(gentle music) Welcome to my world. (intense music) Two escargot, ponte, frieze. Two green salads. Okay, find the sauce here. Lamb chops, steak pre. Shouldn't you be
doing something? Two scoped filet
and a pepper steak. Come on, make the dessert. Chocolate tart please? As a cook, tastes and
smells are my memories. Now I'm in search of new ones. So I'm leaving New York City and hope to have a few
epiphanies around the world and I'm willing to go to
some lengths to do that. I'm looking for extremes
of emotion and experience. I'll try anything,
I'll risk everything, I have nothing to lose. (upbeat music) Melbourne, Australia. (sizzling) Melbourne, epicenter
of the new frontier. The new wild west of cooking. This is the place where, well, some pioneers came
and created something where before, there was nothing. (country twang music) The potential here has attracted
chef's and restaurateurs from near and far, encouraging them to
stretch the boundaries of the ever-evolving
Australian cuisine. Two beef, well
done, medium rare. Veil pigeon pink. And like the American west, it's got a gunslinger
attitude towards chefs. Little rough around the
edges and that's a good thing about it, you know, but the food is not
rough around the edges. We're crossing tradition
with new world in Australia. A wild and lawless place. Well, okay, maybe not
so wild and lawless, but in no place, in no place else in the world, the chef's enjoy the
kind of latitude, the kind of freedom
from restriction that this place has. This is a place
where the only rule, still, is to be good. Where justice comes not
through the barrel of a gun. One duck salad, somebody check one quail. [Man] From the chardonnay,
a squeeze bottle, a metal ring and
what's in your heart, what you can do with food. [Anthony] These
culinary early settlers that paved the way, were they pressed onward
by potential for riches? Driven forward by
an unbridled passion for creating great
food and restaurants? Absolutely. (funky music) Perched on a small hill
overlooking the valley carpeted with grape vines, it's a somewhat imposing
little house on the prairie. It's the home of
restaurateur winemaker, Ronnie di Stasio, and early pioneer and
developer in food scene. Because that culture
is such a young one, we don't have any
guidelines so we're free. We're developing our culture. [Anthony] Ronnie
recognized Melbourne's potential early on. Opening Cafe Di Stasio
in what was once the middle of nowhere. Salve, salve. [Anthony] He is a
food baron who knows how to enjoy himself. (jazzy music) Today he's hosting a
lunch at his country home. The guests include
some fellow pioneers who are by the way, some of
Australia's greatest chefs. It's more than fusion. It's about evolution
here in this country. You know? [Anthony] Neil Perry, chef
owner of Rock Pool Restaurant. We've got a passion here
to run the restaurant. [Anthony] Tetsuya
Wakuda, chef owner of the world famous Tetsuya. We're trying, actually,
to change the face of the restaurant
business in this country. [Anthony] And Armando Percuoco, chef owner of Juan Ricardo. (jazzy music) Down here you've got chef's
drawing on influences and product from all over
the Pacific rim in Asia. And restaurateurs with
unbridled ambition. Always looking to keep old
customers and make new ones. We've got Asians,
we've got Europeans, we've got the stuff
growing in the ground here. We have the local customer
who's patronizing us all the time and we
have to look after very much each customer, otherwise, you're
losing job grounds. Do you think
chef's listen to what the market is or not? If you wanna make money
and stay in business and employed as a
chef, you have to. The market is gone. Because it's the market that enables me to do Italian food. However, if the
market swings tomorrow and they want Indian, tomorrow morning, I
will wear a turban, and it will be
(beep) condor chicken because I wanna stay in
business running a restaurant. That's... I don't believe you. I don't believe you. (upbeat music) This is an opinionated group. And they have every right to be. Their food, their
hard work, talent, has changed the
world around them. If you're thinking it's
just shrimp on the barbie around here, you should be
kicked in the head, mate. We are really
comfortable with everything that we do here. We're really relaxed. We're not trying to be
anybody else but ourselves. We totally respect the
Italian and the French. I think we have fantastic
food in this country. We've got a little
bit more to go to understand that full passion, and that's what we've put in. I mean, we really put
our (beep) on the line. I'm not kissing
you (beep) all right. Seriously, I would eat in
Melbourne before Paris. Any day, any day. Nice to meet you. (foreign language) Let's go, great. (foreign language) Ah, the joys of a
simple, rustic lunch with a few friends. This business has
