LEIGH SALES: When it comes to restaurants,
Australia is killing it in terms of
top-quality cuisine from all around the world.
But running a restaurant is not for the faint-hearted,
and it takes a particular kind of person to survive.
Over the next three episodes, we're taking you behind the scenes
with some of Australia's most interesting restaurateurs,
people whose compelling personal stories
are shaping their unique approaches to their craft.
First is Josh Niland, arguably right now
First is Josh Niland, one of the country's hottest chefs.
JOSH NILAND: It's very hard to throw a pin into why you're a chef.
Most chefs are pretty insecure, I can say that for myself.
It's quite exposing when you really put yourself out there.
Anything I do, I want to do well.
There is a sense of urgency all the time.
And I think that's because growing up, I learnt from a very young age
that everything can get ripped out from underneath you pretty quickly.
Malibu Pier, of all places for an Australian to be.
Malibu Pier, of all places Um, very cool, very excited.
I mean, how good is this?
We're about to feed 288 people for this crazy event
for Tourism Australia.
JAMIE OLIVER: Josh Niland, without question,
is one of the most interesting chefs on the planet right now. JAMIE OLIVER: Josh Niland, without question,
is one of the most interesting chefs on the planet right now.
JOSH: The pie that we're doing tonight has literally got a lobster
coming out the top of it.
Head out, tail out, legs out.
So, we should get some oohs and ahhs as it goes out.
If I'm in Lima, if I'm in London, if I'm in Madrid,
the only cookbook I'll see from an Australian Chef
on any of these shelves is Josh Niland's books.
JOSH: If it looks like it's enough, just stop and then move on.
But just see. See what you think, yeah.
I'm sure Josh thinks he's pretty shit hot, But just see. See what you think, yeah.
I'm sure Josh thinks he's pretty shit hot,
and he is pretty shit hot,
but he's very, very humble.
Wild.
NIGELLA LAWSON: Some chefs do things
that sound extraordinary, and you think,
"Well, there's a reason why people haven't done this before." that sound extraordinary, and you think,
"Well, there's a reason why people haven't done this before."
But when Josh invents something,
you think, "Why hasn't everyone been doing this forever?"
Have we got more gar, or none?
Or none?
There's a little bit, then. Very good.
Top menu's doing garfish.
Garfish onto tuna.
Alright.
JAMIE: I've been fascinated by Josh.
And, look, his level of cooking is right up there.
But also he hasn't gone down the traditional path.
You know, he's chosen to sort of make his own space within fish,
and not only fish, but the whole fish and just about anything
and not only fish, but the whole you can imagine with fish.
Two, four, six, eight.
Every time I get a fish, I usually look at it for a few minutes
just to make sure that what you're about to do is going to represent
that fish very well.
MAN: What Josh Niland started doing,
I guess we could call nose-to-tail cooking,
where he started trying to find ways to use
absolutely every part of the fish, whether it was the skin or the fin, where he started trying to find ways to use
absolutely every part of the fish, whether it was the skin or the fin,
or, God help me, the eyeballs.
JOSH: The biggest reason why we're, I suppose, perceived as doing
all these quite unique and different things with fish,
all of that was born out of, um, all these quite unique and different things with fish,
all of that was born out of, um,
absolute fear that all of this was going to go belly up.
Alright.
Food is such a significant part of my life now,
Food is such a significant but to me back being a kid,
food couldn't have been less important.
food couldn't have been To me, it was meat and three veg,
uh, fish came in a can,
and we didn't do restaurants.
We weren't the type of family to do that. It was practical.
I grew up in East Maitland,
a relatively regional suburb
in New South Wales.
Very simple upbringing,
with Mum and Dad having their own business
with Mum and Dad at the back of our house.
It was a very normal childhood right up until about the age of eight.
So, this was my eighth birthday,
and it was kind of like the dream eighth birthday.
It was at, uh, McDonald's in East Maitland with all my mates.
