Nabil Ansari has had a busy few years – from becoming Sunda’s sous-chef, to selling Instagram-famous Indian takeaway from his Carlton apartment in lockdown, to hosting pop-ups upon pop-ups.

But now, the Indian-born chef has taken on a new challenge, joining the team at Prahran’s fire-powered Vietnamese-inspired restaurant Firebird as head chef. It’s from the Commune Group, which is also behind Hanoi Hannah, Tokyo Tina, New Quarter and Moonhouse.

We took five with Ansari to chat about what he’ll be bringing to High Street, Prahran.

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What’s your new job title?
I am currently the head chef of Firebird.

Why did you decide to join Firebird?
I have worked in fine-dining restaurants for the last four years, at The European, The Hotel Windsor and most recently serving as sous-chef at Melbourne hotspot Sunda for the past two years. I was drawn to the à la carte-style menu of Firebird – it is more casual fine dining. The wood oven and the hearth in the Firebird kitchen open up endless possibilities to work with an open wood fire. I was also drawn to the challenge of leading a new team. I have been lucky to work with Khanh Nguyen, Ian Curley and Rob Kabboord, so to be given the opportunity to pave the direction of Firebird really excited me.

Do you have any plans or ideas for your new role?
The first step in the new role was to build my team, which we have successfully done. When looking for talent, I was looking for individuals with ambition and passion. Since Covid, the hospitality industry has experienced a chef shortage; I was open to hiring chefs without experience and dedicated to training them in the kitchen! The second step has been to change the menu, which is happening on February 7 .

Will you bring along any dishes or ideas you’re known for?
I have updated a few of the Firebird classics as well as introduced what I hope to be some “future classics”. At the moment, we have a lot of fresh vegetables coming into season because of summer, so there will be a fair bit of fresh leaves and vegetables showcased in each dish. The theme is still definitely fire-driven Vietnamese with other Southeast Asian flavours making an appearance. Big balanced flavours cooked over fire.

Will we see any cool dishes or ideas?
Yes! We have a rotating “skewer of the week” where we will serve skewers of offal, beef intercostal and some cool vegetarian options, too. The other one is the crudités dish, which I also call DIY banh mi. In this dish, we will serve some of the best Victorian produce; some raw vegetables, fermented or grilled, will be on the plate along with a black-garlic puree and a wood-oven-toasted Vietnamese baguette.

firebirdmelbourne.com.au

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