Cath Claringbold

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Hi, I'm Gary Megan, and welcome to my podcast series, The Gary Meegan Show.
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I've never been one to complicate things, and that includes this title.
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If you're tuning in, you probably know me, but for those that don't, you have to know that I absolutely love food and travel and also the opportunity of just talking way too much.
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In this podcast, we're going to look beyond the world of food and talk to people, whether they're celebrities or sports people, politicians or professionals who trigger my curiosity and interests and have something to share.
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It's all about their careers, their passions, their beliefs, and maybe some life lessons.
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So without further ado, let's crack on.
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They run what has become an iconic Melbourne Institute.
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It's one of the sweetest places you're ever likely to step foot in, and it's called Birch and Purchase.
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This shop has some of the most exquisite cakes and desserts you can ever imagine.
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Some of my favorites, the gold bars and the varines.
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You'll have to pop in to see what I mean.
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And as far as I'm concerned, it's run by one of the hardest working hospitality couples in the business, Darren Purchase and Kath Claringbold.
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The reason I wanted to get them into the show is because I know just how hard it is to run a hospitality business.
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And I can't imagine the kind of stresses it would cause when you're running it with your partner.
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So I wanted to find out all the juicy details behind the domestic as well as the business partnerships.
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You know what I mean?
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The tiffs, the fights, all those things that happen along the way.
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But what I got instead were stories about Ed Sheeran, a billionaire con artist, and believe it or not, a Greek island filled with stolen artifacts.
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It's lovely to have you in the studio.
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Kath Larinbolt, Darren Purchase, the busiest hospitality couple in the world, I reckon.
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And I'm looking at two tired people.
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You do everything, your faces are everywhere.
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Not only Master Chef, and I think Darren, that's where people probably go, yeah, Darren Purchase, Master Chef, but you know, authors.
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So we've got books out there.
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You're ambassador for the biggest morning tea, uh, for the Council Council of Victoria, which is amazing.
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Um, and major players in things like the races and the Grand Prix, and uh pretty much every out.
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I think when I look at Instagram, you're everywhere all the time.
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And I go, how do you do that?
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We do a lot of event work, we're very lucky.
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Um, because I help him behind the scenes.
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And go, Darren, you're doing this.
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So there's a lot to talk about.
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So I thought what we do, because you're both uh hospitality heroes for for many people.
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Oh, thank you.
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So I thought what we do is we kind of split you up to start off with and then bring you together.
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And so we bit of background on you, Kath, bit of background on you Daz, and then when you met as a couple, because obviously you're a couple in and out of the business, which is correct, interesting stuff.
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At work and at home, uh in all aspects of life, it's very exciting.
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So, Kath, we've got to rewind the clock a little bit.
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How far?
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I don't know.
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I I think we should do and we'll we'll go quite a way back and then we can speed it up.
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Okay.
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Where where did the interest in food start for you?
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Because it's a very different path to what you're on right now.
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Um it it started at home with my family.
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Um my parents really loved restaurants, um, but I grew up in Country Victoria, so I didn't really know what a restaurant was at all.
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Where's Country Victoria?
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Um it was Bacchus Marsh.
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So where all the lettuce and apples and everything were coming from.
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I was eating fantastic produce, but I didn't really know about the restaurant experience.
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And I kind of fell into it accidentally because I didn't know what I wanted to do.
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Okay.
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Were you a good girl at school?
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Were you a bad girl at school?
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I was a bad girl.
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Were you?
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Were you a bad girl?
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I was a bad pain.
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Give us a little bit of something.
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I was a pain for my parents.
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I really was.
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Yeah.
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Um I was the youngest.
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Um, they had their own business.
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Um, everyone had left home.
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I had a very rebellious brother or a troublemaking brother who I idolized, and I think I took a little bit of a feather.
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So, what's rebellious?
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Was it was it naughty verging on criminal?
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Because I've got that in my in Mandy, my wife's story.
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We've got naughty verging on criminals.
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I tried, I tried um to push the boundaries of criminal, but um no one would I remember one day specifically wanting to be arrested, but you know, that it didn't look like it can be.
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It was really in your mind.
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It was in my mind.
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Because I yeah, I was like I was annoyed and and I was, yeah, I was troubled.
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Was that because uh Bacchus Marsh back then was quiet, sleepy, nothing to do, is that horrible, boring, really didn't have anything to offer at all.
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So um So school not a great place for you or um I didn't I enjoyed school up to a probably about fourteen and then I just then I had that view that um my teachers were all dickheads, can I say that?
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And I we really was a waste of time and I couldn't see what I was being t I couldn't see how anything I was being taught was gonna help me in later life.
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This must have drove your parents mad.
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I was, yeah, I was it was hard.
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Yeah.
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And so what drove you into because you were you became a chef, right?
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Was that right?
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Is that how um yes, I I actually got I needed to earn money, so I took a job at a local roadhouse which um on the Western Highway and because I wanted to buy a car as fast as I could.
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And while I was there, um the my bosses said to me, we could send you off to Melbourne to do an apprenticeship.
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And I said, Can I swear?
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I said, No, I said, No, thank you.
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I will um I and then I said I I'll go and I'll go to the city and get a job.
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And that's what I did.
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And I started working at the art center, which was hilarious because there were no female chefs in that in those days.
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There was one woman there at the time, and that was all.
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And I rocked up for an for a um interview wearing a houndstooth dress because I was into scar music, didn't know that chefs wore checks.
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Um and they said they laughed, that that's hilarious, you're hired.
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And then they put me into the sandwich section, and I said, you know, so I had to fight for that.
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I had to say, come on, guys, I need to get out of here.
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I really want to learn how to cook.
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And then from there, the world just opened up and I met people, and um, the very first sort of serious job was um working for Jeff Slattery, and that was amazing.
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That that was the game changer for me.
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That was when I went, oh, this is what this is about.
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And I'm not sure.
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Why is that amazing?
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The art center was an incredible experience with lots of people.
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It was a it was it was a different kind of life for me.
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It was party time really.
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Um but Slatteries was about produce, it was really getting back to the roots of really great food.
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It was in the time of um, you know, uh King Island, you know, just start King Island cream and all of a sudden there was produce.
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I was tasting things like Morton Bay bugs, I didn't know all of this stuff existed, French cheeses, we were making our own sourdough, everything was done from scratch the hardest possible way, in a tiny little kitchen that didn't even have we the chef at the time, Chris, um, was an ex-sailor and we didn't have enough bench space, so we'd go out and tie planks together with string and make benches, and we'd roll out pasture and whisk egg whites in copper, you know, one souffle at a time, you know, 60 set of restaurant, really hard work.
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It was amazing.
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I loved it.
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And it was um, they would say to me, and I knew nothing about restaurants still, and they'd say, I want you to go to John Smith's and get such and such.
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And I go, no worries, and I'd get my good food guide.
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Where the hell's that?
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And then and then drive and do my job.
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Um, yeah, and it was and really from there I just wanted to aim higher and higher and higher.
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So was that a period of inspiration?
