Melbourne chefs relieved cooking with gas remains on the menu after state government backflip

Relieved Melbourne chefs are glad they won’t have to spend “hundreds of thousands” on switching from gas to electric cookers — saying the move would have left everyone including diners out of pocket.

Vivid Hawthorn executive chef Nobphadon Kaewkarn aka Chef Bird is pleased to learn gas cooktops are back on the menu after a state government backflipped on a decision to rollout induction and electric stovetops in all commercial kitchens. Picture: Mark Stewart

Melbourne’s top chefs are glad they can still cook with gas, saying a widespread move to electric cooktops would be “ridiculous” and a “death-knock to hospitality” during a vulnerable time for the industry.

The relief comes after the state government changed its net zero road map to now exclude gas stove tops in residential and commerical settings.

Celebrity chef Shane Delia told the Herald Sun he’d be out of pocket up to $1m to convert one kitchen of his popular restaurants to electric.

“100 per cent we couldn’t have done it,” he said.

“There isn’t enough power (at Maha CBD) going to the building to support one more (electric) oven. We’d need to build a substation on the roof.”

Shane Delia said switching from gas to electric appliances would have been a “death-knock” to Melbourne’s already crippled hospitality scene. Picture: Jason Edwards

Delia said while there were benefits of cooking with electricity, such as precision and instant heat, a widescale industry conversion would only lay more costs on struggling restaurateurs.

“The cost to maintain the product, buy new equipment such as pots and pans that’ll sit flat in contact with the stove ... there would be so much costs eventually put to the customer.

“And we’d have to retrain a new workforce to learn how to cook on these things.

“But politics aside, the good news story is this is the saviour of the local Chinese restaurant.”

Restaurateur Caterina Borsato, who was forced to close her beloved Caterina’s Cucina e Bar to flooding in May, said she was reinstalling gas stovetops at the restaurant when it reopens in November.

Restaurateur Caterina Borsato will be using gas appliances when she reopens her beloved Caterina’s Cucina e Bar in November. Picture: Jason Edwards

“I’ve worked in the industry for 35 years and cooking with gas is all I know. My chefs are used to cooking on gas,” she said.

“It’s really hard to say whether one is better than the other, but with pasta work ... you have to hit the immediate flame for garlic, chilli and anchovies.

“It’s not like French cooking where you can move pots and pans of sauces to the centre (of the stove) out from the heat. Plus gas is more economical for us.”

Hawthorn’s Vivid Thai chef Nobphadon Kaewkarn (Chef Bird) said it would be impossible to rely on an electric wok at his buzzing restaurant during a busy service.

“Gas is more powerful and faster than electric,” he said.

“Every day we use the wok for almost every dish in the restaurant.

“I wouldn’t mind trying an electric wok, as I haven’t, but the gas wok makes me cook faster when we’re busy.”