Rob Hartwell is the 2008 Acorn Scholar. As part of a year’s development activity, he has been given a sabbatical from his sous chef role with Peach Pub Company to take a four-month cooks tour.
Working in Sydney
For the last six weeks I have been having the time of my life; meeting new people and experiencing exciting new foods, lifestyles. I’ve even been getting into a normal sleep pattern, sleeping for at least eight hours and eating at regular times. I’m almost feeling human again.
Life is not a bit the way it was when I was cheffing. But I am here to learn and besides, I’ve had a real craving to cook again. Like a drug addict going cold turkey, I feel the same without my kitchen; my thoughts become clouded and I can’t switch off - I find my self analysing everything that passes my lips. I need to cook!
I arrived in Sydney alone as Sophie, my girlfriend and travelling partner, were staying in Melbourne.
I checked in to the Railway YHA, where as a lone traveller with an extensive knowledge of food, I refused to eat the regular diet of instant ‘super’ noodles which every one was shovelling inside themselves. If this wasn’t a sign that I should start cooking I don’t what was!
I quickly made friends with three Irish guys who were missing their home foods. That night I knocked up a really good Irish stew for the four of us. When the rest of the hostel saw this, our dinner parties grew rapidly and since then I and my range of willing helpers have been cooking every night for increasingly large numbers of diners. And the budget? The equivalent of £2.40 per head max! I’ve been so excited that I’ve managed to change so many people’s diets for the better. All of this simply compounded my craving to get back into a professional kitchen again.
I’d arranged a couple of stages in Sydney. The first is with working at Bill Granger’s restaurant called, imaginatively enough, Bill’s on Surry Hills. Originally from Melbourne, Bill has always had an interest in food. But it wasn't until he moved to Sydney to study fine art that he realised his real passion was cooking.
He is self-taught cook and says that his inspiration came from wanting to make good food available to everyone. He was only 22 when he opened his first, and now, now iconic Sydney café, ‘Bills’; a simple dining area with a large communal table, open kitchen and white-washed walls.
Following the café's success he opened the place I’m at. Bill’s food is popular with an eclectic mix of diners. His scrambled eggs are legendary (it’s all to do with the pan) and have people queuing outside for them, and he has many other signature dishes. Breakfast is ever popular with offers such as such as toasted coconut bread on the menu with the words "never to be replaced" written alongside it. He opened his third outlet, Bill’s Woollahra in 2005.
As well as running his two cafés, Bill has also written three cookery books, has regular slots on Australian radio and appears on BBC Two's Saturday Kitchen and Bill’s Food on BBC1.
He lives a real Sydney life, often starting his day with a swim at Bondi. The food is everything Bill is about – fresh, healthy, light and I liked the fact that his customers could by his books and cook virtually every thing on the menu for themselves. I think this is why Bill has been so successful with such a good reputation and the reason why he is constantly busy
I was prepped for Bill’s but on my first day it still felt like I was going back to school where nobody knew me. I was in whites and everyone was in black. The head chef seemed to have got it into his head that I was an apprentice chef so the first job I was given really didn’t push my abilities.
However, I did get to prove myself and also observed a lot in my few days, which gave me a chance to see what the restaurant was about, who was who and how to act. They do things differently here and maybe not always the way we would do things back at Peach Pubs but the formula clearly works and the diners keep returning.
Bill turned up after I had been there a few days as he’d been away opening a Bill’s in Japan He’s a very nice man, you could see that he has a genuine love for his food and his restaurant.
As soon as they realised I could cook, I was put on the stove which, even thought the cooking isn’t very challenging, has made my time there improve greatly. I got a taste of how busy it get at Bills and I started enjoy myself more and take on more responsibility. Overall – it’s a lot of fun, hard work and abundant fresh healthy food.
I am still at Bills at the moment but looking forward to starting at Rockpool with Neil Perry where I’m expecting to really have to push my own abilities.
Find out more about the Acorn Scholarship for new talent in hospitality