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Did you get you, you know, we've gone from troublesome teenager who I was still pretty wild and exploited their first job to have a good time in Melbourne.
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And now we're at Slatteries who are working every hour under the sun, I assume.
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Yeah.
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So things have changed quite dramatically.
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I was a little bit naughty at trade school.
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Um still.
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I was doing my apprenticeship, but um we got there in the end.
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And um yeah, I just decided it was Did it go hand in hand?
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The naughtiness and the hard work?
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I mean I think so.
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It's that kind of Anthony Bourdain, you know, the waifs and trays, the waifs and strays, you know, the periphery of society working in kitchens.
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Yeah.
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I I like the insanity, I like the pre I love the pressure.
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And I also love the release of going, you know, at that time before King Street got really grotty, we'd go straight down to the nightclub straight after work.
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You know, Jacques Raymond was just in town at Mietas, and after that I'd go and after work, I'd go out and have my bowl of sorbet late at night and a glass of scotch, and I just thought it was the greatest thing in the world.
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And um, yeah, so from from there I um decided that I was going to aim, you know, keep trying to um Jeff sold his restaurant, so that was the end of that anyway.
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And I went for a job with Tansy and uh missed out on that because someone was coming back, and then someone got sick at Stephanie's and they called me in and I got that job.
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So I sort of moved in a different circle to a lot of other lot of other people that I ended up working with.
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I really wanted to travel overseas, but never really got the opportunity.
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Yeah.
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But the restaurants you mentioned at the time were the best in that space.
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Tansy good.
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You know, people probably don't even remember now.
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And also Stephanie, it's it's a generation that's passing and people don't connect it anymore with the restaurant that it was, but the thing that she does now, which is the Kitchen Garden Foundation.
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You know, that was So it was a great time.
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It was incredible.
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I was incredibly lucky.
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And it was in a time when um Rocket was delivered in a bunch the back door at the back door by someone who grew it in Red Hill.
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It wasn't in supermarkets or it was all of this beautiful produce that I got to work with there.
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Um yeah, great experience.
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And then I decided to sort of break out of my moat.
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And if I fast forward and chop out all the middle parts, um I applied for a job, went on as a head chef, and found my business partners um from that era and ended up opening nine restaurants, having 350 full-time staff, nearly killing myself with stress.
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But that was an incredible time.
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So we're talking about Mecca.
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Mecca bar.
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Mecca Bar, Live Bait.
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Yeah.
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What were the other ones?
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Uh there were other ones that were sort of um, there was a it's such a long time.
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Yeah, and then there were other ones that were um a business partner had really wanting to keep cash coming in, so we um set up a place called Bar Bosch out in Knox, which was an unbelievable nightmare.
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So the opening night, a quick story because it's really funny.
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Opening night, the we had to um deliver this restaurant very quickly to fulfill a need for the developers.
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Someone had fallen out, my business partner had said, Yeah, we can do that.
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I opened the restaurant first night, everyone goes home, I say I'll lock up.
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There's no barrels in the door locks, there's no way of securing the building.
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So I slept in the restaurant that night.
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That's commitment.
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Yeah, yeah.
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But you would have been thinking, oh my goodness, the cost of fit out, alcohol, equipment, everything.
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And if I just leave it, especially out there, it's just gonna get knocked off.
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Yeah.
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So and I remember, I was saying to Dave, the producer, because he's younger than we are.
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Yeah, I was saying, I remember a time you you probably don't remember it, but you rocked up out the back of Phoenix.
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So this would have been early in the 2000s, I reckon.
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Yeah.
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In a silver Mercedes.
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Yeah, I did.
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Um was Darren there then.
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Darren was working on the club.
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I think I think so.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So Kath rocks up to the back of the restaurant in a convertible silver Mercedes, and it must have been very early on in the piece at Phoenix, so Ray, Cabaldi, and my restaurant.
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And we were at that stage where it was just we were working so hard, and you rock up, and I went, that's Kath Claringbaugh.
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She has made it.
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Yeah, it's I still drive a Mercedes.
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It's a veto band.
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But they they were heady times, right?
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You would have been absolutely and rightly so at the top of your game.
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And um Thank you.
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I don't know.
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Yeah.
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Well, I think so, because everybody knew who you were.
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Careering out of control.
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Is that what it was?
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Um, I think so.
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Um business partners need to open multiple businesses.
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It was and I was built in such a way that if someone said you need to do that, I'd say, okay, I'll work out how I can do that.
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I mean, we opened three restaurants in the space of three days.
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We opened Meccaba Live Bait and that place out at Bub out at Knox within three days.
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So that was recruiting staff, opening we opened them on different days.
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It was blistering.
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I don't think I slept.
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I certainly aged dramatically through that.
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I didn't sleep for about ten years.
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Incredible times.
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Um it was just, yeah, it was high stress and adrenaline and yeah.
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So so crazy times, heady times, and at the peak of your career.
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So rolling up at the back of Phoenix, is that when you met Darren?
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Where when was that?
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No, we um we met in Brisbane in 2004.
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I had just opened Mecca Bar in Brisbane in Fortitude Valley, and Darren was um on the um program for Brisbane Food Wine Festival, and as the um newest restaurant in town, I was hosting all of the major parties and all of the um important guests from overseas.
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And um I had been in Brisbane for six months working on this restaurant on my own a lot of the time, and um a friend of mine in Brisbane felt really sorry for me and felt I needed to be you know hooked up with someone.
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And at the at the cocktail party um that opened the Brisbane Food and Wine Festival, she introduced me to Darren, and he was with his head chef at the time, Andrew Turner, who I could not stand.
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And I instantly categorized Darren and Aaron and Andrew as the same person, and it was like, oh, forget about it, don't even talk to me.
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So I was it was a bit of a cold, frosty start until we got to um the dinner that was hosted at my restaurant, and um I smoked at that time, and so did Darren.
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We ended up outside in a quiet spot having a cigarette, and I said, Do you want to get out of here?
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And he said, Yeah, and we went to a bar in town and the rest is history, pretty much.
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What time?
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I want to get out, I want to get out of here.
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You can see it, little dark corners.
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Because that's what chefs do, right?
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Little dark corners somewhere behind the restaurant.
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Do you want to get out of here?
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Totally antisocial and uh yeah.
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What the hell were you doing in Brisbane?
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Well, it was uh that's another funny story because I I had no plan, no idea that I was ever going to end up living in Australia.
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Um, it was, I mean, you you if you're from the same sort of background as me working in those kitchens back in London, you know, Australia was like another world.
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I how how would I ever get there?
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I I had no idea that this place existed or there had restaurants over there.
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I was just working my ass off in London.
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Um, and this Brisbane masterclass opportunity arose after um an Australian chef called Shane Osborne, I'm sure everyone knows from Pieter Terra at the time.
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Pieter Terra was working in London.
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He had, I think he had two mission of stars at the time.
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He was invited to be the guest chef in Brisbane, um, but he his passport had expired.
00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:25.840
He couldn't get back into his own country.
00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:32.799
And um my head chef, Andrew Turner, I was working at a hotel called Bentley Hotel in Knightsbridge.
