Perry's ponytail: To cut a long tail short

Neil Perry says he needs another haircut, just days after Thomas Keller and Heston Blumenthal chopped 10cm off his famed ponytail following a $50,000 charity bid to prune the Rockpool chef.

"He didn't do a great job, it's uneven. I thought Heston could've been a bit more inventive, maybe used liquid nitrogen," Perry says.

The two Ultimate Diners – in Sydney and Perth – raised $820,000 for the Starlight Children's Foundation.

The stellar lineup of chefs who'd been recruited to cook for the evenings by Neil Perry included more of the world's best: Grant Achatz from Chicago, Ben Shewry from Melbourne, Brett Graham from London and Rockpool's Phil Wood.

As for the unscheduled but profitable haircut from his fellow chefs, Perry says the news isn't all bad for his trademark ponytail. "I can still get a scrunchie on it," he says.