Sopheena Simmons: How Bridport Distilling Co head chef reached the top

More than a decade after she began her career in hospitality, a Tasmanian chef says she’s finally able to fully unlock her creativity in the kitchen. This is how she did it.

A talented Tasmanian chef says she is finally able to fully unlock her creative side in the kitchen after she was recently made head chef at a swanky new North East distillery.

Sopheena Simmons, Bridport Distilling Co’s inaugural head chef, told the Mercury food had “always been a big part of my life”.

“From my first cooking lesson at high school, I was hooked,” she said.

“MasterChef Australia had just started up, there was a sort of culture (developing) around food.

“Mum’s always been a great cook, she would make the best meals on the last day before payday, she was very good at making something by improvising.”

The former Scottsdale High student, who moved to Tasmania in 2008, said she had wanted to graduate college and be the first in her family to attain a degree, but her life had taken an interesting new turn.

She got a job waitressing at Scottsdale’s Steak Out while looking for apprenticeships, an opportunity which came thanks to friend Amy Barnes, who was completing hers at Barnbougle Lost Farm.

Ms Simmons was quickly thrown into the “deep end”.

“It was a great learning experience, I learnt a lot of things very early,” she said.

“By my fourth year I was running the kitchen as the head chef had moved on.”

She transferred to the kitchen at Barnbougle Dunes and bought her own food van, Watermelon Gypsy, which operated until she became too heavily pregnant – she is a married mother-of-two whose hubby works at Huon Aquaculture.

After becoming a mother, Ms Simmons moved jobs again to the Bridport Bunker, where she worked for seven years under Diane Turner who she described as the “grandmother” to her career – Ms Turner tutored Ms Simmons first head chef at Lost Farm.

After seven years there, Ms Simmons got her big break – would she take up the head chef role at Bridport’s new distillery?

“It’s not every day you get to do the type of food you love to do,” Ms Simmons said.

“I’m making tapas – minimal plates that pack a big punch.”

Ms Simmons said the dish she is currently most proud of is a chargrilled cauliflower steak coated with harissa paste and served with pumpkin puree and fried chickpeas – vegetarian foods feature strongly on her menu.

“My favourite vegetable at the moment is chickpeas – they are so underrated, people a scared it’s some hippy food,” she said.

Another aspect of her kitchen she is proud of is that there has been little wastage – she has a feel for how many patrons will be dining each night and preps accordingly.

And in a quirk of fate, the mother of her friend Amy Bates, who helped Ms Simmons get her first opportunity, is now working in her kitchen.

“Amy’s mum Cathy Hutchinson works here now, she is really into foraging which is always interesting,” Ms Simmons said.

“I am keen on learning more.”