New Zealand's answer to Gordon Ramsay is making waves in Sydney's food scene. Nicky Pellegrino reports.
Justin North is a Kiwi chef taking Sydney by storm. At 35 he's built an empire of top restaurants and cafes so fast he's being compared to Gordon Ramsay. Not bad for a Blenheim boy who left school at 15 and signed on to a catering course only because he thought it would be a good place to meet girls.
North's flagship restaurant Becasse serves modern French food to central Sydney diners. He also has a small espresso bar, a cafe where the menu is based on rustic French cooking and a second restaurant called Etch specialising in classic cuisine.
French food forms the foundation of all North's cooking and now he's released his second cookbook, French Lessons, (Hardie Grant) in a bid to demystify one of the world's greatest cuisines. It takes the reader through the basics of French food - from veloutes and confits, to daubes, blanquettes and sugar syrups - with clear, accessible recipes. But this isn't creamy, rich fare smothered in butter and cream - it's North's lighter, more delicate and intensely flavoured version. "French cuisine is vast and steeped in tradition," he points out.
"It also has that stigma. It's seen as complex, time-consuming and unhealthy and to a certain extent that's true. But over the years we've developed a version of French cuisine that's more suited to our climate. It doesn't have to be rich. We've eliminated a lot of the fats and flour so what you get is more purity of flavour."
Instead of fat, North uses stocks, vegetable jus, fresh herbs and dry-roasted spices to flavour his dishes. For him, good food starts with sourcing the very best and freshest ingredients.
"We don't have a fruit and vegetable supplier for the restaurants," he explains. "Instead, we go down to the Sydney Markets and buy everything we need there. It's a way to keep in touch with the growers and find new and interesting things. And it's a perfect way to start the day, apart from the fact it's two degrees and still dark."
Growing up in Blenheim, food wasn't especially important in North's life. His parents were good cooks and had a vege garden, "but that was just a way of life not particularly a passion for food", he says. Beyond competitive fudge and coconut ice making with his brother, he'd never spent much time in the kitchen before enlisting for a Hospitality Management course at his local polytech.
"My parents had said I could leave school so long as I had some sort of tertiary education that would lead to a job and my friend and I thought there'd be loads of girls on the course," he explains.
North found he enjoyed the creative aspect of food and over time his interest in it grew, along with his incredible drive and a determination to succeed. "To cook I had to give up playing rugby and I think that's where all my competitive energy went," he explains. "I wanted to be the best. And as I started reading and learning about incredible chefs all over the world I was inspired."
Very quickly he moved from Wellington's Park Royal, where he served his apprenticeship, to Sydney, working for award-winning chef Dietmar Sawyere, and then on to Europe, cooking in England for Michelin-starred Raymond Blanc of the famous Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons and then later in Paris.
"The major things Raymond Blanc taught me were to taste and to think," says North.
"Improvement comes through using your palate and tasting through the different stages of a dish, lifting and lifting the flavour to another level without going too far."
Now married to an Aussie girl, with two young kids and four businesses, North's unlikely to shift back home. But still he considers himself a Kiwi boy at heart and returns regularly to visit family, cook at events and fill up on his favourite delicacies: paua, koura and Bluff oysters.
"The produce has always been world class," he says. "But I think New Zealand food has come along incredibly in the last 10 years. There are restaurants like Clooney, Merediths and The French Cafe that you could pick up and put down anywhere in the world and they'd hold their own. I love coming back and seeing what the chefs are doing."
With 60 or 70 staff working for him in Sydney, and more expansion on the horizon, North accepts the Gordon Ramsay comparisons are inevitable.
"I'm not quite as old as him," he points out. And he's a lot more aggressive.
"Still I'm happy to be compared to someone who's been so successful.
"Gordon is about his brand and his name above the door," adds North. "My way is to create the restaurants round my staff. If we didn't have the right people we wouldn't open each one. I don't measure our success by the number of restaurants or money in the bank. It's about creating an opportunity, helping staff grow and about loving something so much that you get out of bed in the morning really excited about it."
Recipes and image extracted from French Lessons by Justin North (Hardie Grant Books, $49.99). Out now.
