Jamie Oliver was recently on our side of the world, and there’s one question on everyone’s lips: where did the naked chef eat while he was in Australia?
The Taylor Swift cover artist and author of more than 20 cookbooks was in town filming a guest judge appearance for the next season of Masterchef Australia.
He also stopped by the Opera House for a talk with Melissa Leong and managed to eat at some stellar Melbourne and Sydney spots in his downtime, including one the Obamas visited while they were in Melbourne earlier this year.
Maker and Monger's Anthony Femia knew Oliver was in town – a British cheesemaker, Neil Hinds, had "nudged him to visit" the Prahran Market cheese shop, Femia tells Broadsheet.
Oliver picked up one of Femia's signature imports, a Marcel Petite Comte Reservation, and shared one of the All American toasties, an option loaded with two Vermont cheddars, onions, parsley and cultured butter.
"He has been a huge lover of Marcel Petite Comte for over 20 years," Femia says. "We had a good yarn about this. It goes back to his early days as a chef in London and being great friends with Jason Hinds, owner of the famous Neal's Yard Dairy of Borough Markets London who introduced Jamie to this cheese. They affectionately knew it back then as "the chocolate cheese" as it was so addictive – and still is, in my opinion."
Here’s everywhere we know Oliver visited.
Melbourne
While in town shooting Masterchef Australia, Oliver went on a restaurant crawl with judge Andy Allen. They visited Thi Le’s Laotian hotspot Jeow in Richmond, and Carlton Italian restaurant and the city’s best vodka pasta maker Capitano together.
The chef also took time to catch up with long-time friend and former Fifteen partner Tobie Puttock, and the duo visited Joey Kellock’s 1800 Lasagne.
Prahran Market was on the Oliver hit list, with the chef visiting two local favourites: Anthony Femia’s “chapel of cheese” Maker & Monger and the newly opened G McBean Family Butcher, where he ordered a charcuterie board – wagyu bresaola, salami, Christmas ham, house made pork lard, included – and two porchetta rolls. (We can attest those rolls, new to McBean's line-up, are up there with the best in Melbourne).
Oliver also stopped by Lagoon Dining, Serai, Leonardo’s Pizza Palace and, of course, Gimlet. (We hope it was late so he could order that cheeseburger.)
Sydney
Oliver’s Sydney stint was shorter than his Melbourne one, but in between bridge climbs and Opera House talks, he found time to visit Dan Pepperell, Andy Tyson and Mikey Clift’s Clam Bar and wine bar Bar Copains.
Chef Josh Niland’s fish butchery work has found him fans in the international chef community, so Oliver naturally stopped by Niland’s fin-to-scale spot Petermen.
