Chef Matt Moran blasts Sydney lockout laws
Chef Matt Moran is determined to get his beloved Sydney partying again now ‘laughable’ lockout laws have been eased. The TV star and cook reveals how he plans to do it.
Wentworth Courier
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Award-winning chef, restaurateur, TV celebrity, businessman, best-selling author, cattle farmer, boy from Blacktown, proud dad-of-two, fly fisherman: Matt Moran wears many hats.
But today, as he roars into the laneway garage of his Surry Hills offices on a rare red Ducati with biker boots and leather jacket, Moran is wearing a different hat: a motorbike helmet.
Riding motorbikes is where he feels most comfortable, and has done since his was a little boy on the family farm in the Central Tablelands of NSW near Bathurst.
“I’ve got a few. I’ve been riding since I was four,” he says, with his trademark warm smile, pointing out the Harley and several Ducatis he has in the garage.
“I’m always riding something. I ride the rare ones occasionally. I love it. It’s one of the only things in life where I completely switch off — the other one is the farm. That’s my world at the time. And I don’t think about anything else. [There’s] no phone in a helmet, no music in a helmet – just me and the bike and I find it really therapeutic and relaxing. My mind’s not going everywhere. I’m just concentrating and having fun — I feel as free as a bird.”
For someone like Moran, a self-confessed “OCD type who doesn’t sleep much” it’s a rare treat to switch off.
Moran, who has been a tour de force in the Australian restaurant scene for 30 years, has dozens of projects on the boil. From TV deals, which will see him take on best mate, UK chef Gordon Ramsey, in the US market, to checking the soil on his farm, to relocating his son, who, he says proudly, is about to begin studying medicine, to Melbourne. He balances them with dexterity, keeping some on the backburner simmering while the front burner priorities are turned up high.
Today he’s got reinvigorating Australia on his mind. A big task, one might say, but one he hopes to activate. He’s thinking big, nationally, but he knows it starts at a local level and he wants to begin by reinvigorating this once thriving city.
“The main message is about revving people up,” he says passionately. “We live in such an incredible country and an incredible city, we really should be looking in our backyard. We need support. We need people to spend money in this country.”
The harsh hangover of the recently eased lock out laws, saw Sydney take a massive hit, he says, rendering a once global city dead.
“For me, the lockout laws never made sense. When you’re a respectable business and police things in the right way, which the rest of the world can do, I just don’t understand the economics of what it did. It shut down the city. It shut down tourism. We were the laughing stock.
“I think it hurt the industry. I think it hurt Sydney. It hurt Australia and it hurt revenue, not just for the operators, but also for the state and federal government.”
It’s why he is collaborating with leading foodie magazine delicious. on the American Express delicious. Month Out (AEDMO), a month-long festival set to take over Sydney in March. Moran will launch it on February 28 at his venue, Barangaroo House.
While the event lasts for the whole month, with the support of the City of Sydney, each Thursday night in March AEDMO will activate across three precincts within the city.
There’s the CBD on March 5, which will incorporate his own restaurant Chiswick at The Gallery, Mary’s Underground, Bennelong, Fratelli Fresh and Bistro Guillaume among many others. On March 12 Surry Hills’ restaurants, including Nour, Firedoor and Nomad Up The Road will activate and on March 19 Potts Point will come to life with Cho Cho San, Monopole, Yellow and The Apollo all coming to life in a variety of ways. But there are dozens more restaurants taking part, with special offers, experiences and free activations highlighting local precincts all aimed at getting people out and about and dining again.
“This whole idea with delicious. is about people remembering. Spend money. Get out and spend some money in your local area, but also if you get the opportunity go for a drive in a country town and spend a bit of money.”
There’s not only a city crushed, he points out, but towns ravaged by the summer’s bushfires and the dry lands destroyed by drought. Moran, an eastern suburbs emperor whose beating heart really lies with the land, says our nation is in need of nurturing and repair.
“We need people to get to the country towns, because that does relate back to the farmers. The towns die, too, not just the farms. I’ve been blessed and lucky in my lifetime, I’ve been around Australia and I’ve seen some of the most beautiful spots. I’m telling everyone I know. It would be a tragedy if you lived in Australia your whole life and you never saw the Kimberleys, or Margaret River or Kangaroo Island or Tasmania in winter or the Great Barrier Reef or Uluru. It would be a tragedy because they are unbelievable places to visit. I’ve travelled the world ... last year I was fly fishing in Iceland with Gordon Ramsey and we’re going back again this year, but Australia has so much to offer.”