00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:41.600
Um, and they um approached Andrew Turner and said, Can you come out to Australia and present at a masterclass in three days?
00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:52.080
Um and he said, Yeah, okay, so long as I can take Darren, because uh, you know, we got on quite well, and I'd bust out a bit of Mise on Plus for him and let him uh let him let him socialise.
00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:54.720
Um, but I said, Yeah, yeah, for sure, I'd love to go.
00:15:54.799 --> 00:16:01.200
And then all of a sudden, sort of a few days later, I was I was in Brisbane and I was thinking, how the hell do I get here?
00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:04.720
This place is fantastic, the weather's awesome.
00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:06.960
Um, you know, I just couldn't believe it.
00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:18.879
And then I met Kath and um I wasn't great in social situations then, so I'm sort of, you know, having a drink in the corner, and Kath and I met, and when she said, Do you want to get out of here?
00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:29.360
I thought this is a this is a great opportunity to get get to know this person who um who looks I mean I knew nothing about her background, didn't really know that she had a profile.
00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:31.600
I didn't really know anyone with a profile then.
00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:36.000
Um, but we got on really extremely well and we seemed to like the same sort of things.
00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:37.039
We music brought us.
00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:38.000
Music, you know.
00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:52.720
Well, we talk about um, you know, we we both sort of love the clash and um ska music and um uh all I Kath has introduced me to some music she loved that I now love and vice versa.
00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:55.840
So but yeah, um we we got on extremely well.
00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:06.960
We we found we love the same things, we love great restaurants, we love you know uh uh working hard and rewarding yourself at the end of the day with a glass of wine and but how long were you in Australia for?
00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:08.640
Well so I was only there for five days.
00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:10.559
So how can you figure out did well how did this stick?
00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:12.960
I we just really got on and So how did this stick?
00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:14.480
Because that moment could have come and gone.
00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:19.920
I mean, if some yeah good-looking chick had said to me with a cigarette in the corner, let's get out of here and go to the bar.
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.240
I don't know if that would have turned into a long-term relationship.
00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:25.119
What happened was we s we spent the five days together.
00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:25.680
Yeah right.
00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:28.079
Um so stuff Andrew Turner, he can't.
00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:29.440
Yeah, yeah, he can go and do what he wants to do.
00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:40.400
Well, he was off being head chef, you know, and he was schmeezing with yeah, and I'm I'm just you know, I'll bust out a bit of mise en plus for him, we'll get demo ready, and then I'll I'll go out and meet Caf.
00:17:40.640 --> 00:18:02.319
But um uh I was lucky enough to have a fishing trip arranged for me after the five days, and it was in Noosa, and um there was uh a restaurateur called Jim Barado, yeah, yeah, and um it was arranged, it was very fortunate that I could stay at his house with Andrew Turner.
00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:08.559
It was um arranged that I would go up there and do a fishing trip and stay at his house, and it was a very generous offer.
00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:16.480
And I had coincidentally, prior to all of this, booked my first day off and I booked a hotel in Noosa.
00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:20.240
And it was at the same time, but we didn't realise so you didn't realise.
00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:21.279
Um he said, I'm going to Noosa.
00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:28.880
It sounds like to start off with that Australia just put on a hard sell scheme to Darren Purchase because you know to the best, the best places.
00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.039
You must be thinking, boy, boy out of London.
00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:33.519
Wait, wait till he gets to Melbourne, he goes, What?
00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:45.519
This is what I was I was I so we spent the uh we spent a couple of days in Noosa and um you know we'd sort of arrange, we'd sort of said, you know, let's let's try and continue this.
00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:49.680
Caf said she would book a trip um and come and see me in London.
00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:55.759
So then I I returned to London and I said to everyone, right, I've met a girl, Australia's amazing place.
00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:57.279
I'm gonna try and work my way.
00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:04.160
I'm I'm leaving, I'm I'm coming to Australia, and that was basically my decision that I I took, and Andrew could see why.
00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:11.440
You know, I was smitten and I was come back and showing everyone the photos of this amazing place, and the the weather was you know awesome.
00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:13.200
I didn't know anything about Melbourne.
00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:15.279
I'm glad you put that in that order, Darren.
00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:19.680
Um, but I didn't know anything about Melbourne.
00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:23.759
So so up to this point, I'm loving the story because I didn't know this.
00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:26.720
I've known you two for quite a while, and I didn't know any of this, and I think it's brilliant.
00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:28.480
And of course, then you won't end up in Melbourne.
00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:28.720
Yeah.
00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:30.160
So, like completely the opposite.
00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:36.319
You've gone from you know, this beautiful idea of what Australia best can offer.
00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:43.519
Although Melbourne's much same, but it's a it's a I understand it coming from London, and I've employed lots of people out of London over the years.
00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:53.200
They come thinking they're gonna live a home and away life, yeah, and then they come, they come to Melbourne and discover that it's actually a big city, very cosmopolitan, and they're working just as hard, if not harder.
00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:56.720
Yeah, I had I think I've worked harder in in Australia.
00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:58.319
I think many of us have got the same idea.
00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:02.799
Yeah, I have no idea, and I didn't I didn't know that anyone in Australia knew anything about food.
00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:03.839
I was quite arrogant.
00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:07.839
You know, I believe that my whole world in in London was the place to be.
00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:18.480
And I don't know what I was expecting, but I I guess fast forward, Kath visited me in London for a holiday, and then we we really decided that we wanted to, you know, try and make this work.
00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:25.759
So um it took me uh probably about a year, 12 months to get everything ready and get out to Australia.
00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:29.039
And came via Greece, did a quick stint in Greece.
00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:30.559
I worked for a billionaire in the world.
00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:32.720
That's a whole other story as well.
00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:34.160
There's a lot, there's a lot of stuff.
00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:35.759
How long we got, Dave, the budget.
00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:37.359
We'd love a story.
00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:38.640
Can we can we have a story?
00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:39.519
Uh Greece.
00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:40.799
Yeah, who was the billionaire?
00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:45.519
Uh he was like a shipping um magnate, I guess.
00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:56.079
Uh, and he was Greek, and he it was uh an island called Skinusa, and it's on the Cyclade Islands, group of islands, but it often doesn't show up on the map because it's really tiny.
00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:03.359
There's like 500 people live on this island, but it can swell to 2,000 in the summer, you know, with tourists.
00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:18.240
Um, and he owned a house on the point, um, which was one of the only beaches on the island, and it was a private beach for him, and he had a bunch of Aussies working in his household, I guess.
00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:22.559
And I think um Calf helped me uh secure that job.
00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:24.240
Paid quite well.
00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:37.599
And I was um working there as his pastry chef, drinking all of his wine and uh but spending his days cooking amongst all these amazing treasures like sculptures and I was noticing all of this, I was going wow.
00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:39.839
That's an incredible monument.
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:51.599
Or that that um that egg over there looks quite expensive and this marble and um I I think if you Google it now, there's um the the caretaker has been done for uh It's all stolen.
