Last month, Mertcan Döğüşgen joined Noisy Ritual, the urban winery and bar in Brunswick East, as head chef.

Originally from Turkey, Döğüşgen moved to Melbourne in 2018. He didn’t know anyone when he first got to the city; he says he “started knocking on doors to fulfil my passion”. He eventually found work as a junior sous at Ben Shewry’s Attica, where he stayed on for two years.

Before his latest gig, Döğüşgen was head chef at Carlton North’s now-shuttered wine bar Little Andorra. We took five minutes with the chef to hear how a piece of paper changed his career trajectory, and what he has planned for the new menu.

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What is the kitchen set-up like at Noisy Ritual?
It’s an open kitchen inside the winery, which luckily lets us soak up all the sunlight during the day. It’s so nice and spacious.

What effect does the kitchen have on your creativity?
The thing I like most is being surrounded by all these wine barrels that are ageing wine to perfection. They’re like a constant reminder that “good things take time”.

Which of the new dishes on the menu are you most excited about?
The menu has been completely reimagined. I’m excited about lots of the new dishes – from the deep-fried New Zealand mussels, inspired by Istanbul street food and served with a dill tarator sauce, to the chicken schnitzel, which we brine overnight, crumb fresh every day and serve with our crisp, fresh pickle salad.

I’m excited even for small snacks, like the super fruity Australian manzanilla olives from Mount Zero that we marinate in-house with citrus and herbs. I believe it’s the things that look small that make the biggest difference overall; my aim is to never underestimate even the smallest things.

What ingredients are you excited about using in the next few months?
Hands down, quince! I believe it is the queen of all fruits. Good quince is perfect when poached with a bit of sugar until it has that vibrant red-amber colour, no spices or anything else. Serve with a melt-in-your-mouth clotted cream and some Noisy Ritual sagrantino, which is a great substitute for a good port. Less is more.

How did you get your start in the industry?
One day I was on a long bus trip from Izmir to Istanbul and there was an old man reading a newspaper next to me. This was way before the iPhone was invented; newspapers were still a huge thing. In his paper, I saw an advertisement for a well-known university in Istanbul accepting students for their newly built culinary arts department within the faculty of fine arts. I had to ask to rip the page of this man’s newspaper, which he surprisingly accepted without question. I put that piece of paper in my pocket and applied for the uni exam. That piece of paper kindled my passion for food.