Calling all applicants for the Good Food Guide's Young Chef of the Year
Previous winners include influential Australian chefs Phil Wood, Brett Graham, Lauren Eldridge and Andrew McConnell. The next Young Chef of the Year recipients will be named at the Good Food Guide Awards in Sydney and Melbourne in October, and prizes include $10,000 worth of Smeg appliances of the winners' choice, plus professional mentoring.
Finalists will also be invited to cook at special Young Chef of the Year showcase dinners in Sydney and Melbourne.
In 2024, Rockpool Bar and Grill sous-chef Luke Bourke took home the award for The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide. Meanwhile, The Age crowned Saavni Krishnan – sous-chef at Mauritian-influenced wine bar Manze – its winner.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


West Australian
13 hours ago
- West Australian
Bali's best new steakhouse
I have reviewed hundreds of restaurants throughout my career . But I still don't consider myself a restaurant critic — just a writer who describes rather than criticises food. Why? Well, first of all, I'm not a chef or restaurateur. I can barely cook, and I don't believe you should judge a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes. Second, I'm too easy to please. Make me a good melted cheese toasty and you'll get the same kudos and gratitude from me as I'd give to a master chef who spent hours reducing the perfect lobster bisque. And thirdly, I don't give a toss about awards, stars and hats, including those given by Michelin guides. Their idea of good food, foie gras, steak tartare, edible flowers, etc., is not my cup of tea. So when I was invited to review Yen Social, the new Bali chapter of Yen Yakiniku, a Japanese steak restaurant in Singapore and Michelin Plate awardee, I was like, 'meh'. But when I was told the invite was for a special event, a seven-course wine pairing dinner in collaboration with Penfolds, my arm was twisted. I'm not the kind of guy who ever turns down a good bottle of red. Yen Social is set in a quiet back lane of Canggu, Bali's most popular restaurant and nightlife hub. The moment you walk into the place you know it's not going to be cheap, with thick marble benchtops, bottles of wine costing thousands of dollars adorning the walls, well-coiffed customers and two dozen staff members yelling 'Irasshai mase' — welcome — at you in Japanese. It was followed by an orgy of meat and wine: an Angus tenderloin with garlic butter sauce, Australian wagyu ribeye and Australian wagyu short rib with a clear barbecue sauce, among other cuts, with each dish matched with different Penfolds blends that culminated in a couple of glasses of Bin 389. This drop is known as baby or poor man's Grange because it costs about $100 or more at your local bottle shop compared to $600 or more for Grange Hermitage. There was also silky fried rice cooked in wagyu beef fat and a spectacular dessert: flaming tiramisu served in a chocolate Easter egg. After dinner, I had a chat with the general manager, a Frenchman called Marius, and asked him if this was the best Japanese restaurant in Bali. His reply surprised me. 'No,' he said. 'We don't do sushi, we don't do sashimi and we don't do ramen. Several places in Bali do sushi as good as the best Japanese restaurants in Paris or Tokyo. What we are,' he continued, 'is the best steak restaurant in Bali. No other place that I know of goes to the lengths that we do when selecting and ageing premium beef.' That's the hard sell. All I can say is that it was bloody delicious. Plus one more thing. Remember when I said dinner at Yen Social would cost you an arm and a leg? Well, our meal, seven courses paired with seven glasses of wine, cost $108 per person, including GST and a 10 per cent service charge that substitutes a tip. Tell me of one restaurant in Australia where you can get a meal like that for that money and I'll eat my hat and write a food review on it, too. For bookings, see @ on Instagram. Ian Neubauer was a guest of Yen Social. They have not influenced, or read this story before publication


Perth Now
14 hours ago
- Perth Now
Baby joy for TV star as he prepares to welcome first child
TV star James Tobin has announced he and his wife Farrah are expecting their first child. The Sunrise presenter unveiled the happy news in a post on Instagram on Sunday, along with an ultrasound photo. 'We are excited for the arrival of Baby Tobin in November,' he wrote. Friends and fans flocked to the post to send their congratulations and well wishes to the couple. 'Massive news and congratulations! What wonderful and beautiful parents you will be!!!' Australian journalist Mark Beretta wrote. 'Fabulous news so thrilled for both of you. Sending tonnes of love,' former Sunrise presenter Samantha Armytage said. Tobin, 44, and Farrah married in an intimate ceremony at the Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory — a scenic two-hour drive from Canberra in rural NSW — in October last year. The pair have been dating since 2021. Tobin is currently a reporter on Sunrise and the weather presenter on Weekend Sunrise. The couple shared an ultrasound photo of baby Tobin. Credit: Instagram


7NEWS
16 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Baby joy for Sunrise star James Torbin as he prepares to welcome first child
TV star James Corbin has announced he and his wife Farrah are expecting their first child. The Sunrise presenter unveiled the happy news in a post on Instagram on Sunday, along with an ultrasound photo. 'We are excited for the arrival of Baby Tobin in November,' he wrote. Friends and fans flocked to the post to send their congratulations and well wishes to the couple. 'Massive news and congratulations! What wonderful and beautiful parents you will be!!!' Australian journalist Mark Beretta wrote. 'Fabulous news so thrilled for both of you. Sending tonnes of love,' former Sunrise presenter Samantha Armytage said. Tobin, 44, and Farrah married in an intimate ceremony at the Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory — a scenic two-hour drive from Canberra in rural NSW — in October last year. The pair have been dating since 2021. Tobin is currently a reporter on Sunrise and the weather presenter on Weekend Sunrise.