00:21:51.839 --> 00:22:06.640
Stolen as pirates priceless Greek artifacts for dredged up from the edgy, and uh you know, and I I was literally Just sort of hanging around with this stuff, and often I didn't have a lot of work to do because if the family were away, you know, there's nothing for me to do.
00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:15.519
So this is what happens, Kath, when you take a boy from Guildford, yeah, right, shove him into a hotel in London, and then what, eight years later end up on a Greek island working for a billionaire?
00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:15.759
Yeah.
00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:18.160
You never thought of pocketing a little dimension.
00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:18.960
I wish I had.
00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:19.680
I wish I had.
00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:22.880
But um no, it uh it was yeah, it was fun time.
00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:26.799
I was slowly getting my way over to um Australia.
00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:31.359
So before before you came to Oz, did you have a particular idea of where your career was going?
00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:33.920
Because you worked at the Zavoy, you worked at Brown's, yeah.
00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:37.839
Um you're head pastry chef at um the Goring Hotel.
00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:38.640
The Goring Hotel.
00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:38.799
Yeah.
00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:47.279
So what kind of So you got a solid kind of traditional pathway as a great pastry chef in the making in London?
00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:47.759
Yeah.
00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:48.799
I I started out in Greece.
00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:49.599
Where were you going at all?
00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:51.359
I started out in Grease washing up.
00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:53.519
Um and I didn't know I wanted to be a chef.
00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:54.160
This is prize.
00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:56.480
Okay, so rewind before then.
00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:56.640
Yeah.
00:22:56.960 --> 00:22:57.680
Lots of time in grease.
00:22:57.839 --> 00:22:59.519
And then I just went for a good time.
00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:01.200
You had a ponytail guest.
00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:06.160
Oh, you've got to make if you've got hair, I reckon you just go for the ponytail.
00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:06.640
Yeah.
00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:09.440
If Neil Perry can rock it for 60 years, it was a time.
00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:10.480
Then you can have one.
00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:11.680
Yeah, it was a time.
00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:15.759
And luckily, uh, there was no Instagram or anything then, so there's not a lot of evidence.
00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:17.519
Yeah, it's very like a bad look.
00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:18.880
There's the odd photo.
00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:19.920
I'd like to see one on Instagram.
00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:21.519
Can you find one in playable?
00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:22.960
Yeah, I can find one.
00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:31.519
And uh I basically I worked the summer, summer season, I was washing up, and all of the chefs kept leaving because apparently it wasn't a great job.
00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:35.119
Um, it was a two-week menu, though, in a water sports resort.
00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:39.599
So by the end of the summer, I knew the menu and it was very basic in hindsight.
00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:44.079
Um, but I I was captivated by kitchens, I just loved like the hustle and bustle.
00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:50.799
And I think the chef um said to me, Can you can you become a chef and do the last couple of months?
00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:54.720
Because all these chefs kept le keep leaving, and you know, you know the menu.
00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:56.000
And I went, Yeah, great.
00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:56.880
So I loved it.
00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:03.440
I was in there all the time and I I would I would just spend all day in there and while everyone was trying to get out and enjoy the sun.
00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:05.920
I just really loved being inside the kitchen.
00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:13.359
I'd kind of I think I had these romantic ideas that I was this creative chef now, even though I didn't have a clue what I was doing.
00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:19.519
Um, I would, you know, fill it uh an orange, like do orange segments and think that I was a chef.
00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:20.079
I came back.
00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:24.079
But when you l when you first learn how to do that, yeah, I don't know if you can rewind the clock that far.
00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:25.039
I remember doing it.
00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:27.279
I think it's quite you go, wow, yeah, it's fancy.
00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:30.079
I I didn't go fancy.
00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:31.680
I do, I do.
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:40.799
Um, and I came back to the UK and um told my mum chef now, and she she just started laughing at me, you know.
00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:42.480
She said, I've been cooking for 40 years, Darren.
00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:44.720
You just don't start telling me how to do the dinner.
00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:50.799
Um, and so I I thought, right, well, I'm gonna I'm gonna try and make this happen.
00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:55.119
So I went to work for that same company in France for the winter season.
00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:59.519
So I was a chef in a restaurant in France, still unqual un qualified.
00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:18.079
And after that, I went to work in Jersey, um, where I went to um school, catering school, one day a week, and I got my city and guilds, um, and then came back to London and and said, right, well, I've just I need a job.
00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:20.559
I went to the Savoy Hotel for an open day.
00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:32.400
I saw an advert in the Evening Standard, and they said there's an open day for chefs, and I saw some guy making Peach Melbourne um and telling the story of how it was invented in this hotel.
00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:36.559
And I was just I I I had to work there, it it blew my mind.
00:25:36.640 --> 00:26:08.000
I wanted to be a part of the history of this place, and they were saying all the famous people who stayed there, and and uh in the kitchen there was 120 chefs, and it was they showed me around, and it just looked like the mental place that I wanted to work at, and and most people would stay there for a year, and they would leave after 11 months and work, give uh 30 days' notice because if you worked there for a year, you'd get a piece of paper certificate saying you work there for a year, and they wouldn't do any more because it was such a tough place to work.
00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:10.640
But I I was there for three and a half years.
00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:12.559
My chef said, Darren, you've got to leave soon.
00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:15.839
You can't you can't stay here forever.
00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:17.200
So has you gotta go?
00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:18.559
Hot kitchen too, or just pasture.
00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:19.279
Well, I started off.
00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:25.680
I started off in the garden making club sandwiches for room service, but I wanted to work in the pastry, so I was just pestering chef the whole time.
00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:26.960
Like, when can I work in the pastry?
00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:34.319
I just I went down there, it smelt nice, and I do reasonably, I like it.
00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:39.440
Well, we used to have chef meetings in the cold fish and like all these, it just stunk in there.
00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:41.599
And I used to think, why can't we have meetings in pastry?
00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:44.000
Because it just it smells really nice, smells like grass.
00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:46.559
It was nice and tidy, but I I really loved it.
00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:49.440
There were bet there were bakers in there, they still had bakers then.
00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:54.799
They were making all their own venoiserie and bread, they did all their own ice creams, they did chocolate, they did everything.
00:26:54.880 --> 00:27:00.880
There was like eight sections in the in the pastry section, and I just really wanted to work there.
00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:03.119
I just thought that's that's what I want to do.
00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:11.200
I just I still love food, and I'd been cooking savory my whole time up until this point in Jersey and in France and in Greece.
00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:12.720
I was cooking savory.
00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:18.079
Yeah, but I wanted to work in the pastry, and I got my opportunity and then I rose quickly through the ranks.
00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:22.799
It kind of makes sense now why you did Peach Melbourne on Master Chef to reinvent that moment.
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:23.519
Yeah, love it.
00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:25.279
Yeah, and also why you've got a book on toasties.
00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:25.759
Exactly.
00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:28.400
Because I've got to be section that's avoid.
00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:30.240
I like it, it makes sense.
00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:35.279
I love making this series, and I hope that you love listening too.
00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:40.400
If you do, subscribe and send us a message because believe it or not, we actually read those messages.
