By Abbey Cannan
A celebrity chef who turned pub dining into an awarded and celebrated experience will be sharing his insider tips at the upcoming Noosa Eat & Drink Festival.
His profile as a no-nonsense chef continues to grow, and those honest opinions led him to appear as a judge on Channel 7’s ratings winner ‘My Kitchen Rules’.
In true fashion, Colin Fassnidge said his demonstration in ’The Chefs Kitchen’ event would be “life changing“.
“Come down, enjoy yourself, and ask questions. Whatever you want to know, ask, because we’ve got chefs there that do it for a living, so make the most of it.“
Born in Dublin and trained by the legendary Raymond Blanc, Colin is a consistent winner of the prestigious chef’s hat.
“I was the first chef in Australia to get two Hats in a pub, so I’ve got the same awards as the top restaurants… but I was in a pub, which means I’m better,“ he laughed.
Colin said he was excited to visit Noosa, and was keen to step out and get amongst the local food scene.
“After last year with everything getting cancelled, you really don’t know what you’ve got until you lose it,“ he said.
“It’ll be really good just to get out and see a crowd again and cook for people. I’m looking forward to walking around and meeting all the chefs.
“We’ll be trying different restaurants, and we’ve got a lunch booking with other chefs at Sum Yung Guys.“
Colin said he was currently working on a TV show and has just released his second book.
“We’ve still got the two pubs in the city,“ he said.“We opened up a soup kitchen at one of our pubs during the Covid lockdown and that’s still going now.
“When it got tough, we went out and helped people rather than stripping the shelves of toilet paper like a lot of people did.
“It’s good to be open again, and since we supported the locals during the tough time, they’ve come back to support us ten-fold now.“
He said the industry was suffering with a lack of staff due to the Covid pandemic.
“It’s pretty bad at the moment for staff because the Government didn’t support the overseas workers during lockdown, so they’ve gone home, and now there’s no one to cook food,“ he said.
“There’s no staff anywhere. There’s no one to pick the fruit, so the prices have gone through the roof, and I think there’s a sticky time ahead.“
Due to the recent lockdown in Melbourne, there has been some changes to the schedule for The Chefs Kitchen – with new additions of George Calombaris and Max Sharrad added to the line-up.
Colin has also stepped in to do Matt Preston’s demos.
Don’t miss Colin Fassnidge at the Chefs Skills Table on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 June. Visit www.noosaeatdrink.com.au
