Chef Chris Donnellan was planning to move to Victoria to focus on family before bike race tragedy

The heartbroken family of Melbourne chef Chris Donnellan say he had plans to take a step-back from his Vietnam restaurant empire before his death in a bike race.

Melbourne chef Chris Donnellan with his wife Diem on their wedding day about a year ago.

A Melbourne chef who died in an off-road bike race tragedy in Vietnam was planning to move home for his unborn son.

Chris Donnellan, 39, and his wife Diem were planning to permanently relocate to Victoria after the birth of their first child, a baby boy, due in September.

His heartbroken family told the Herald Sun Chris had made a 12-month plan to step-back from his Vietnam restaurant empire to focus on his growing family.

This week the former Gingerboy and Ezard chef would have celebrated his first wedding anniversary. Instead he’ll be farewelled in his home suburb of Mornington.

Despite his culinary success in Melbourne and abroad, sister Lauren Donnellan said Chris was most passionate about starting a family.

Late Melbourne chef Chris Donnellan's parents Anthony and Beverley, with two of their adult children Lauren and Timothy. Picture: Tony Gough

“It was honestly his life goal. He wanted to move back here with his baby so he could grow up with his cousins. (Chris) loved his nieces and nephews.”

Chris grew up in an ambitious and sporting family on the Mornington Peninsula.

He was a third born son of Beverley and Anthony and sibling to Timothy, Stephen and Lauren.

He was passionate about off-road dirt bike racing from a young age, and would compete in race events across the world.

“He would compete in any competition he could find. He rode dirt bikes every day when he wasn’t working,” Lauren said.

Father Tony, a keen sailor who skippered Shamrock in the Sydney-Hobart yacht race in 2010, will never forget one of the last trips to Nepal with his sons.

“We had the most amazing trip with him motorbike riding in Nepal,” he said.

“It was a trip of a lifetime that has now become memories for a lifetime.”

It was mum Beverley who inspired Chris to become a chef. She even helped with the recipes and photography for his first cookbook.

A young Chris Donnellan with his family.

“He was such a kind young man with the biggest of hearts — someone to truly look up to. He loved everyone around him and loved nothing more than making others happy.”

Brother Tim said: “Chris was always keen for the next adventure – a dirt-bike ride, 4WD or sailing trip. Whether it was work or play he jumped in with such enthusiasm – living life at full throttle!”

The chef’s death sent shockwaves through Melbourne’s culinary circles, with former boss and longtime friend Teage Ezard, Chin Chin executive chef Benjamin Cooper and Pho Nom chef Jerry Mai among those reeling.

Last fortnight Donnellan achieved a major career goal when his woodfire restaurant Stoker was selected to appear in Vietnam’s first-ever Michelin Guide.

“He paved the way for most of us doing Asian food in Melbourne and Australia,” Mai said.

Cooper admired Chris’s dedication to family.

“The best chefs are always family oriented and have good family values and he had phenomenal family values,” he said.

Chris was found unresponsive after competing in a trail bike competition, near Phan Rang, on June 18.

He is understood to have fallen before the race and retired from the event.

After leaving, he never returned, only to be found by authorities resting peacefully on a rock with his helmet and phone by his side.

Chris Donnellan’s family will hold a public memorial at the Mornington Yacht Club on Thursday 29 June.