PHIL WOOD
Pt Leo Estate (Merricks, Victoria)
Having grown up on a hobby farm outside
Christchurch, Phil Wood is somewhat
accustomed to living among the local fauna.
As a child, he earned pocket money by raising
orphaned lambs or, wait for it, picking the
wool off dead sheep to sell. But having to
wait for stray cows or kangaroos to move
off the road on the drive home after dinner
service at Pt Leo Estate on the Mornington
Peninsula was still something of a shock for
a chef who had spent much of his adult life
in Sydney. “I never anticipated I’d have to call
people at work and let them know there are
a lot of kangaroos on the road,” he says.
On the flipside, the former Eleven Bridge
chef relishes being closer to the producers
that his restaurants rely on. “It’s definitely
given me a different perspective on seasons
and how farmers operate.” His favourite
discovery, though, is the coffee at the local
general stores found on the Peninsula.
“They know me as double-espresso guy.” ●PHOTOGRAPHY MARK ROPER.70 GOURMET TRAVELLER