George Calombaris has one simple philosophy when it comes to cuisine; “With each dish that I create, my goal is to achieve for my customer a dining experience designed to do everything, except go unnoticed”.
It is this sort of belief that has distinguished Calombaris from his peers, at the tender age of 27 his own unique and determined personal style has seen Calombaris rewarded for his culinary creations in many internationally respected culinary competitions and many media mediums. George, who is also currently a regular guest chef on the channel 10 series Ready Steady Cook.
Calombaris completed his apprenticeship at the Hotel Sofitel, Melbourne, where he won the Bonland National Apprentice of the Year Award in 1999. For more than two years he led a team of 11 qualified and apprentice chefs at Richmond’s Fenix Restaurant, among his many achievements, the restaurant was honoured with the 2001 Restaurant of the Year Culinary Competition for Victoria, as part of Melbourne’s Food and Wine Festival.
In 2003 Calombaris was selected to represent Australia at the Bocuse d’Or International culinary grand prix in Lyon, achieving a best ever result for an Australian representative.
In the same year George was the master mind behind the successful restaurant Reserve, where his own personal style was on show. His food was an often-surprising hybrid of classical haute cuisine and the experimental ideas of European food surrealist Ferran Adria and Heston Blumenthal. Quoted as “very out there”, George’s molecular gastronomy has seen him become a much spoken about chef in the international cooking circuit. As a result George was voted as one of the top 40 chefs of influence in the world by the Global Food and Wine Magazine in 2004.
Calombaris time at Reserve succeeded by being awarded with Young Chef of the Year 2004 by The Age Good Food Guide Awards, and Reserve won Best New Restaurant 2004 as well as being allocated with two chefs hats.
'©Copyright Moffat Ltd'
