Australian Gourmet Traveller - (10)October 2020 (1)

AnnaUgarte-Carral

Formerjuniorsous-chefat

MomofukuSeiōbo,Sydney

SydneychefAnnaUgarte-Carral

hasworkedatsomeoftheworld’s

mostground-breakingrestaurants,

includingNomainCopenhagen,

Lyle’sinLondon,andSydney’s

FiredoorandMomofukuSeiōbo.

Yetthe28-year-oldchefAnna

believesinkeepingthingssimple.

“Ifyoucanmakesimplethings

morethanthesumoftheirpartsby

executingthemperfectly,that’s the

sweetspot,”shesays.

Drawntohyper-regionalfood

andculturalhistoriestiedtothose

places,Ugarte-Carrallikestoreflect

thosestoriesinhercooking.“Most

ofthecookbooksI preferare40,

50 yearsold,”shesays.“Theseare

time-testedrecipesandyoudon’t

havetoforceit.It’sa cookingstyle

that’snaturalistic,witha purpose.”

Anna’songoingpursuitof

knowledgeis whatdrivesherin

thekitchen.“Eachtimeyoucando

somethingyoucangetbetter,and

that’swhyit doesn’t get boring,”

sheexplains.

Ugarte-Carraldrawsinspiration

frommentorssuchasPaul

CarmichaelandLennoxHastie,

alongwithherclosepeersand

friends.“I likegoingthroughstages

ofvigorouslearningthatmightbe

reallydifficult,andthencoming

backtoworkingwithfriendsand

reallydoingwhatI love,”shesays.

“IfI canoscillatebetweenthose

two,I’mlookingafter myself, while

alsolearning.”

Hercurrentprojectis calledTen

Hats– a pop-uprestaurant/party

thatshedreamtupandexecuted

post-lockdownalongsidethree

industrypals.“Wereallywanted

todosomethingexperientialthat

isn’tjusta pop-uprestaurant,but

incorporates art and music.”➤

“Annaisvery

energeticand

ambitious,which

I thinkaretworeally

goodqualities,”says

MomofukuSeiōbo

executive chef

Paul Carmichael.

GOURMET TRAVELLER 85

WORDS JORDAN KRETCHMER.