Sydney chef Jeremy Strode dies
The Australian restaurant world is in mourning after the death of prominent Sydney chef Jeremy Strode.
The Australian restaurant world is tonight mourning the death of prominent Sydney chef Jeremy Strode, who died in Sydney on Monday morning.
Strode, 54, who worked for the Merivale organisation as an executive chef, is understood to have taken his own life.
A Londoner, Strode came to Australia in the 1990s, one of the so-called ‘Brit Pack’ of exceptionally talented young chefs who had graduated from some of Britain’s most exacting restaurants. They included Lucas Glanville, Steve Szabo and Ian Curley. Strode was an apprentice at London’s Hyatt Carlton Towers before ultimately training under the famed Roux brothers at The Watersise Inn, a training ground for hundreds of elite chefs.
After moving to Australia with his future first wife Virginia, Strode established his reputation at Melbourne restaurants including Brown’s, The George Wine Room, Adelphi, Pomme and Langton’s before relocating his career to Sydney with his own Surry Hills restaurant, Bistrode, which he established with his wife second wife, Jane, also a respected chef. He subsequently re-established Bistrode at Merivale’s The CBD Hotel and opened Potts Point’s The Fish Shop with Merivale.
Jeremy and Jane Strode contributed a popular recipe section to Fairfax newspapers for many years, publishing several books together.
Melbourne chef and restaurateur Ian Curley, a fellow apprentice with Strode at Hyatt in London 30 years ago, paid tribute to his friend tonight.
“Only Jeremy could go in Langton’s after Philippe Mouchel,” he said.
“He was an amazing talent, hopeless at business, but his food was beautiful, clean, precise, and a lovely bloke.
“Obviously he had his issues … But they were doing well, he and Jane, just back from a holiday in the UK and Paris. Some people self destroy with booze or drugs but that wasn’t Jeremy, at all.
“Some people are just wired differently.”
Justin Hemmes, CEO of Merivale said: “Jeremy was such a kind and quietly thoughtful man. He was a friend and mentor to many at Merivale, always so generous in sharing his exceptional talent. We are very lucky to have been part of Jeremy’s life for many years and we are all going to feel his loss enormously.”
“Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are of course with Jane, his wife and partner, and their boys.
“Jeremy was my friend. I wish I had the words to express the loss. I am heartbroken”.
Strode is survived by his wife Jane, their two children, and an adult son, Max, from his first marriage.
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467, and MensLine Australia on 1300 78 99 78.