00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:46.640
What we want to know is what you think about the show, and more importantly, about the conversations that we have with our guests.
00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:48.160
We love hearing from you.
00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:49.440
That's what I'm trying to say.
00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:55.440
You can do that wherever you listen, and if you're feeling like it, maybe even recommend the show to a friend.
00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:58.880
You never know, they might find it as delicious as you do.
00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:08.319
So before you came to Australia, before you met Kath, where was the career going?
00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:15.279
Had had you put your mind on opening a business or just being the exec poster chef in a big assistant.
00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:16.319
Yeah, no, I had no plan.
00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:18.319
He was living March.
00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:20.319
I I didn't know what I was doing.
00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:23.920
I was I I was um burning the candles.
00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:27.200
I think uh 2004, what was I?
00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:29.519
I was I was like 29, 20 at 30.
00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:35.119
So we're getting to a point where we're having to make it but I was still quite immature in my um life choices.
00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:37.200
I would be out quite often.
00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:39.119
I know 60 year olds that are doing the same thing.
00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:41.519
I'm quite jealous, so it's okay.
00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:44.240
Um so I didn't, I just I had no plan.
00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:46.559
And and you know what it's like back in the UK.
00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:51.200
Like I I never thought that there was an opportunity for me to have my own business.
00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:56.160
Um, I didn't think that I would ever get to write cookbooks or do anything like that.
00:28:56.319 --> 00:28:58.559
It was just it was like a bit of a grind.
00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:09.519
I was on this, you know, the hamster wheel, and I was just going and I was just working all day every day and then going out and having a few drinks and then not sleeping very well and then going back to work.
00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:14.880
And it's all work, and then obviously if if you're in that all work, all play, then you are Berlin you candle on both ends.
00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:16.079
It's not the healthiest lifestyle.
00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:20.880
No, I and I literally had no plan about where where I was going.
00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:24.240
Um I was pretty lost looking back at it.
00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:32.319
I didn't really know, and I was I feel very fortunate that I had this opportunity and I landed in Melbourne and I said, Where's the sun?
00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:34.240
Brisbane was sunny.
00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:42.720
Um but we I moved in with Kath in St Kilda and she gave me the good food guide and said, We better get a job.
00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:51.599
Um and so to be honest, when you put your resumes together, because here you worked at View de Mont, you worked at Phoenix for a period of time with us, yeah.
00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:56.160
Uh you were a consultant chef with George, I remember, correct in the May group.
00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:57.359
So expanding that.
00:29:57.519 --> 00:30:03.920
Because remember, I think the wagon wheels turned up at your version of the wagon wheel turned up about them, which we were like, this is incredible.
00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:05.920
So you got resumes to die for.
00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:12.240
When did the idea of putting your experience together and and starting a pastry shop that you'd never dreamt of?
00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:13.119
Well, back in England.
00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:20.079
Well, once I'd landed in Australia, I'd realised that there was opportunity out here for someone who who's passionate and someone who can work hard.
00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:24.640
It seemed that things were more achievable or attainable.
00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:26.640
There's um less rules.
00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:33.839
It it it was, you know, I mean, we were really fortunate in Melbourne where you can open up a business in almost anything, a shipping container, or you can do whatever.
00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:34.319
Yeah.
00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:44.160
And I think um, and we're also that business sort of came around in the time we we had a break from what we were doing and we started consulting from home.
00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:49.920
We worked, we I think we spent about three years working together from home doing different sorts of assignments.
00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:51.119
They was really varied.
00:30:51.200 --> 00:31:13.039
Darren did some work in Spain and Twitter and Twitter had just started, and we were starting to learn that whole kind of thing, and it just seemed like it would be a really cool idea to open, you know, Darren was making custom cakes to people for people um at home, and we were doing classes and all sorts of stuff.
00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:23.599
Um and we were living, it was like the greatest three years because we called our own hours, a little bit scary sometimes because you didn't know where a buck was going to come from, but um, we caught our own hours.
00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:26.160
We played a lot of we tea, we what do you call it?
00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:26.799
Wii sport.
00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:28.559
It was hilarious.
00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:35.759
Well what basically what happened was these little things when people go and shop now, yeah, they're gonna go in and go, Wii sport.
00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:37.039
I know, you know, I know.
00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:41.680
So can you can you just paint us a picture of Daz and Kath playing Wii Sport?
00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:43.039
No, come on!
00:31:43.759 --> 00:31:49.759
Look, what what happened was Kath Kath's businesses were um came to an abrupt end.
00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:51.119
Um they did for me.
00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:52.000
I had to get out.
00:31:52.079 --> 00:31:53.440
I my health was, you know.
00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:55.440
Her health, yeah, was not great.
00:31:55.519 --> 00:31:58.079
Her stress levels were through the roof, body was falling apart.
00:31:58.400 --> 00:31:59.359
What did that look like to you?
00:31:59.599 --> 00:32:00.960
Well, it was quite scary.
00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:10.960
Um, and I could see that I I mean it Kath did not look very well, and she was I mean, she's always worked extremely hard.
00:32:11.119 --> 00:32:22.160
I just couldn't believe the amount of hours she was putting in, and I think the last sort of throws of trying to make the business work was in Canberra.
00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:27.119
She had a restaurant in Canberra and she was just doing everything, getting up like stupid hours.
00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:29.519
Three businesses in one kind of location.
00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:34.880
So I'd do breakfast shift in the morning, um, then open up Mecca Bar.
00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:39.680
It was sort of like the first business was a breakfast um wine and cheese providor.
00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:41.519
It was like the wine and cheese providor in Melbourne.
00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:48.079
And then Mecca Bar would open uh Mecca Bar would open for lunch and dinner, and there was a cocktail bar that would go into the late night.
00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:56.480
And I'd yeah, I just sort of work walked this circuit for about six months, and I remember I had we had to be rushed to hospital.
00:32:56.559 --> 00:32:58.720
Both my knees imploded.
00:32:58.880 --> 00:33:02.319
I couldn't even walk because I just I had to rush in for surgery.
00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:04.400
And how did you feel about that at the time?
00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:09.440
Yeah, I f I I felt you know extremely sad.
00:33:09.599 --> 00:33:34.319
I could see that um I could see that this whole empire or this this thing that Kath had built, and it was successful because of Kath and her work ethic and her talent was being eroded in the background by There were others involved, and it you know, it was as things as things happen in life, but you know, that's so that was kind of coming to an end.
00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:36.880
So was there a point where who who made the decision?
00:33:37.039 --> 00:33:40.079
Did you turn around to Kath and go, you you're gonna die if you keep doing this?
00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:41.440
No, I made the decision.
00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:46.319
And what was what was the um I think it was my third trip to hospital for something for third.
00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:46.559
Yeah.
00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:49.599
So the first one didn't send your messages.
00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:52.079
I was I was like a machine.
00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:58.799
You know, I I would literally, I could work a hundred hours a a a week without any hesitation.
00:33:58.960 --> 00:34:02.720
I really you you gave me a challenge, I would go, okay, I can do that.
00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:05.440
And so I just kept pushing and pushing and pushing.