And then, yeah, two days later, we... everything kind of changed.
Josh had been weirdly sick for a while with various things.
He supposedly had glandular fever.
Just things didn't go back to normal He supposedly had glandular fever.
Just things didn't go back to normal after the glandular fever.
Just things didn't go back to normal No.
Mum made an appointment at the doctor's,
just because I was pretty crook.
So, I got the appointment,
and you went to change from your pyjamas So, I got the appointment,
and you went to change from your pyjamas
to a T-shirt that was suitable.
And as you put your arms up in the air and took the T-shirt off,
there's a cricket ball sitting in underneath, in your rib cage,
which turned out to be the tumour coming through from the kidney.
which turned out to be the tumour Yeah.
So, we get in the car and...
And it's funny what you remember,
you remember where the sun was and everything.
And I just...I said to Mum, "Yeah, am I going to die?"
And that was then probably one of the first times
that I ever saw Mum really break down.
"Yes, like, it's malignant." Malignant.
"It's not leukaemia. It's a huge tumour. We've gotta get it out."
"Gotta get it out," yeah. Yeah.
REPORTER: Joshua Niland has a Wilms tumour.
REPORTER: Joshua Niland It was diagnosed six months ago,
three days after It was diagnosed six months ago,
three days after his eighth birthday.
LIZ: Even though I was, yeah, only 10,
I still remember him being wheeled away.
It was a 5.5-hour surgery and the kidney was removed.
REPORTER: Joshua has had chemotherapy dozens of times,
REPORTER: Joshua has had but today will be different.
Within minutes, but today will be different.
Within minutes, his arm starts to ache.
Within minutes, WOMAN: Does it feel like, you know,
how sometimes you've been lying on your arm
and you're waking up and it's gone to sleep?
and you're waking up Does it feel like that?
JOSH: When I was in hospital, there was a documentary being put together.
If there's something wrong with it, will you have to take it out again?
If there's something wrong with it, We might have to, mate.
Come here. Come on.
Come here, come here, come here.
Come here.
OK, OK.
(SOBS)
JOSH: There was that moment of the worst pain,
some of the worst pain I've ever felt.
And I was very lucky, obviously, that Mum was right there.
But I don't think her and I both can summon any kind of thought
about wanting to watch that again.
When you're put into a room where there's six kids in there,
and then you wake up the next morning and there's five,
yeah, you definitely start seeing things through a new lens.
And...
..yeah, it's a lot...
..it's a lot on the shoulders, I think, of an eight-year-old.
MAREA: When his recovery, um...
Because his taste had disappeared
and he was not liking very much at all,
it was the old, um, pastry-bottom...
Chicken mornay. Used to enjoy that.
Mm-hm. It went down OK.
Getting to the other side of chemo
it was almost like the shackles are off and here we go.
it was almost like the shackles Now that you've overcome that,
you can get a rocket pack on your back
and you can do whatever you set your mind to.
MAREA: Definitely from that point forward,
he was going to live every day as if it was his last.
This idea that I really love hospitality,
and I think it's more out of Mum cooking for me.
Drive me down, get chemo, drive me home, feed me lunch,
Drive me down, get chemo, and then drop me back at school.
It was very intentional.
And, like, it's one of the most generous things
that you can do for somebody else, is cook them a meal.
Between the ages of 12 and 15 was very much like
Between the ages of 12 and 15 I knew I wanted to be a cook.
Cool. I knew I wanted to be a cook.
Cool. MAN: Thanks be to God.
Amen. Amen.
Here we go.
LIZ: He just had a really clear vision
LIZ: He just had for what he wanted to be doing.
Which bits do you want? for what he wanted to be doing.
Which bits do you want? Oh, a bit of leg.
He really was focused on that high-end type of cooking. Which bits do you want? Oh, a bit of leg.
He really was focused on that high-end type of cooking.
