Dad would pack me
artichokes with a jar
of vinaigrette for
lunch, even though
I secretly wanted
a devon sandwich.Julia Zemiro
The TV personality on her family’s Bondi restaurant,
hosting Eurovision, and her love of smørrebrød.
EATING WITH
What are your memories of food growing
up?My French father bought a business
on Bondi Road called Home Cooking
Restaurant. It was the early ’70s, so a
three-course meal was $1.20. It wasn’t
fancy. It was English home-cooking:
vegetable soup, a roast of your choice
with potatoes and vegies, and a dessert
of say, tapioca and rhubarb, or steamed
pudding with custard. We lived upstairs.
It was in a stretch of street where we
had Greek, Czech, Chinese and
Hungarian businesses around us.
It was a lovely community.
What was in your school lunch box?
Dad made “English” food for the
restaurant, but we had French food
with way more flavour. Dad gave me
artichokes with little jars of vinaigrette
and soup in a Thermos, even though
I secretly wanted a devon sandwich.
Did you ever cook for your parents?
My parents divorced when I was nine.
Whether I was staying with Mum or
Dad, I made excellent cups of tea, coffee
and toast with jam. Mum was a great
cook, and was very keen on healthy
eating. I would often cook for the two
of us. Whereas with Dad, I talked a lot
about food. Once a week, we’d see a
movie and have dinner, and we would
talk through the cooking process, the
ingredients, the taste. It was the best of
both worlds really: practise with Mum,
theory with Dad.
When you were a teenager, you were a
waiter at your dad’s French restaurant,
The Crabapple. What are your memories
of that time?I had a good personality
and luckily didn’t have to open bottles
of wine tableside. I would go out the
back with my waiter’s friend and
struggle, or I’d just give it to Dad.Was being a waiter good training for your
career in the entertainment industry?
Absolutely. It is a performance in that,
no matter what kind of mood you might
be in, you have to go out there and be
nice to the customers. I then got a
fully performing waiting job at Bobby
McGee’s, an American-style restaurant
in Darling Harbour. All the waiters
were dressed as characters: Carmen
Miranda, Zorro, Superman, etc. I took
the Heidi costume, and changed it into
a Hungarian goatherder called Magda.
If musicians and street performers do
their hard yards busking and playing at
dives, mine were spent serving lots of
people in busy places: keeping them
happy, juggling plates.You’ve acted, you’ve hosted shows
(RocKwiz,All Together Now) and you’re
the 2019 Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s
artistic director. When did you realise
that you’d made it?RocKwizon SBS
opened all the doors in that it showcased
what I could do. It directly led me to my
jobs with Eurovision,Julia Zemiro’s Home
DeliveryandAll Together Now.What is it about Eurovision that fascinated
you?The songs in languages other than
English. Full stop. The “wacky” costumes
were funny, sure. But many singers were
dressed in whatever was fashionable at
the time and just sang beautiful songs.
Thanks to SBS for broadcasting it for
over 30 years.