00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:10.320
And I wasn't smart enough to see at the time that I probably should get out.
00:34:10.480 --> 00:34:12.719
I wish I'd uh got out a lot sooner.
00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:13.119
Yeah.
00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:16.559
But benefit of hindsight, that was a wonderful thing.
00:34:17.039 --> 00:34:26.639
But you learn so many things through lots of negative situations, and um it's certainly shaped the sort of business that we have to a degree, I guess.
00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:27.599
Well, a lot.
00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:40.559
I think you know, the fact that we've still only got one shop as opposed to you know multiple, which is the tried and trusted or uh tested or the traditional route, you know, you open one, it's successful, you open start opening more.
00:34:40.800 --> 00:34:50.800
CAF has been very guarded against uh uh well, guarded in our progression or our you know, development as a business.
00:34:50.960 --> 00:35:10.400
She whereas I if if we weren't working together and I'd have had, you know, um not calf's benefit of hindsight or wise words, um, you know, I could possibly have just followed the same route, you know, where you uh you're opening stuff and and working and you don't know with a factory everyone's there four or five shops.
00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:22.880
Every everyone's there, every developer's there to hand out money and you know, give you a fit-out contribution, all those sorts of things that are and it's really easy to build a big group of restaurants, you know, before you know it, turn around.
00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:27.679
But um it doesn't necessarily mean they're not it's not easy for them all to be profitable.
00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:31.280
But to but to paint the picture for people that haven't been to your shop.
00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:36.639
I mean, if I think if you live in Melbourne and you're a foodie or well, not just Melbourne, I mean you you get people from all over the world.
00:35:36.800 --> 00:35:37.119
Yeah, we do.
00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:45.840
If people are listening to this and they haven't been to the shop, then it's kind of a willy wonker-ish, yeah, you know, wonderful shop with I mean, it's got so many products in there.
00:35:45.920 --> 00:35:50.800
I mean, I go in there, I'm like, guys, don't look at them all, because you you're gonna walk out a poor man.
00:35:50.960 --> 00:35:52.719
You've had some famous customers too, haven't you?
00:35:53.039 --> 00:35:53.440
We have lots.
00:35:53.760 --> 00:35:54.239
Come on, tell us.
00:35:54.559 --> 00:36:01.039
Well, we're in the that pocket South Yara where um uh you know everyone sort of seems to congregate.
00:36:01.119 --> 00:36:06.960
So depending on what event it is on in town, you know, you'll get all the tennis players in for the Australian Open.
00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:08.719
We got to do Ronan Keating's wedding.
00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:09.840
Yeah, that's right.
00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:13.119
I I remember you telling me a story about transporting a cake, I think.
00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:14.320
Was that for Ronan Keating's wedding?
00:36:14.559 --> 00:36:21.199
We took 220 kilos of handmade chocolate and equipment to um Scotland via Heathrow.
00:36:21.760 --> 00:36:24.880
And to drive a van from Heathrow to Scotland.
00:36:25.119 --> 00:36:31.679
And we spent three days preparing on a golf course um in Berwick, North Berwick.
00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:34.320
Yeah, it was um it was remote, but it was beautiful.
00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:37.920
Deer jumping around the property and bunnies.
00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:39.840
It was just it was so Scotland we all imagine.
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:43.599
It was there you are with 250 kilos a kit trying to put together a kit.
00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:48.159
Well, you know, when you do, you know, a gig overseas or somewhere, you don't know what the kitchen's gonna be like.
00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:53.360
So I I make sure that I can pull off an event if if asked.
00:36:53.519 --> 00:36:58.719
So that means preparing as much as possible and taking it with me because you never know what you're gonna get there.
00:36:58.960 --> 00:37:08.639
Um, so it there was kind of a dessert bar setup or or you know, confectionery bar or lolly table or whatever you want to call it, sweet station.
00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:11.360
So we did that, but the cake we made there.
00:37:11.599 --> 00:37:19.280
Um, so we got some local produce and just sort of we whipped up something quite simple, but it was raspberries and stuff like that.
00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:20.079
Amazing, yeah.
00:37:20.159 --> 00:37:25.519
And it was it was Daz had to um elbow with Ed Sheeran for the limelight that night.
00:37:25.840 --> 00:37:27.920
Well tell us more.
00:37:28.159 --> 00:37:36.639
Um, so they wanted the cake set up um all day for people to sit, or all evening for people to see it, but of course, because it's a fresh cake, can't sit out for hours.
00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:44.320
So I kind of made a dummy cake and it was out on display, and they said they were going to cut the cake at about seven o'clock.
00:37:44.400 --> 00:37:59.760
Uh so I I was not drinking, we're on a very um lovely table as guests, and we're all dressed up, but I wanted to make sure that the cake went, you know, got cut properly and distributed properly properly before I, you know, um decided to relax.
00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:06.239
Um and it was quite a theatrical wedding, so everyone was um performing at some point.
00:38:09.440 --> 00:38:10.320
It was beautiful.
00:38:10.480 --> 00:38:16.800
Um, but it was it was dragging on a bit, and about 10 o'clock they hadn't cut the cake, and I was just panicking the whole time.
00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:18.960
And then they said, right, we're gonna cut the cake.
00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:24.079
So that meant that I had to go into the kitchen, grab the real cake, and do a bit of a swap.
00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:27.519
So I went into the kitchen and um In the meantime.
00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:35.840
Um I they had a surprise um guest song for um Ronin and organized Ed for Storm for Sharp.
00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:38.559
As you do, you just you know, four legs and slicking.
00:38:38.880 --> 00:38:46.639
Chiron's in the kitchen uh with the with his guitar, and I'm standing by the door with with and he's in front of me.
00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:49.280
And I said, What are you doing then?
00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:51.440
He said, Well, I'm I'm doing the music.
00:38:52.960 --> 00:38:55.280
He said, Did you know who did you know who he was?
00:38:55.440 --> 00:38:56.880
Well, not really, ton of.
00:38:57.280 --> 00:39:00.320
Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, I knew who it was, and he said, What are you doing?
00:39:00.400 --> 00:39:02.320
I said, Well, I'm doing I'm doing the catering.
00:39:03.679 --> 00:39:06.159
And I had the cake, so we swapped spots.
00:39:06.239 --> 00:39:09.840
I went on first and I swapped the cake over.
00:39:10.159 --> 00:39:17.440
Um, and then Ronan and Storm came over and and cut the cake, which was the cue for the first dance.
00:39:17.679 --> 00:39:29.440
So I did all of those Vareens, the dessert tubes, and they got distributed amongst the guests as the music started, and they they and all the guests huddled around the dance floor with a dessert.
00:39:29.599 --> 00:39:42.880
Birchin purchased dessert, and um the music came on, it was Ed Sheeran song, and Storm had her back to the stage and they started dancing, and of course he sneaked on and then he started singing the we started drinking.
00:39:43.039 --> 00:39:44.400
Yeah, we started drinking.