It wasn't just making steaks at the pub.
Where'd you put the leg? Where'd you put the leg?
It's all chopped up. It's all got all the bone out of it.
Oh, righto.
It's far more decorum eating it without...without a bone in it.
It's far more decorum eating Oh, righto. There you go.
He had pictures of Shannon Bennett, I remember, on his wall,
He had pictures of Shannon Bennett, and, um, like, Neil Perry,
and just loved all of the and, um, like, Neil Perry,
and just loved all of the celebrity chefs of the day,
like Jamie and Nigella and all of those folk.
like Jamie and Nigella A full chook, yeah.
MAN: He'd already spoken A full chook, yeah.
MAN: He'd already spoken to Marea and me about
leaving school at the end of Year 10, MAN: He'd already spoken to Marea and me about
leaving school at the end of Year 10,
and we said as long as you've got
an apprenticeship to go to, and we said as long as you've got
an apprenticeship to go to, that's fine.
Pulled out the red tape. How are ya? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Pulled out the red tape. How are ya? Nice to see you. How are you doing?
Good. That's good.
Josh's first job was with the Brewery Restaurant in Newcastle.
I was only thinking of you yesterday.
Do you remember how old you were when you started with me?
I think I was 15. 15. You were. Yeah, I know.
I knew that I wanted to express myself,
but also knew that there was a hell of a long way to go to do that.
At that time, I just remember him wanting to learn everything.
He wanted to meet everyone, he wanted to learn everything,
and he just was, like, all over it. he wanted to learn everything,
and he just was, like, all over it.
Like, eyes wide open, like...
I would go and have a tasting menu in my break.
I know. Bizarre. (LAUGHS)
STEPHEN: In his first year of his apprenticeship,
STEPHEN: In his first year there was a Redkite function
with six different chefs from Newcastle and one from Sydney.
And the fellow from Sydney was Peter Doyle.
And Josh was able to be a part of cooking in the kitchen.
Peter grabbed me at the end and said,
"Why don't you come and have lunch at Est one day?"
"Why don't you come and have lunch That's right.
And then I was like, "Oh, wow. That's right.
And then I was like, "Oh, wow. Thank you," and then he left.
And, so, then I got on the train the next morning, no booking.
And then Peter walks out and he goes, "What are you doing here?"
And I said, "Well, you told me to come for lunch."
And I said, "Well, you told me Yes.
And he goes, "Yeah, but Yes.
And he goes, "Yeah, but I just saw you yesterday."
I'm like, "Oh, I was just really keen."
And he's like, "OK, are you hungry?" And I said, "Yeah," you know.
And, so, from 12 till four, I got, like, the procession
And, so, from 12 till four, of Peter's greatest hits.
Yeah. And it opened your eyes. of Peter's greatest hits.
Yeah. And it opened your eyes. Yeah, it was unbelievable.
And so then you get to the end of it, and then he goes,
And so then you get to the "Do you want a job?"
And then I'm like, "Do you want a job?"
And then I'm like, "Ah, yes. Yes, I do."
And then got home and I said,
"Mum, I'm going to go work And then got home and I said,
"Mum, I'm going to go work for Peter Doyle at Est."
And then she said, "No, you're not." (LAUGHS)
We said, "No, you can't. You can't do that. And then she said, "No, you're not." (LAUGHS)
We said, "No, you can't. You can't do that.
"You're too young. You have nowhere to live."
I was devastated and I was pretty annoyed that I couldn't do that.
And so I went to work the next day, I grabbed my chef,
I said, "I know now I want to move to Sydney."
I'm sure he was a little bit frustrated,
but I could see then that he really ramped it up.
He gave me an education after that
that was pretty intense He gave me an education after that
that was pretty intense and very much got me ready.
LIZ: As Josh was getting towards
the end of that first year of his apprenticeship,
he started catching the train to Sydney
and going to various restaurants
that he thought he'd like to work at.
