Super chef Colin Fassnidge’s delicious new roles

It wasn’t that long ago, the s*** hit the fan and Colin Fassnidge lost five jobs in one day. How things have changed.

Who: Irish celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge

Where: Beachy home with wife Jane Hyland and their children, Lily, 12 and Maeve, 11. Favourite thing: Ellie and Bran are female, basically everything in my house has a vagina. They’re ‘my dogs’ but only when it comes to cleaning up.

Inspiration: When we moved to Australia, I said we’d like to have a big garden and a pool. The kitchen is the next thing we’ll renovate.

Home is: Our house is manic and I am bottom of the leaderboard.

Colin Fassnidge is surrounded by females in the family home.

With two restaurants and a couple of TV shows on the go, we can safely assume Colin Fassnidge’s schedule is hectic.

“Banksia is doing well and Castlereagh just opened and is doing gangbusters, so it’s great compared to two years ago when sh*t hit the fan and I lost five jobs in one day. My kitchens, TV shows, festivals, everything stopped.”

As the pandemic rules relaxed, Colin says the opportunity to get back to work was a welcome relief. “I said ‘yes’ to everything and then thought what I done?”

Colin has his hands full with work right now, but is planning on renovating his home kitchen when he gets a chance.

Colin is currently filming Kitchen Nightmares Australia (taking on the host role made famous by hothead Gordon Ramsey). On his days off, he’s on the My Kitchen Rules set.

“MKR is like sliding into an old shoe, I’ve been doing that show for 10 years and it’s good to be back. And I love being on the road with Kitchen Nightmares, but some of the kitchens I’ve seen have been shocking. I would say how badly the food has been cooked is dangerous, And I do let them know that.”

As if his plate wasn’t already full, Colin also guest-stars in a new video series, by delicious magazine, Make it delicious. In the fourth episode host Darren Robertson steps into the kitchen with Colin and Olympian Tom Green to show viewers how to make his signature chicken bread.

Words: Catherine Nikas-Boulos Photos: Tim Pascoe

Colin is photographed with world famous chef Raymond Blanc on the last day he trained with him in his kitchen.

He is a world famous chef who trained Heston Blumenthal and Marco Pierre White. I trained with him and it was the biggest kick in the arse I ever got in my life. I was 24, and it was an old-school, hardcore kitchen. I remember truffles came in from France at midnight and we stood there cleaning them with toothbrushes.

Tools of the trade

I guess these are the tools of my trade. I also have one of Raymond Blanc’s knives, but don’t tell anyone. I may have taken it on my last day training with him in 1996.

Yagoona Design Australia Fire Pit

Yagoona firepits sent me this years ago. We have movie nights out here with a projector and a white sheet on the wall. I love it. Sometimes I just sit around it, it’s a great way to escape the women in the house.

The family height chart

We do wall measurements every six months or so. It’s a great time capsule. Lily has shot ahead, she’s almost as tall as me, while Maeve has stayed the same. Not that it matters, Maeve is the cleverest in the house.

Part of Colin’s collection of over 300 cookbooks

I had an insatiable appetite for cookbooks. I used to buy maybe one a week to see what everybody else was doing. I would have about 300 now and my favourite would be Nose to Tail or The French Laundry Cookbook.

Colin had dreams of becoming a rock star

I was in a band growing up in Ireland, but there are only so many U2’s you can have. I was playing with John Fink who owns Quay (restaurant) but we ended up drinking too much. We sounded great after a few whiskeys.

Ducati 1199 Panigale

I only got my (car) driver’s license a few years ago, I have always just had bikes. I had three bikes but I sold two in lockdown. No point having three when you’re not working and you can’t go anywhere.

A wind up Argentinian grill

Silvereye restaurant, which was too cool for school, closed down and we bought all the equipment including this grill that you wind up. It’s in the garden and I use it all the time.