THE YIN YANG CHEF
My Journey
I was born & raised in the back of a Milk Bar in South Melbourne where I watched my parents prepare hummus and other Lebanese favourites. Looking back at myself as a child, I was a big & beautifully fat kid who was totally obsessed with food, delicious homestyle Lebanese food to be precise! Arriving to the dinner table with an array of homemade dishes- hummus, tabouli, warak arish, kousa, riz a Jej, labne, zaatar and zaytoon is still what brings me immense joy. This is precisely what has inspired me to keep these traditions alive, and to continue learning and sharing this amazing culture with the rest of the world.
My professional journey as a chef started in 2016 at the Lincoln Hotel with former MoVida Aqui manager Iain Ling. I developed the skills and learnt the craft of cooking alongside Howard Stamp, Lachlan Cameron & Darron Dehar. Our team’s success was rewarded with the title Pub of the Year by TimeOut Melbourne Awards in 2017.
My passion for sustainability in food grew to my attention and I spent time as a Plant Based Chef where I worked alongside Australia’s leading vegan chef Shannon Martinez at the infamous Smith & Daughters.
Currently i’m in Fremantle working as the sous chef at Vin Populi and every Sunday at the Fremantle Farmers Market serving you fresh Lebanese food, small batch hummus and Lebanese preserves ‘Mouneh’ for your larder.
THE YIN YANG CHEF acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the land I work on, paying respects to the elders past &present.