00:39:44.559 --> 00:39:59.280
He started singing the first line, and she turned around and was like, Oh my god, it's Ed Sheeran, and then it just turned into this you know amazing evening of him getting up and you know playing a few tunes, and he was also sitting next to us on our table because we had a spare seat.
00:39:59.519 --> 00:40:00.559
Has he popped into the shop?
00:40:00.719 --> 00:40:02.639
No, no, it's not a warning, isn't it?
00:40:03.119 --> 00:40:04.239
He really knows much.
00:40:04.480 --> 00:40:05.760
He just remembers a guy with a cake.
00:40:05.920 --> 00:40:09.360
Yeah, he's somewhere doing a podcast telling the same story.
00:40:09.519 --> 00:40:12.159
Oh, I hope so, but the guy with a cake.
00:40:12.400 --> 00:40:17.039
We've been very lucky to do um that was the most challenging logistically, that one.
00:40:17.280 --> 00:40:24.320
That was you know, I had to hold flowers on in a flight, chocolate flowers, and make sure they weren't smashed in for 24 hours, yeah.
00:40:24.639 --> 00:40:26.000
Yeah, we we took a lot of stuff.
00:40:26.159 --> 00:40:28.159
Like I said, you you never know what you're gonna get over there.
00:40:28.239 --> 00:40:30.400
You don't know if if he likes to pack a lot.
00:40:30.719 --> 00:40:35.760
You've obviously had some amazing experiences and also I mean working together, so in business together.
00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:40.239
So not we're not just working together, we're in business together, and you live together as well.
00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:40.559
Yeah.
00:40:40.800 --> 00:40:41.519
Incredible times.
00:40:41.599 --> 00:40:43.519
What are the not so incredible times?
00:40:43.679 --> 00:40:47.440
Is there a point where you've just gone, this is not gonna work?
00:40:48.000 --> 00:41:00.559
I think there's always I think there's always tough times, especially in business, but I can honestly say that pretty much we have we have no hassles.
00:41:01.599 --> 00:41:07.119
It's it's remarkable to me because um, you know, historically restaurant couples never survive.
00:41:07.360 --> 00:41:07.440
Yeah.
00:41:07.679 --> 00:41:11.679
You know, there's a there's you know, record of that across decades.
00:41:12.159 --> 00:41:14.320
Um and I was a little bit hesitant.
00:41:14.400 --> 00:41:15.599
I wondered how we would go.
00:41:15.679 --> 00:41:20.880
But I think those three three years that we worked together at home, I knew we'd be fine.
00:41:21.039 --> 00:41:23.519
And we really genuinely are fine.
00:41:23.840 --> 00:41:25.440
Yeah, we love each other's company.
00:41:25.760 --> 00:41:41.199
There's there's I mean, there's pressures in business, of course, and and you know, there's there's a couple of times, you know, Kath could snap or I could snap at her at work, but it it's very minimal in terms of we spend uh uh every single moment of every single day together.
00:41:41.440 --> 00:41:56.960
And I just feel extremely lucky that I've met someone that I can share my entire life with, and um we laugh all day, we listen to music, we um you know, we we we confide in each other and we support each other.
00:41:57.119 --> 00:42:06.400
Um when I'm going crazy at Telstra, don't calm me down, and you see, yeah, or if he's going crazy at our 2,000 desserts that aren't going anywhere and you're calming him down.
00:42:06.639 --> 00:42:09.280
Yeah, so we just it it it really works.
00:42:09.519 --> 00:42:10.320
But what's the secret though?
00:42:10.400 --> 00:42:11.280
What do you reckon it is?
00:42:11.360 --> 00:42:12.239
Because it is unusual.
00:42:12.400 --> 00:42:17.679
I mean, Mandy and I, my wife and I tried working together, and Mandy said to me, She goes, You're horrible at work.
00:42:18.079 --> 00:42:19.599
And I said, What do you mean I'm horrible?
00:42:19.760 --> 00:42:26.320
And she said, You're just really direct and because she'd never experienced me in a professional environment before.
00:42:26.400 --> 00:42:28.159
And then all of a sudden she's at Phoenix.
00:42:28.400 --> 00:42:29.679
I go, and I don't like this at all.
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.639
So we tried it for a while and then went, you know what, it's better we stay, we keep keep it business and personal apart.
00:42:34.960 --> 00:42:39.360
I guess um for me, I mean, I was running kitchens and I was direct.
00:42:39.519 --> 00:42:44.880
And even though I'm an introvert, I mean that's that's a that's another success, really.
00:42:45.039 --> 00:42:48.719
I'm introverted, he's extroverted, he loves the limelight.
00:42:49.119 --> 00:42:55.920
I do not I had to do that in an earlier life, but I don't really um so we So you don't want to do it anymore.
00:42:56.159 --> 00:42:57.119
I don't want to do it anymore.
00:42:57.280 --> 00:42:59.920
I don't have any interest in it at all.
00:43:00.239 --> 00:43:02.400
Um, it isn't a need I need to fulfill.
00:43:02.639 --> 00:43:08.239
And but I having been there and done it, I also know that I can support incredibly well.
00:43:08.719 --> 00:43:11.440
Um so he does the things I don't want to do.
00:43:11.599 --> 00:43:13.840
I do things that he doesn't want to do.
00:43:14.079 --> 00:43:16.719
We both really love what we've created in the shop.
00:43:16.800 --> 00:43:30.239
We both really love the we love the reaction of people that walk in for the very first time that we tried to create something that had so much going on that people would be wowed for the whole time they were in there.
00:43:30.320 --> 00:43:32.000
And I think we've done that really well.
00:43:32.239 --> 00:43:50.559
Um and we get to laugh a lot and yeah, it's just it's it's easier to I mean had had we been doing this business together like independently, so say, for example, it was just sort of me and Caf was doing something else, I I would probably be a different person, Caf.
00:43:51.119 --> 00:43:55.119
Um teaches me to behave myself sometimes, you know.
00:43:55.199 --> 00:43:59.760
It's kind of I've kind of changed the way that I am as a person working.
00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:00.400
with a cat.
00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:01.599
And vice versa.
00:44:01.679 --> 00:44:07.119
I Darren te has taught me not to stress out about um certain things that you know.
00:44:07.360 --> 00:44:11.679
I mean the classic line he said to me, you know, you you literally you you work in retail.
00:44:11.760 --> 00:44:16.719
You can't be offended by, you know, you've got to Yeah, you work in a shop calf, you know.
00:44:16.880 --> 00:44:20.719
So don't be you can't be offended by by people, you know.
00:44:21.519 --> 00:44:31.440
So he has really he's brought out all the best characteristics in me and f and we and we keep growing on that every day.
00:44:31.760 --> 00:44:36.000
And working through pressures in business together is easier than doing it on your own.
00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:37.760
And we're quite creative.
00:44:37.840 --> 00:44:45.360
We're obviously a very good team together and we've got um a lot of skills and a lot of experience among us in in in our years.
00:44:45.679 --> 00:44:53.840
So um we've got a a great chance of you know make making this business work which is you know it's it's hard to run a business.
00:44:54.400 --> 00:44:59.760
Well people work for you I mean they're you know in the presence of two people that have been in I mean what's the combined experience?
