Nestle Golden Chef’s Hat Award 2019 winners Giles Gabutina and Alessio Nogarotto
They might not be household names but young chefs Giles Gabutina and Alessio Nogarotto have the right recipe for stellar careers in the kitchen after winning the Nestle Golden Chef’s Hat Award.
They might not be household names but young chefs Giles Gabutina and Alessio Nogarotto have the right recipe for stellar careers in the kitchen after winning the Nestle Golden Chef’s Hat Award.
Stanhope Gardens’ Gabutina, 21, and North Parramatta’s Nogarotto, 22, won the culinary challenge at Ryde TAFE yesterday and will now represent NSW at the national showdown a the Fine Food Australia in Sydney in September, with the winners from that challenge securing a $15,000 trip to work in North America.
The promising chefs already work together at Bentley Restaurant and Bar in Sydney’s CBD and are long time friends after flexing their competitive streaks at Cherrybrook’s Carlile Swimming Club where they struck up a friendship aged 14.
The Nestle competition saw them create a two-course menu of roasted lamb rump with glazed and herb crusted carrots, blistered broccolini, compressed kohlrabi, cavolo nero crisps and smoked jus for their main and a spiced sweet potato custard with caramelised white chocolate cream, rosemary ice cream, citrus jelly and oat and peanut crumb for dessert.
Nogarotto, who is a second-year apprentice studying commercial cookery at Baulkham Hills TAFE, grew up watching his parents cook at A Chef Secrets in Berowra Waters and has honed his craft in the fast-paced Bentley kitchen.
“Bentley is a very intense environment, it’s one of the hardest kitchens but one of the most rewarding kitchens,’’ he said.
“Working with food makes people happy. When people really enjoy food and they eat food we put a lot of pride into, it makes you feel good.”
Nogarotto’s Italian and Filipino heritage has had a “massive” influence on his work.
“I like cooking the traditional way but at the same time I like to mix it up,’’ he said.
“If it tastes good, it tastes good.”
Gabutina said the competition was a way for him to express his creativity.
“It’s our work and it’s probably the proudest we can feel putting our ideas on a plate,’’ he said.
“That doesn’t happen often, especially for chefs our ages.”
That originality includes his rosemary ice cream creation.
“I try to focus on things that are not unusual but more intriguing.
“I’d rather not finish on a sweet note. I like using rosemary and sweet potato in ice cream.”
Gabutina is the head pastry chef at Bentley where his appetite for progressing is insatiable.
“I think mainly for me it’s the attitude and the willingness to learn and willingness to do the work,’’ he said.
“My mantra is the skills can always be taught. The attitude can’t always be taught.”
The former St Mark’s Catholic College student has lofty plans to open two establishments named after his paternal grandparents — one a fine dining restaurant called Lorenz, a dining room setting with 10-course sittings, and the other dishing out oversized plates to share in the Filipino family style.
An ice cream shop is also in the pipeline.
Nogarotto is sure to be part of the plan.
“I have a girlfriend but I see Giles more than I see my friends, more than I see sunlight. We work together and we’re about to live together.”
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