterChef. She was my producer," Sullivan says.

"She was filming on my bench so I got quite accustomed to spending time with her. She's a lovely girl, really easy to get on with.

"We were both born in Perth and she was in Sydney for 16 years before moving back here with her husband. So we kept catching up and then she got a French bulldog and I'd been trying to find a breeder, so that's how I got mine.

"And we'd have doggy playdates and discuss what we were going to do and it went from there."

Oh yes, the bulldogs. In fact, so enamoured are the pair with their canine buddies that they decided to name the cafe after them - Louis-Pierre is Laki's dog and Baxter is Sullivan's.

"We really wanted it to be about us and to give it a funky name with a bit of a story behind it," he says.

His first cooking spark began while watching his mum, who was a baker for New Norcia Bakery, and helping her out in the kitchen.

As swimming took off during his high-school years, a gruelling daily schedule of training and school (starting at 5am and finishing at 7pm) left him a very hungry boy. Home economics saved him from certain starvation and left an indelible impression.

"I was quite a fussy eater and home economics sort of forced me to try different things. I remember the first time I tried beef stroganoff, and as soon as I tried it - well, it just all happened from there really," he says.

As Sullivan's hunger for food grew, so too did his thirst for knowledge.

"I just read and read. Every time I was in a physio room or waiting for a doctor I would read Woman's Day, and when I'd get to the recipe section I'd discreetly rip it out to try it out," he says.

"I read whatever I could and experimented at home. I'm amazed by the Heston Blumenthal thing and molecular gastronomy, that side of cooking. I like the science behind it. I guess I like the theatre of that sort of food.

"Then there were the cooking shows. I was watching Floyd with my parents when I was growing up and the Two Fat Ladies, and Jamie Oliver, and then the whole food and lifestyle thing took off and I'd be glued to the Food Channel on Foxtel. I pretty much preferred watching that to anything else."

As if training for the Olympics and launching a trendy new eatery wasn't enough, Sullivan also decided to write a cookbook with many of the recipes that feature in the cafe.

The book is not so much about healthy low-fat food - more along the lines of simple dishes he enjoys cooking.

"There's no whiz-bang sous vide machines involved or anything like that," he says.

"It's just about bringing together really nice, fresh ingredients that you're able to cook at home.

"I guess when I was growing up as a teenager, boys didn't really cook at all and this is good for the guys who don't know how to cook but want to attempt something a bit different.

"It's a good way to impress girlfriends or if the girlfriends want the boys to cook for them. I've tried to approach the book from every way. For example, if somebody's scared of cooking for a group of people, then I've put some menus in so they don't have to think about preparing.

"It just takes the stress out of it. Even a slight shift in techniques and approaches can make all the difference."

With his ongoing affair with all things food, it comes as no surprise that Sullivan has future plans with a culinary bent that look set on remaining local.

"I honestly love the eatery and that side of things and would love to get more involved," he says.

"I'd like to open another one in a couple of years with a bit of a wine bar and an a la carte menu. Somewhere where you'd spend some time and enjoy a glass of wine. I'm quite into wines, when I'm able.

"It was hard to move to Sydney as Perth was all I'd ever known. Family and friends are here, and that's something I really can't replace after spending 20 years of being in Perth. I love this city."

Louis Baxters is at Shop 2, 50 Subiaco Square, Subiaco (opposite train station). 'Eamon's Kitchen' by Penguin is out now.

Click here for the Fresh article.

The West Australian: September 2011

Photo: Emma Lee

Willie Takes Chocolate Obsession to Sydney

Anybody who has even a passing interest in chocolate will have heard of Willie Harcourt-Cooze, the British eccentric whose obsession with top-notch chocolate has been documented in various television series and books.

He will be one of the top drawcards at the Crave Sydney International Food Festival next month, where he will be sharing his passion for chocolate.

"I can't wait to bring the fine flavours of chocolate and the culinary delights of cacao to the Australian kitchen," says Harcourt-Cooze.