00:45:00.880 --> 00:45:05.119
It's a lot of 50 years or 60 50 years.
00:45:06.800 --> 00:45:16.159
Because it's a lot I guess some of the guys uh who work for us if they listen to this podcast they'd be probably be quite surprised that CAF had a profile of restaurants.
00:45:16.239 --> 00:45:18.400
You know it's kind of a new generation they'd well they're young.
00:45:18.639 --> 00:45:34.239
When I walk in there and look how young they are yeah I'd see them behind the glass and they wouldn't know that was a chef um because they see her running around but do they see the creative process between you or in the business is it for is the kind of delineation really you know clear?
00:45:34.719 --> 00:45:40.559
Our kitchen door and our retail space are open spaces and so we all work together.
00:45:40.800 --> 00:45:41.599
All of us work together.
00:45:41.920 --> 00:45:42.480
The whole team.
00:45:43.119 --> 00:45:46.639
In you know that there's no sort of there's no separation.
00:45:47.039 --> 00:45:58.639
So even the girls who work in the front most of them are qualified pastry chefs and they'll come in and roll cookies and they help you know we pack everything in that on that marble table most of our business decisions happen on that table.
00:45:58.719 --> 00:46:01.039
Most of our business meetings happen on that table.
00:46:01.280 --> 00:46:06.960
Every now and again we'll have a brainwave and Darren I'll say to everyone you've just seen us having a business meeting.
00:46:07.679 --> 00:46:09.360
It is it's really like that.
00:46:09.519 --> 00:46:11.679
Yeah you know it's not it's fun.
00:46:11.920 --> 00:46:18.880
And doing stuff that you love to do and so busy and you also get a little bit of chance to do some acting as well.
00:46:19.119 --> 00:46:40.079
What the hell in the loosest sense of the word I you know um I I'm I'm so thrilled to uh have had a cameo a couple of times on neighbours um yeah not just once it was a couple of times a couple of times they asked you back well I'm angling for a third but um so if Jason is listening to this Jason Herbert and the executive producer I'll be happy to come back.
00:46:40.320 --> 00:47:01.760
You've got a little storyline of what you want oh yeah yeah you've got a picture storyline so you've got your product at uh yeah so it's funny um people say you know where can we buy your products you know can we get them anywhere anywhere else in Australia and we always we we laugh and say you can get them on Chapel Street and Ramsey Street because our products are stocked in Harold store on neighbours um and that's just such fun for us.
00:47:01.920 --> 00:47:09.360
If it's very subliminal and it's in the background you'll often see one of the characters stocking the shelves with our products so that's fun.
00:47:09.599 --> 00:47:22.480
And my cookbooks are also found on set so if ever a um character's flicking through a book it's often it's often one of my cookbooks they're very generous to me they get but they know I'm a huge neighbours fan being from the UK.
00:47:22.559 --> 00:48:33.280
Yeah so what does your mum and dad what do your mum and dad think of that because back in Guilford yeah that's the highlight of their that's literally the best thing I've ever done they've been on set oh they've been out to Ramsey Street where's the set is it two different places I don't even know there's I still see the bus going out yeah Ramsey Street the street um which is close to the set in Nanawadding but it's like neighbours world it's got its own postcode there's hundreds of people work there and it's fantastic they take it all extremely seriously art department are uh on with the props it's unbelievable they've got every single prop ever used and neighbours and continuity on neighbours is is they always throwing it back um you think seriously when you when they went I don't know what they do do they go to action well yeah you've got your bit i what were you thinking were you I actually did I had a bit of a panic when they went action because they they no one checked with me they didn't say you know have you learnt your lines it yeah I just rocked up and they're assuming that and I had obviously learnt my lines but um I I've never acted before so I I asked one of the actors in the green room just for quick acting quick tips got two minutes or was it I want to know it was a good two minutes but whatever.
00:48:33.599 --> 00:49:49.360
It was don't wait until um uh your fellow actor finishes their sentence jump in and start your line before because otherwise it looks sort of stage it looks like you're saying something and then I'm saying so I took that on board and um I was I'm an extra on that episode and you're an extra as well yeah we had a Birch and purchase episode where we set up a dessert bar to raise money um for Toadie's new wheelchair because um Paul Robinson who obviously knows all the chefs in Melbourne organised for us to come in and we yeah we unfortunately Toadie was in a wheelchair for about three months because of us I think that was the way they wrote us into the um but yeah it's fun there's lots of people have been on neighbours lots of UK people I'm surprised you haven't been on there guys yeah you know what's interesting my connection my next my connection to neighbours was my before I left the UK I was working at the the Le Souffle at the Intercontinental and I was on straight shifts unb quite progressive at the time to be honest and I'd start at two o'clock I think in the afternoon finish at 12 something like that and I I had to leave the house when the neighbour's theme tune pinged up on the screen weird wasn't it yeah pottering around I hear the neighbours theme tune and go gotta go gotta go.
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Yeah yeah plans for the future what's what's uh on the horizon oh gosh not ten Birch and purchase stores we've always been conscious we want one special one but we know we need to grow in the right way we we um we're I guess we're still sort of working it out really but the first thing is a bit of a holiday to um reset and recharge.
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And we know what our end game is.
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What's the end game?
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And that's a um pizza oven somewhere in our backyard far away from the city growing lots of produce and so is that the dream you want to live out in country Victoria somewhere or possibly um back in the UK would you move back I think we love it over here too much.
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But yeah not too far from the city but far enough to be food centric.
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You know we want to be making sourdough every day we want to be um you know cooking pizzas in our pizza oven we want to be growing amazing projects we learned how to make salami this year that was amazing yeah and our our salami's beautiful yeah well Darren and Kat thank you very much it's been a pleasure thank you we could talk for hours yeah um and maybe I'll get you know when I'm old I'll get an invite down to that country property to taste a salami you're you're first on the list guy cheers thanks for coming in thank you thank you you all know that I've got a sweet tooth I mean let's be honest most of us do and one of my go-to quick dessert recipes is a quick chocolate mousse and it's not something that goes in the refrigerator this is a make and eat on the couch if you will share if you will it's delicious 200 grams of dark unsweetened chocolate preferably 70% you know what I mean you go to the supermarket you look along the lines you pick the one that's 70% it's a little bit bitter.
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Coarsely chop it melt it in the microwave you add two teaspoons of either olive oil or my preference is a hazelnut oil because I'm a little fancy sometimes and then you need one little tub of cream they're normally about 350 mils of thickened cream lightly whip it and then you're ready to go you take a little bit of that whipped cream and then you fold it into the melted chocolate and oil and then you take the rest of that cream and then fold it through and to be honest it doesn't matter whether it's completely incorporated or not I mean we're not talking fancy it's almost like a marbled effect.
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And you know what?
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Have a spoonful of that it's light it's delicious it's warming and it's addictive.
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I hope you enjoyed that chat and don't forget to let me know who you'd love me to talk to.
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I'll call anybody make sure you subscribe to my podcast so you can keep updated with new episodes as they launch.