Top chef takes a bit of home wherever he goes

“Growing up on a farm instilled a good work ethic into me. I didn't realise how lucky I was until I didn't live their anymore.”

WHEN it’s apple season in Stanthorpe, Brisbane’s Malt Dining Head Chef John Speranza relishes the pleasure of baking fresh apple pies using the famously delicious produce of his home town.

In a modern twist, he then takes the apple peels and whips up a sherbet to use on the desserts he’s creating — a throwback, he says, to his upbringing on a Granite Belt farm.

John’s parents, Joe and Ronda, still run Speranza’s Fruit and Verge at Applethorpe and John -who started at Malt Dining last December — attributes his work ethic to his life “on the farm and in the shop”.

“Dad is Italian but I always say mum had to learn how to cook Italian so she’d be accepted into the family,”

John left Stanthorpe aged 19 to work in Brisbane, soon after setting off again to explore the culinary offerings in countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Canada.

Now, he is a sought-after and highly respected master chef receiving top reviews in one of Brisbane’s finest restaurant.

This week, he crafted and hosted a hunter’s catch banquet — Game Fare — featuring award- winning Game from Tasmania’s Lenah Farm.

“Growing up on a farm instilled a good work ethic into me. I didn't realise how lucky I was until I didn't live their anymore.

“City chefs can take for granted some of the ingredients and how much effort goes into a box of lettuce or a box of rocket — they don’t understand how much thoroughfare goes into producing that.

“It’s definitely taught me not to squander everything. Every part of the produce is usable. We don’t want to waste anything that comes into the restaurant.”

John says he’s always had a deep desire to learn more about food and share that knowledge — during his apprenticeship with the at the Queensland College of Wine Tourism in Stanthorpe when he was 17, he dedicated himself to writing a weekly food column and recipe for page two of the Stanthorpe Border Post.

After his initial stint in Brisbane working at a small but well-down cafe, The Willow and Spoon, the Storey Bridge Hotel, as well as a “very cool, eclectic, hip Brisbane restaurant, the Survey Co, John’s overseas adventures ignored his love of South American food and, in Canada, he became fascinated with Asian flavours.

“I worked in the second best Asian restaurant in Canada and I was the only white guy in the kitchen — everyone else was second generation Filipino and Chinese.

They really took me under their wing and it was super interesting.

“I grew up in Stanthorpe with an Italian family so I was heavily trained in typical Italian. French/Spanish and modern Australian bistro-style food, but I always had a fondness for interesting food and food we didn't grow up with.

“Now I always seek restraints serving weird stuff!”

Inspired by his passion for South American food and it’s “gritty street culture” and Asian techniques, John loves serving starter dishes such as ginger scallion crab with kimchi and avocado.

He says he’s noticed that while people are more educated about food, they’re also more questioning of what’s on offer.

“I think people are definitely more open than ever to trying new things — but they also don’t want to try new things.

“Sometimes it’s to the detriment of the industry and if people want to critique the food that’s fine, but I do prefer a customer who’s willing to try anything.

“I’ve always been a big believer that if I go to a nice restaurant I might order the dish with the thing on it that I don’t like because it might open my eyes to a whole new ingredients that I’ve avoided because im not a fan of it.”

John says he still gets a “buzz”, however, when he recognises a Stanthorpe logo on a box of produce in Brisbane and thinks, “I grew up down the road from these people.”

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