I'd be Rockpool one week and then Aria,
I'd be Rockpool one week you'd go to Guillaume at Bennelong,
and you'd have these opulent, ridiculous meals
where you'd put your whole first-year pay cheque,
which wasn't that much, down on a meal.
which wasn't that much, And that was my best education.
And notebooks would just get filled on the way home from these things.
STEPHEN HODGES: To see this, like, kid propped up on a stool,
you know, quite often, if not weekly, was just astounding. STEPHEN HODGES: To see this, like, kid propped up on a stool,
you know, quite often, if not weekly, was just astounding.
I mean, who does that?
I had had a meal at Glass, as one of my trips that I made,
and Luke Mangan came over and sat at my table.
He said, "Do you want to come and do a trial?"
STEPHEN NILAND: Josh was 17 when he moved to Sydney.
I don't think a parent wants to lose their child
to another city, but we certainly didn't want to hold him back either.
JOSH: After Glass, I finally got my dream job at Est
and moved around the sections, and really, um,
I think got drawn mainly to fish in that kitchen.
And I think it was because there was a certain reverence
placed on the person who was doing that task,
placed on the person that they had the sharpest knives,
that they knew how to calculate their yields and losses.
And I said to Peter, "Is there somewhere you'd suggest
"that I go and work, um, to learn fish?"
Peter suggested that I go to Fish Face in Darlinghurst.
When Josh came to me, his goal was to learn how to cook seafood.
That was... He basically said it straight to me.
"I've come here to learn how to cook seafood."
Stephen had asked me to come on a Sunday,
and Sundays were, like, the busiest day at Fish Face.
And I remember just watching how frenetic,
And I remember like, it was just intense.
The manager comes back with a piece of fish and says, "The fish is raw."
Uh, you know, this thing may as well have been swimming off the plate,
it was, you know, very raw.
Uh, and this came at a terribly inconvenient time of the night,
and that plate got picked up by the chef
and thrown against the wall.
There's fish and porcelain now that's kind of gone everywhere,
and this guy's given a mouthful to everybody,
uh, taken the apron off, thrown the tongs down and off he went.
And this was... yeah, this was my trial.
The junior in the corner there was crying her eyes out,
The junior in the corner there God bless her.
Um, and I went outside to deal with it,
Josh just walked in there and took over.
I just jumped on, just because I'm like,
"I'm not going to see Stephen's restaurant
"kind of go in the toilet for a night.
"So, I'm just going to do my best."
You know, he just nailed it.
Like, that's the capability of the kid as well.
And we just say he had a lot of patience with people like myself
and the state of the industry at the time.
As much as he didn't like it, the...
You know, just say it, alcohol, drugs, stuff like that.
As much as Josh didn't like it,
he just got on with what he had to do and he kept it all running, yeah.
Do you wanna have a look at this? Yeah.
JOSH: I met Julie when she was 18 and I was 19.
JULIE: We met at a TAFE cooking competition.
Um, so I was a first-year apprentice and Josh was a fourth-year. JULIE: We met at a TAFE cooking competition.
Um, so I was a first-year apprentice and Josh was a fourth-year.
Um, I made a bread, like, a potato-water bread
out of the water that I cooked the potatoes in.
So, yeah, Josh was impressed.
I thought that was pretty cool.
I think I made a parmesan wafer to go on the top.
A parmesan wafer. Possibly.
I made a carrot dessert with blueberries and things.
It was, like, with foam, it was, like, very of its time.
It was very of its time. (LAUGHS) Yeah.
It was very of its time. (LAUGHS) A little bit too much effort.
But, yeah, we both won A little bit too much effort.
But, yeah, we both won in the end, so it was good.
Josh invited her to come back and check out his cookbook collection.
Um, with no innuendo, I can imagine, whatsoever.
He was just very keen to show his cookbook collection.