He has visited our shores before. In fact, he came to live and work here in WA as a teenager for six months, following the death of his father in England.

"My most memorable time of being in Australia was when I was 18," he says.

"I worked on a couple of different sheep ranches outside Bridgetown, and in Kojonup. It was some of the hardest and most enjoyable work I've ever done.

"There's nothing I'd love more than to go back and see the people I worked with again, but it's not going to be on this trip unfortunately."

Harcourt-Cooze's future plans include the launch of a new fruit chocolate range that features Cuban Orange, Sierra Leone Ginger and Lime and Peruvian Fruit and Nut.

"The new range will deliver classic flavours paired with fine beans to the heart of all chocolate lovers," he says.

"And, of course, I'll continue to spread the love of chocolate."

His cacao chocolate is available in Australia from Jones the Grocer. His books Willie's Chocolate Factory Cookbook and Willie's Chocolate Bible are available from book stores now.

The Crave Sydney International Food Festival will run throughout October. For more information, head to cravesydney.com.

Click here for the Fresh article.

The West Australian: July 2011

Photo: Rob Duncan/WA News

Alain Shows Pioneering Spirit

Alain Fabregues is a happy man. Run off his feet, but happy.

Two weeks ago, he unearthed the first West Australian truffle in history found outside the traditional truffle-growing regions of Manjimup and Pemberton, on his property in Toodyay.

As ever, the award-winning chef and owner of The Loose Box restaurant is evoking the WA pioneering spirit and breaking new ground.

"Well, I planted 1600 oak trees on my land in Toodyay seven years ago. I was there with my dog a couple of weeks ago and that was when we found it," he chuckles.

"And Toodyay is about 500km due north from Manjimup, so it is quite a significant find."

Significant indeed.

Fabregues, whose accolades have included two French knighthoods and a prestigious Meilleur Ouvrier de France, has been cooking since the age of six.

He began by making pates with his grandmother and his culinary pedigree dates back to Napoleonic days, when his great-great-great grandmother cooked for Napoleon's army during its Italian campaign.

At 15, he went on to be an apprentice in Bordeaux and trained under late chef Jean Delaveyne, a proponent of nouvelle cuisine.

The production of truffles in WA has increased significantly over the years, from only a few in Manjimup in 2003 to nearly two tonnes last year.

It has surpassed production in Tasmania and, with more truffieres being established in the area, looks set to be a major export commodity. In the meantime, Fabregues has set his sights on another trophy - the elusive and extremely expensive white truffle.

"Yes, as if I am not busy enough," he laughs.

"I planted for white truffles last September, so now we have the long wait of seven years to see if our gamble has paid off. It is hard yakka growing truffles, conditions have to be perfect."

This year at the Mundaring Truffle Festival - which was his brainchild - Fabregues will be run off his feet.

"I am very, very busy preparing everything leading up to the festival," he says.

"And then at the truffle festival itself, I will be running the masterclass, which will be Philippe Mouchel from Melbourne, Emmanuel Mollois from Choux Cafe and myself. So it will be like a French affair.

"We are three French chefs and we are going to show people how to use truffles. So I will be cooking a chicken dish with truffle and Philippe Mouchel will be cooking a lamb dish with truffle and Emmanuel Mollois will be doing a dessert with truffle.

"I will also be running the VIP room, for our sponsors and government people, as well as the long lunch with the boys. So for the long lunch, there will be Nigel Harvey (from Voyager Estate), Peter Manifis (from Incontro and Beluga) and Hadleigh Troy (from Restaurant Amuse). And I will be doing the dessert, which will be a truffle pannacotta.

"And then of course, we'll be running The Loose Box stand that we run every year. So we have to make all of the food that we are going to sell to the people, which will be 12,000 portions. These will include a leek and truffle soup, duck rillettes with truffle and an apple tart and truffle.

"As well as all that, on the Friday and Saturday nights at the restaurant we will be having two truffle gala dinners, and then on the Sunday we will be shut so we can work at the restaurant."
Click here for the Fresh article.