Kitchens and the art of motorcycle maintenance

Dare Jennings' name mightn't register on the Sydney food-o-meter like Tetsuya Wakuda or Justin Hemmes, but with restaurants and cafes in Sydney, Bali, Los Angeles and Milan, he might just be Australia's most successful international restaurateur. Jennings, founder of the Camperdown cafe Deus Ex Machina, has queues out the door at his new restaurant in Milan.

"It's hard to tell what the critics think because all the reviews are in Italian," Jennings quips. So we'll translate for him. Reviewers have anointed the restaurant as the coolest venue in Milan. Jennings is a self-described accidental restaurateur. Deus is a custom motorcycle business, the food a pleasant byproduct.

"Some of them are restaurants, some are cafes, we don't want to have a blueprint about what a new place should be," Jennings says.

As the brand builds, so do the approaches from investors. He says offers to open in Brazil, Bangkok and Seoul are being explored. Jennings might have to dust off his leather tux for the Michelin awards, because Deus is also in talks with a French restaurant group to open in Paris.

"But I don't want to do too many, because after a while it just becomes silly," he says.