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