STEPHEN HODGES: He used to dine in on his own,
STEPHEN HODGES: He used to dine in and then he turned up with Julie,
and, you know, lovely little straightie 180. (LAUGHS) and then he turned up with Julie,
and, you know, lovely little straightie 180. (LAUGHS)
A true love story, really.
I mean, considering the, you know, car crash of a relationship
I mean, considering the, you know, most chefs had, like.
JULIE: Where's the playground? CHILD: There's the playground.
Are you gonna climb up and go down the slide?
Yeah. Yeah?
We always said we would never open our own restaurant.
Um, because we knew just what a big risk it was.
Um, because we knew Slow down.
By that stage, we had two small children,
and it wasn't until someone else offered to open a restaurant
for Josh, and we would have a small stake in it,
that we started to think about it, that sort of de-risked it for us.
And then, as we got further along with that,
we sort of realised we could actually do this ourself.
we sort of realised Alright, go! Whee!
JOSH: I went and signed this lease the next morning,
and I was sick in the lady's office, as I was signing it, JOSH: I went and signed this lease the next morning,
and I was sick in the lady's office, as I was signing it,
just because the severity of all of...
..the magnitude of being the guy on the lease now.
I got a message from Josh one day saying he was actually, ..the magnitude of being the guy on the lease now.
I got a message from Josh one day saying he was actually,
you know, going to pull the trigger and open a place of his own.
He goes, "Oh, that's amazing news. Congratulations.
"You know, just tell me it's not fish."
(LAUGHS) And I said, "It's 100% fish.
"There's nothing but fish on the menu."
I kind of stand by that advice. You know, seafood is hard.
It's expensive. It's tricky.
People think it smells bad.
Even when it's fresh, it's slimy. Why would you deal with seafood?
Luca, do this one as well, right? Please.
Yes, Chef. Cool.
STEPHEN HODGES: Opening your own restaurant,
STEPHEN HODGES: the risk involved is astronomical.
Financial toll, mental, relationship.
JOSH: Six months after opening, I was exhausted.
So, he was working crazy hours and it was really physical, JOSH: Six months after opening, I was exhausted.
So, he was working crazy hours and it was really physical,
because he was doing everything from handling all the fish
because he was doing everything to scrubbing the floor.
JOSH: The wages were through the roof, the food cost was high.
And so my accountant gets on the phone and says,
"You're not gonna last the rest of the year, running it like this."
We're doing these six minutes, or eight?
Six minutes. Six. Really? Far out.
All the numbers were coming in, it's like, "These numbers suck."
Like, seriously, "You're working for nothing."
JOSH: I just remember picking up my invoice for fish,
and it was $4,500 just for fish, like, no vegies or anything.
And I just thought to myself, "Wow, this is...
And I just thought to myself, "It's going to be hard."
Because at TAFE we all get told half "It's going to be hard."
Because at TAFE we all get told half a fish is waste, or is the loss.
My problem was everything was going to go to shit
and I needed a plan for how to get out of it.
There was a moment where it clicked.
I've kind of thought about There was a moment where it clicked.
I've kind of thought about when I was 19 at Fish Face
and Steve said to me, "Why don't you think of fish more as meat?
and Steve said to me, "Why don't you "Swordfish kind of looks like a pig.
"You know how to cook pork, don't you?"
And then, "Tuna kind of looks like a cow.
"You know how to cook beef, don't you?"
And then I started to think more about
what it was to even think about fish as meat
and its relationship to what dry-ageing could be,
or what charcuterie could be, and all these things.
And then you start pushing all these things together in a box
and you're like, "Well, that's really interesting."
It's about finding ways
within the history of meat-based butchery preparations
and then reinterpreting it within the world of fish.
So, then I decided that
we should start putting trays on top of the bins while we were working,
we should start putting trays on top capturing eyes and livers and hearts
and bones and everything.
And we're like, well, if we're able and bones and everything.