Moran did a big bike ride between Christmas and new year with friends, riding west through Bilpin and ending up in a pub in Sofala, an old mining town north of Bathurst.
“I was talking to locals, having a beer. They were so happy we had come there. They’re like ‘thanks for thinking of us’. Do the empty Esky campaign. Go for a drive fill your Esky up in a country town. Spend some money it really helps.”
As a boy from the bush, whose farm supplies beef and lamb to his restaurants, he understands farmers’ plights which is why he pioneered the Paddock to Plate philosophy.
His latest “boy crush” is biodynamic Boorowa farmer Charlie Arnott, descendant of the Arnott’s Biscuit family, with whom he visited Cornell Agricultural University, New York, last year.
“I come from the country. I’m a meat eater. We always understock on the farm. We don’t have too many cows and sheep and we are looking after the soils. I’m more into that as I get older. I’m pushing my farm hopefully down that track [of biodiversity and sustainability].
“Charlie is one of the most incredible human beings I’ve ever met. He cares about the country, about the animals — he cares about everything. He’s not there to rape and pillage (the land) and lot of people have been guilty of that in farming. We have to care for future generations. I’d like to think my farm will be in my family for generations to come.”
Moran is in a rare position. As one of the country’s most successful operators in a notoriously ruthless industry which sees restaurants, celebrity-helmed or not, crumble every month, his success stands out like a beacon.
He credits it to being collaborative. “My business and my partnership is not a dictatorship, it’s a collective. You empower people that work for you, you look after (them). Your vision and what you say is not always right, you’ve got to take them into consideration.
“Thirty years ago you’d open a restaurant and have amazing food and people would come to you. Nowadays, people know a lot more and they want a lot more out of a dining experience.
“They want the service, the good food, a good wine list, a good seat, a good view. The acoustics have to be right.”
He says location is key. One of his restaurants sits on North Bondi beach, Opera Bar is at the Opera House, Aria, at Circular Quay, has possibly the best fine dining position in the country while Chiswick in Woollahra sits in beautiful gardens and Chiswick at The Gallery is in one of Sydney’s most cultured positions .
“I’ve had people with me for 20 years. That is key. I’ve had a phenomenal partnership with Peter [Sullivan] and I’ve got a phenomenal relationship with Bruce Soloman who I’ve been in partnership with for 20 years. We bring different things to the business and it’s about respect.”
For one brief moment his face scrunches.
“Australians have been incredibly resilient and they’re incredibly generous It’s not about fixing it’s about helping and sticking together and trying to work as one. Let’s be Aussies – it’s been a bit sad lately with the tall poppy syndrome with people wanting to tear each other down. Australians shouldn’t be like that. I don’t understand why.”
Despite his many successes, Moran has too many projects ahead to sleep.
“Yeah (I enjoy TV) but it’s not a priority for me – yes, there’s a big show I’ve been working on with Paramount in the US. The Great Australian Bake Off might come around again later this year. There’s a couple of other ones we’re working on. I’m not desperate for TV. I’ve turned a lot down.”
When I mention the chances of him opening a restaurant in Melbourne, now his son is moving there to study, he looks at me with that twinkle in his eye. “Always something new. Nothing concrete,” he laughs.
At his heart he is, and always will be, a chef, excited to discover new produce and present new dishes.
“If someone told me my TV career was over tomorrow it would be ‘right that’s over I’ll go back and do what I do’, which is restaurants, my day job. If someone told me my TV career is going to flourish and I wouldn’t have any more restaurants I’d be f**king devastated.
One thing is obvious, as he gets back on his bike to head to a food tasting at his steak restaurant, Chophouse, there’s still a million things he hasn’t achieved.
“I’m not dead yet! I still have a lot of ideas. I want to do things, I want to achieve things. My daughter asked me if I’m ever going to retire and the answer is probably never – because I love what I do and I love the industry.”
With that he roars into the alleyway and zooms into the steamy Surry Hills traffic, zoning out for a few magical minutes before he has to switch back into full gear.
For a full list of offers and details for American Express delicious. Month Out head to delicious.com.au/DMO