By By Lucinda Schmidt
Two heart transplants haven't slowed down this pioneering chef.
At the age of 19 first-year apprentice chef Greg Malouf had an inkling his instinctive urge to cook could become his career. He had arrived an hour late for a cooking competition, after staying up most of the night devising the three-course menu of Greek egg and lemon soup, tournedos Rossini and fig bavois, but still managed to take out second prize.
"It was all about using fresh produce and having an air of confidence," says Malouf, who got a friend to jump the fence at a nearby nursery to pinch some tarragon and chervil, and was the only competitor to use fresh asparagus.
Almost 30 years later Malouf is one of Melbourne's best-known chefs with an impressive track record that includes transforming O'Connell's pub from a seedy South Melbourne watering hole to a gourmet destination in the 1990s, then spending six years as executive chef at CBD Middle Eastern jewel MoMo.
Malouf is widely credited with transforming Melbourne's restaurant scene; his use of the flavours of his Lebanese heritage such as orange blossom, preserved lemons and harissa helped start Melbourne's Middle Eastern revolution.
His influence has spread through the menus of the talented Melbourne chefs who once worked under him, including Cath Claringbold (Mecca, Livebait), Perry Peters (Mini) and Kurt Sampson (Windsor Castle).
From the age of 12, Malouf knew he "wanted to be involved with food" after watching his mother and grandmother cooking up huge Sunday feasts. "I'd be in the kitchen trying to sneak something and they'd be giving me treats to get out of the kitchen," says Malouf, who used to head straight to the fridge after school to prepare an Arabic club sandwich of tabouli, yoghurt cheese and kibbeh nayeh.
His parents, however, talked him out of his first career choice. "In those days, being a chef was very laborious, working in a stinking hot environment, for little reward," Malouf says. Instead, he had miserable stints as a surveyor and in the rag trade.
He ran away at 18 and headed up the Hume Highway in his Mini Cooper, leaving a note for his parents that said he wanted to be a "chief" (chef). He slept in the car for several days, then scrounged an evening job as a kitchen hand in a Mexican restaurant in Sydney and a day job cutting metal balustrades.
Then came a proper apprenticeship back in Melbourne, to Dennis Hagger, followed by several years overseas perfecting classic dishes with a Middle Eastern twist. In Austria, for example, Malouf fell in love with sauerkraut but added cumin, while in France he spiced up lemon tart with pistachio pastry.
France almost killed him. Several months of eating cream, butter and cheese, combined with a genetic condition, led to triple heart bypass surgery in 1981, aged just 21. "I was young, I wanted to explore French food," shrugs Malouf, who has known since he was 14 that he has a serious cholesterol problem.
Eight years later came his first heart transplant, only the 17th performed at Melbourne's Alfred Hospital, which required 40 days in hospital in isolation. (His second heart transplant, in 2003, required only a 10-day hospital stay).
It sounds like a reason to slow down. Malouf is without a permanent cooking gig at present after MoMo's owners sold the Collins Street site to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen but he's as busy as ever, working on his fourth book, selling his own spice range, consulting to other restaurants, guest cooking and overseeing the development of MoMo's new home at the Grand Hyatt (it opens in July).
"I don't really treat it as work, it's a lifestyle," Malouf says. "For me cooking is like having a conversation or kicking the footy in the back yard. I don't have to think about it."
The big questions
Biggest break O'Connell's [the South Melbourne pub where he gained his first head chef role in 1991]. It was such an experimental time. A lot was invested in me.
Biggest achievement The first book [Arabesque, released in 1999 and co-written with ex-wife Lucy]. We were writing it while we were being divorced, it was an awful period. That book's got a lot of O'Connell's memories and European memories.
Biggest regret Spelling chef as chief [in a note to his father when he ran away at 18]. That memory is really strong, I just cringe. At school I was pretty distracted and destructive, I left half-way through HSC. The only subject I truly enjoyed was art.
Best investment My first transplanted heart.
Worst investment Cars. I keep stacking them, they keep busting up on me. My current car, an MG, has been off the road for four years being rebuilt after an accident.
Attitude to money I've always been the dreamer but surrounded myself with people who manage it for me. Now I've finally got a business director. I've always wanted a life of not worrying about money. If I've got my health and my hands to make a soup it gets me by.
Personal philosophy Contribute. In cooking it's all about restraint and patience.