And we're like, well, if we're able to turn this into something
And we're like, well, if we're able that helps the food cost out a bit,
if we can get that down,
then hopefully then we'll find a little bit of a scale that works.
then hopefully then we'll find So, then we've got the intestines.
We salt them and then we steam them.
Or you can make them crispy.
STEPHEN HODGES: To take it up to 80%, 90% of the use of the product,
STEPHEN HODGES: To take it up to there's your money.
We can do stuff with kidneys. We can do stuff with hearts.
Josh is not trying to be innovative for the sake of it,
he's actually trying not to waste fish.
What can he use so that as much as possible goes onto the plate?
What can he use so that as much So, gills.
These are the gills.
We have yet to find a delicious These are the gills.
We have yet to find a delicious solution for the gills.
The way he sees things is not normal.
Like, he breaks down fish,
like an Airfix model.
Like...here's a fish.
But also he's kind of getting into the realms of
sort of being a chemist and a scientist.
I woke up one morning and I was just like,
"I'm making a prawn cracker out of eyes."
We used to give people that came into the restaurant these eye chips
We used to give people that came that they didn't know it was eyes.
We just gave them something deep-fried, salty and crunchy
when it came in.
The eye.
You know, the eye chip just sent it into stratosphere, Saint Peter.
PAT: Josh and Julie were putting up plates
that were like nothing else in Australia.
For me, as a restaurant critic,
one of the most exciting things you can find in your job
is a restaurant or a new talent. one of the most exciting things you can find in your job
is a restaurant or a new talent.
That's...that kind of exciting.
The momentum started to kick in
and we noticed quite an uptake in... in people.
When I first went to Saint Peter, like, I thought, you know,
When I first went to Saint Peter, I was going undercover,
but like two, three tables down I was going undercover,
but like two, three tables down there was Nigella.
but like two, three tables down "Hello, darling. You alright?
"Do you want a drink?"
Uh, like, it was clearly a bit of a buzz going on.
Right, lovely people. Uh, like, it was clearly a bit of a buzz going on.
Right, lovely people.
Jamie got into the cool room with me.
And that whippersnapper behind me is a very clever boy.
He goes, "Alright, I've got quite a lot of followers on Instagram,
"and I'm just going to do a one minute thing here."
"and I'm just going to do That was huge.
Julie said that, you know,
I had a bigger smile on my face Julie said that, you know,
I had a bigger smile on my face than at the wedding.
We get to the point where the first awards night happens
and Saint Peter wins Best New Restaurant in the country,
and Saint Peter wins and I've won Best New Chef.
How are you? WOMAN: Hey. Good, thanks.
How are you? Josh. Lovely to meet you all.
PAT: They got two hats from the Good Food Guide,
PAT: They got two hats which is a pretty big deal.
So they never go in ice either.
So when you eat it,
you'll actually taste what really good crab tastes like.
It's two out of a possible three hats.
It's two out of a possible So, serious recognition.
Alright. This is table eight. Yeah? Yep.
MAN: Wow. Hats, yep.
The more hats you get, the more hard it is to keep.
The more hats you get, I'll take one mackerel.
Yeah.
To stay at those levels, you always have to improve.
To go up to the next level,
that's another improvement and you've got to improve again
that's another improvement every year on that.
If you feel uncomfortable out there, then more often than not
it's because there is a problem and it needs to get sorted out.
Well, it just put the pressure on.
It was like, "I don't want to have a day off ever.
"The critics are going to come and I need to be there."
So that...that...that's not a wonderful feeling.
And it's pretty...it's pretty hard with obviously home as well.
I was going to say just if everybody can see that light there,
I was going to say just if everybody you see how there's cobwebs on it?
Just up there, the globe.
Yeah.
LIZ: I do remember Julie at one point telling me
that she'd added up Josh's hours for the week, and she said,
"You know how some people say, 'I've worked like 100 hours this week'?" that she'd added up Josh's hours for the week, and she said,
"You know how some people say, 'I've worked like 100 hours this week'?"
