Shane Delamont is part owner and head chef at E.U. Café. Shane says he has been interested in food as long as he can remember, and recalls watching television cooking shows and cooking dinner for his family since the age of 8 or 9. After finishing year 12, Shane completed a pre-apprenticeship course and then headed to Thredbo, working for a season before returning to Canberra and starting his apprenticeship proper at Belluci’s in Curtin under Frank Kochinos and Jerry Grobben. Shane stayed on with Belluci’s after their move to Woden and eventually became head chef there. After travelling through Europe, Shane returned to Australia and bought Element in Griffith with the express purpose of converting it into a cafe that celebrates the cuisines of that continent, hence the name E.U. He does not subscribe to the philosophy of fusion, however, but believes in maintaining the authenticity of each dish and staying true to original flavours, so the menu coming out of his kitchen is like a little trip around Europe rather than a mod-oz style mash up.

photo Ben Thomas
see recipes by Shane Delamont

Max Azize is the chef at Saffron, the Manuka restaurant he owns with his brother Marvin. A veteran of the food industry, Max has been involved in a number of restaurants in Canberra and Sydney in a career that spans four decades. Max came to Canberra in 1978 and opened Omar Kayam, Canberra’s first Lebanese restaurant, at the Deakin Inn. From there he went on to establish Max’s at The Ark, a fine dining restaurant which specialised in a high end version of Lebanese alongside French inspired continental cuisine, and a favourite haunt of many of the day’s pollies and Canberra business crowd. After a short stint back in Sydney, Max returned to Canberra and was involved with the newly established Ali Baba chain, most notably at the Manuka outlet. Now at Saffron, he focuses on the shared heritage of the cuisines of the Near East, and embraces the ethos of freshness and simplicity in the Mediterranean diet.

photo Ben Thomas
see recipes by Max Azize

Louise Darbyshire has recently taken over as chef at Benchmark Wine Bar. At the age of 23, she may seem a little young, but Louise has grown up around hospitality businesses. Her parents operated a hotel and restaurant in Mildura for a number of years when she was a teenager and before that she remembers her mother getting her and her siblings involved in the tasks of preparing the family meal: shopping, cooking and tasting from a very young age. She did her apprenticeship at The Beach House in Geelong, a two storey café and restaurant literally across the road from the beach specialising in modern Australian casual dining. She moved to Canberra at the beginning of 2008 and soon after gained employment at Benchmark. The step to head chef has not taken long, and Louise is confident she can bring her own style to many of the dishes there.

photo Ben Thomas
see recipes by Louise Darbyshire

Grant Kells is the head chef and owner of Flint Dining Room & Bar, a smart modern bistro at the NewActon development. Grant is originally from England and trained at London's illustrious Connaught Hotel. In 1999 he was named Europe's best apprentice chef by none other than Paul Bocusse, and has worked at such notable establishments as the three starred L'Esprance and La Maison Troisgros. After becoming the youngest ever head chef at the famous Raffles in Singapore, Grant found himself in Sydney and took up sous chef duties at MG Garage under Jeremy Strode and then became head chef at Wine Banc. A visit to Australia by brother Spencer led to the two of them opening Kell's Kitchen at The Kirketon. It was here that Grant was first introduced to the developers of NewActon, and after a trip to the nation's capital, Grant fell in love with the site and was convinced that he and his brother should open a new restaurant there. Grant's philosophy for Flint is really about understated excellence, and the offerings are more casual, the idea being modern bistro dining rather than haute cuisine.

photo Ben Thomas
see recipes by Grant Kells

Christian Hauberg is the owner and chef of Pulp Kitchen in Ainslie. A local boy, he began his career as an apprentice in 1990 at The Tower restaurant, and then spent a number of years travelling the world and refining his craft, before returning home. In the nineties he worked under acclaimed chef Dietmar Sawyere at  Forty One Restaurant. From there he moved to Europe where he experienced the rush of working in some of the world’s most highly regarded establishments such as the 3 Michelin star L’Esprance in France. In 1999, he was involved in the opening of Le Cinq at the Four Seasons “George V”, also a 3 Michelin star restaurant. His career with the Four Seasons Group saw him  work in a number of prestigious properties around the globe, most notably as Executive Sous Chef at the Four Seasons Dublin and as Chef de Cuisine at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, where he was responsible for over 400 staff. Since returning home, his philosophy on food has leaned towards the unpretentious and the rustic, two qualities which embody the atmosphere in his Ainslie restaurant.

photo Ben Thomas
see recipes by Christian Hauberg

As a second generation chef, Alex Siu has grown up in and around the food industry. His father, Lok, was a chef in a number of Chinese restaurants over the years and Alex, currently head chef at Du Jour, says he remembers working in kitchens since the age of 12. Initially, he didn’t choose food as a career, preferring to attend UC to study for a bachelor of Science. By that stage, already experienced in the art of Chinese cookery, he looked for a job to earn some income while studying and found himself working as a kitchen hand at Caffe Della Piazza. As time went by, Alex realised that cooking was what he really enjoyed, so after completing his degree, he took up an apprenticeship at Della Piazza, which he completed in 2000. Whilst he admires Sydney’s Tetsuya Wakuda for his meticulous presentation and El Bulli’s Ferran Adrià for his molecular gastronomy (the science student comes out here), his own philosophy focuses more on simplicity. Du Jour’s policy of sourcing local suppliers where possible and building good relationships to ensure quality and freshness is a priority for Alex, as is the delivery of dishes that may be described as comfort food.

photo Ben Thomas
see recipes by Alex Siu

Abell Ong is the chef and owner of Abell's Kopi Tiam in Manuka. Abell is a self taught chef who has been involved in the food industry for close to 30 years. His family were the operators of The Singapore Restaurant (located at the old Speros Downtown Hotel) and it was there that he first gained experience working and running a restaurant. After that, Abell spent some time working at Parliament House looking after functions, but says he always preferred working for himself, so moved into the take away food business with his own enterprise for a number of years. In the late nineties, he opened Kopi Tiam with his wife, Lorna Sim, and since then has been successfully delivering authentic Chinese and Malay dishes sourced from their family traditions.

photo Ben Thomas
see recipes by Abell Ong