Chef, restaurateur and TV presenter Darren Robertson shows Stephanie Clifford-Smith what's in his kitchen cupboards.
■ Brownies recipe from The Blue Ducks
As a teenager, Darren Robertson washed dishes in a local restaurant but longed to study art and design. That changed when he was given Marco Pierre White's book White Heat, and he was blown away by White's rock-star status and bravado. Life as a chef became the new dream. He spent the first two years cooking in his home town in Kent, worked at the Michelin-starred Gravetye Manor in Sussex, and did an eight-year stint at Tetsuya's in Sydney. In 2011 (with partners Mark LaBrooy, Sam Reid, Jeff Bennett and Chris Sorrell) he joined Three Blue Ducks, an all-star cafe in Bronte, and a year later they opened Three Blue Ducks in Falls Creek, Victorian snow country. Robertson co-wrote The Blue Ducks cookbook with LaBrooy. He also co-hosts Network Ten's Recipe to Riches and hosts Charcoal Kitchen on Foxtel. He lives in Bondi with his partner Magdalena Roze.
My pantry We regularly do a farmers' market run and pick up interesting herbs and Iggy's sourdough. What else? There's Mount Zero olive oil and Spiral umeboshi plum vinegar for salads. And honey, from our own hives at the restaurant, for sweetening vinaigrettes, for desserts, or for having on toast. We have two hives and we just harvested 22 kilograms from them. I like Herbie's Spices for curries, pickles and biscuits.
My fridge Country Valley organic milk. We make a lot of our own krauts but I also like Krakowski Kredens sauerkraut. Orchard St juices are great. I love this Japanese yuzu paste, above, as an alternative to wasabi in sauces and mayo. Barambah organic yoghurt's good for bircher muesli and with curries.
I quite like a negroni, which is a bit cheffy, but I don't discriminate. If it's got alcohol I keep an open mind.
Books, eating out and friends who are chefs (especially Luke Powell who took over from me at Tetsuya's). I love Ben Shewry's Origin book. It's so beautifully shot and not commercial at all. It's uncompromising and absolutely stunning, and all the recipes work.
Last dinner at home My business partner, Mark LaBrooy, is a mad spear fisherman and he brought around an Australian salmon he'd caught. People say it's only good for curries but I cooked it really gently and made it into fishcakes with lemon zest, juice, olive oil and potatoes. I served it with horseradish and slaw.
More space and a blast chiller.
I've got my coffee consumption down to two flat whites a day, which I have at work. Otherwise, I drink Clipper herbal teas and I drink a lot of milk at night after service. I like Tanqueray No. Ten gin, with tonic, and craft beers like Young Henrys. I'm also into natural wines as well as Torbreck RunRig.
Maggie Beer's Burnt Fig, Honeycomb and Caramel Ice Cream late at night. Or chocolate, nothing fancy. And popcorn.
It was at the end of a big trip around Europe with other chefs just after I left Tetsuya's. We'd been to El Bulli, Mugaritz, the Fat Duck and on the last night we went to St John Bread and Wine in London. There were 12 of us, there were no tablecloths, it was super casual … bottles of wine, whole grouse, all these rustic salads, mess everywhere and that was what made me want to come back here and open a more casual place. I still love fine dining but that was a turning point for me.
I've been picking and drying seaweed. It's really salty and savoury so it goes really well with chocolate in desserts. I love this gotu kola. It's incredibly healing, and I'm crazy for salads so I just like to pick it off and chuck it in. It's slightly bitter and a bit crunchy and doesn't wilt as quickly as rocket.
I've had a Thermomix for donkey's. I use it for custards, powders, juices, purees, soups, breadcrumbs. My Angel cold press juicer is cool - it's slower than others, it's a bit of a pain to be honest, but the yield is better and more nutritious. The microplane's great for loads of things including grating and aerating parmigiano reggiano. I know chefs are a bit precious about their knives but I have only two or three. I love a Japanese one Martin Benn gave me when I was at Tetsuya's but otherwise I like Mac knives. The Benriner mandolin, right, is good for finely slicing beetroot for crisps and shredding daikon for kimchi.
Darren Robertson's Three Blue Ducks is offering a Sparkling Brunch during the NSW Food and Wine Festival. To March 21. See nswfoodandwine.com.au.
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