"You know how some people say, 'I've She said he literally did.
He, like...he was just working outrageous hours.
I went and personally saw Josh and said, "Man, take it easy.
"Like, this could all end in a disaster.
"Like, this could all end "You know, you're only you."
MAREA: I've always been concerned about him burning out.
And I know that in the cheffing business
that that burnout factor is real.
It was 2019 and we got invited to the Good Food Awards.
We're on a table with former staff that used to work at Saint Peter.
They announced the one-hat award winners.
And then we were the last one up on the board.
And so then the reality of like,
And so then the reality "OK, well, we've lost a hat" sunk in.
And I just looked at Julie and I'm like,
"I have to leave. I've gotta go."
The point that you find out is when they're calling it out.
He was shell shocked,
and that's sort of how brutal it can all be.
I think the biggest thing was, yeah, the ego damage, the embarrassment,
all those things.
And so I was pretty flat.
We lost a hat and it felt as if
I'd bitten off probably a little bit too much.
It really did take Covid happening
for me to kind of snap out of it and kind of go, "Oh, OK, right."
Shutting at that point for me, personally,
was actually a little bit of a relief
just because I was able to kind of step back and go, "Am I happy?"
just because I was able to kind of And I wasn't.
There's a difference between management and leadership,
and I think it was my poor management skills in terms of, uh,
"I'll do it and everything's going to be just fine."
And that isn't conducive to getting home on time, or isn't, um...
..isn't going to give you a holiday any time soon.
JULIE: It was, um, a really good way to just reset
and just put it all back on your terms JULIE: It was, um, a really good way to just reset
and just put it all back on your terms
and let's just do the restaurant we really want to do.
Have you got parties this weekend?
She's got to her birthday party.
12:45 to 2:45. She's got to her birthday party.
12:45 to 2:45. Mum, Mum, Mum!
PAT: I'm stunned by the Nilands' capacity.
PAT: I'm stunned by They're barely in their 30s,
with however many businesses.
They've got four kids.
Your tooth is very wobbly.
STEPHEN: They're 50/50 all the way, and they always have been.
And I think Josh draws on that strength.
Julie has a lot on her plate.
She organises everything behind the scenes of Josh Niland Inc.
MAN: Nice. Look at that. Awesome.
JULIE: I'm not about to start trying to be a better chef than Josh
JULIE: I'm not about to start at this point.
My ambition is more for the family life and to support that
with a, you know, a great business.
PAT: He's now in a position where
he's got not just the two hats back at Saint Peter,
but his other Sydney restaurant now has two hats as well.
Sort of looking at each other.
Nice.
The Grand National is our next big project.
So that's Saint Peter relocating just around the corner
So that's Saint Peter relocating to what used to be an old pub.
OK, let's get rid to what used to be an old pub.
OK, let's get rid of the plans now.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't want Saint Peter to be
one of the best restaurants in the world.
MAREA: Josh will never sit still for too long,
MAREA: Josh will never but, hopefully, as he gets older,
the ability to be able to sit back a little would be...would be good.
the ability to be able to sit back Yeah.
I can remember hearing that somebody said that,
I can remember hearing "Given you've got one kidney,
"life expectancy is obviously "Given you've got one kidney,
"life expectancy is obviously a little bit shorter."
So there's always going to be a sense of urgency.
But I feel like we're getting to a stage now where I can say,
But I feel like we're getting "I'm going home now."
LEIGH SALES: Next time on Australian Story,
LEIGH SALES: Next time we meet Shaun Christie-David,
an unstoppable force who's serving up delicious food
an unstoppable force that's also changing lives.
Food is the most universal love language.
It's a piece of your culture and it's your story,
and that's why food is so powerful.
(ALL CHEER)
Captions by Red Bee Media (ALL CHEER)
Captions by Red Bee Media
Copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation