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Thanks to All the Fish
It's almost dawn, the first birds are calling and the smell of fresh coffee rises over the faint saltwater breeze. I get up, pull some...
Gawain Barker
Mar 3, 20194 min read
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Origins
Let me tell you about a timeless being who just happens to be real. Someone who has brought comfort, joy and satisfaction to a majority...
Gawain Barker
Jan 7, 20194 min read
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One for the Ages
Butter, like cheese, is a top way to preserve the nutrients in milk. Placed in animal-skin bags, milk morphs into butter by simply...
Gawain Barker
Jan 7, 20194 min read
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200 Kitchens
Thirty years in the making. A whole lot of blood, sweat and beers; a hundred thousand kilometers walked and run in something like 200...
Gawain Barker
Nov 26, 20181 min read
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Vermin
The peace of a morning prep was suddenly shattered by a crackle and bang. The six-slice vertical toaster had shorted out. Dark smoke rose...
Gawain Barker
Nov 2, 20185 min read
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Dish Pigs
With all the section megastars, gun chefs, dessert divas and culinary kahunas it's easy to forget the unsung heroes of the kitchen – the...
Gawain Barker
Oct 18, 20185 min read
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Welcome to the Machine
Approaching the row of hissing bench-top steamer ovens, I remembered what Lloyd the Sous Chef had said about opening them - be bloody...
Gawain Barker
Sep 16, 20185 min read
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The Devil
One evening, pure evil visited the kitchen. We had cook's knives and they had .38 calibre revolvers. For a gut-wrenching moment it looked...
Gawain Barker
Sep 7, 20185 min read
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Open Kitchens
Spending twelve hour plus days in a noisy, heated, small stainless steel and tiled room sounds like a torture technique designed to break...
Gawain Barker
Aug 25, 20185 min read
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Where Did All the Escargot?
Snails, or in Gallic lingo - escargots - were an exotic, but not uncommon dish on 70s and 80s menus. These gastropods shone in the...
Gawain Barker
Aug 9, 20185 min read
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The Spunk
The new chef created a stir. A pony-tailed young spunk in a leather motorcycle jacket, wide-shouldered and long legged, with eyes like...
Gawain Barker
Jul 16, 20186 min read
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