A menu of masters

Angel Leon

He may have begun his career like any other chef (grunt work and hard yards) but the Spaniard is firm in his belief that it was "the sea" that taught him to cook. Driven to return to his port hometown after years spent honing his craft in other parts of Spain, Buenos Aires and Miami, Leon became focused on transforming the marine bounty of El Puerto de Santa Maria into a culinary thesis. The result is his lab-equipped, experiential fine dining restaurant, Aponiente. When not dabbling with his signature use of plankton, Leon is innovating: to wit, designing an award-winning machine that eliminates fat from cold stocks and broths while maintaining purity of flavour.

See him at Langham Melbourne MasterClass and with fellow Spaniard Frank Camorra at MoVida for an International Chef Dinner.

Damian D'Silva

Perhaps it makes sense that Singaporean Damian D'Silva is the chef leading the vanguard of a new type of Singaporean restaurant - one that slots into that (until now) largely vacant middle ground existing between the city's cheap but hard to find local joints and the jaw-dropping expense of super fancy temples to fine dining. He does not, after all, fit the mould of a classic chef: abandoning a career in aeronautical engineering in his 40s, he trained in Europe before opening Big D's Grill to a rapturous welcome, serving a mix of "lost" Cantonese recipes from his childhood, a bit of European and a large side of Peranakan food.

See him at Langham Melbourne MasterClass and sharing the stoves with the other D'Slyva (Adam) at Tonka for an International Chef Dinner.

Rodolfo Guzman

He is Chile's ''native'' son in more than one sense of the word. There are few finer culinary playgrounds than this South American nation, blessed with 32 kinds of mushrooms that exist only in Chile, not to mention the 4700 kilometres of coast harbouring "thousands" of kinds of fish Guzman says can only be found in this rich hunting ground. For a chef obsessed with his country's native bounty (and the culinary talent to pull off his identifiable melange of the rustic and raw liberally sprinkled with a taste of the avant-garde), it's not difficult to see why his restaurant, Borago, is luring in diners and culinary big guns alike.

See him at Langham Melbourne MasterClass and sharing the stoves with Dave Verhaul at The Town Mouse for an International Chef Dinner.

Christopher Kostow

It is few that gain a Michelin star before their 30th birthday, and even fewer American chefs who can lay claim to three Michelin stars in total. (There have been just two chefs before Kostow, fellow Napa chef Thomas Keller among them.) But the number of Michelin star chefs who are also graduates in philosophy? Well, probably as rare as hen's teeth. His Napa Valley restaurant, The Restaurant at Meadowood, is Kostow's playground, where his passion for local and sustainable food delivers dishes of elegance and innovation in an equation he describes as being the result of "50 per cent inspiration, 50 per cent angst".

See him at Langham Melbourne MasterClass and the Relais & Chateaux International Chef Dinner.

Mitch Tonks

It was pure passion that drove Mitch Tonks from being a one-time accountant to one of Britain's most visible figureheads and champions of the local fishing industry. The self-taught fishmonger and cook expanded from his one shopfront in Bath into a school of fishmongers and restaurants, including a top end, wholesale fish business (the company floated in 2005), and into a role as sustainability consultant for one of Britain's largest seafood businesses. Needless to say it's his ideas as much as his food (think chargrilled and fresh) that bring him to our festival's shores, where he will talk everything fish from langoustine to ling.

See him at Langham Melbourne MasterClass and sharing the stoves with fellow Brit Ian Curley at Siglo for an International Chef Dinner.

Luigi Taglienti

He is dark, slim, and handsome - and he is a poster child for a new approach to Italian cooking. Called upon by the Trussardi family to take the reins at Milan's Il Ristorante Trussardi (one of Italy's most prestigious and high-level kitchens), the 34-year-old from Southern Italy is bringing a touch of avant-garde and a bit of French ooh la la to dishes that speak to a modern Italy, courtesy of his desire to create a cuisine that will "escape globalisation". Think veal-tongue ravioli spiked with cumin and lemon.

See him at Langham Melbourne MasterClass.