always attracted a certain type of
person who's passionate about something already. We have a common denominator. First up, homemade chicken
and veal field capiletti with chicken broth. I mean, it's like one big
inbred hillbilly family. We've all had each
other's sisters. The world, of this we have. [Anthony] No, we all
steal, I don't mean steal, but you're influenced by
those who came before you. Yes, influenced. No, no, that's beautiful. Influencing by other chefs. [Anthony] No one is more
passionate about food, or life for that matter, than people in the
restaurant business. After work, after
work we cook together. Right. Quail and spatchcock, which is three week old chicken, oven roasted with
grape vine leaves, garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. Nice, see that, so I love this. Look at the grape leaves. It's very good. You know what I said before about the Indian turban? Forget it. I just do it for the passion. [Anthony] Finally,
the main course. (foreign language) Slowly cooked boar with
wine, sage, and apples, with wilted radicchio. Anthony, what do
you think of my wine? It's the 2001 vintage, here. That's what you're drinking. I knew before I
came to Australia that Australian wine was good. I knew it was
really, really good. I had no idea how good. Until this moment. It's what the French call Loire. Okay, because it's not
just what you're eating, it's not just what
you're drinking. It's who, where... I can't talk, I'm gonna cry. Salva. I'm just happy to be
in this group's company. Enjoying some really fine
Australian food and wine. As I expressed
explicitly to him, if someday Don di
Staccio calls upon me to do him a favor, I will definitely be there. Life is good. I'm happy. (Italian singing) (banjo music) I mean, it kind of looks
like the great American West, doesn't it? You know, when you talk
about new frontiers of food, this fits
right into our theme. It looks like cowboy country. We even got cows,
or is that a steer? Hell if I know, let me see. Steer. To have a gold
rush you need gold, to have a foodie gold rush, you need raw
ingredients and people who know what to do with them. We're gonna talk to
Richard Thomas today who is responsible
for a large sector of that good ingredient. There's no room for
compromise on the steak is the way I see it. Richard makes
cheese, and he has some passionate views on
the subject of cheese. In fact, this is a
bit of a pet project, pet passion of mine, the whole
safety versus flavor issue and I'm sure he has
a lot to say on that. (jazzy music) Welcome to our
humble cheese factory. [Anthony] Richard is the
wild man of Australian cheese. He's been passionate
about cheese making for over 30 years. 1971, backyard in a working
class suburb in Melbourne. And I just bought a piece of gorgonzola dolce, lad. It was a changing
point in my life. I went from scientist
to cheese maker without even having a
choice in the matter. Ever wondered, what do
I wanna do with my life? Meet a man who
knows what he wants. So what are we making here? We're making bocconcini here. What's happening
here is the cheese has been fermented by
quite a natural process. When it arrives at
exactly that spot and Tom knows when that is, he dumps pieces of curd
into the boiling water at which point it's
stretched and you get the strands of protein. When they're the
right consistency the machine fires
up and you'll see, it molds the cheese
into small balls, a work usually done by hand. He's the master. The cheese master. [Anthony] Wanna get a
good cheese maker excited? Ask him about
pasteurized cheese. I usually kiss people
that ask me that question. It first of all destroys
all of the range of flavor producing bacteria that
come naturally in the milk. Bacteria's not a bad thing. The story of food is a
story of fermentation, rot and gamesmenship
with those dark forces. If you're never
exposed to no bacteria on a regular basis, when you eventually are exposed, you will of course get ill. I mean, if you live in a
hygienic, shrink wrapped world, and then travel
to Mexico and have a decent taco at a street stand, one of life's great
pleasures, by the way, you will of course, fall ill,
'cause you're not used to it. There's a very
powerful resistance to making raw milk
cheeses in this country. As in America, it's
technically illegal. You, virtually, nowadays,
have to break the law to really enjoy yourself. The greatest cheeses
in the world, undeniably made from raw milk. I gotta kind of mad man
maverick type of reputation. You know, I can't compromise
on flavor, for example, in cheese and this
is why I get angry. Those people that would
wanna crush the flavor out of every thing that we do. Flavor is the essence of food. [Anthony] Richard knows
what he's talking about. And I think he's absolutely
right about everything. This is the kind of intensity and focus behind every
great ingredient, every great chef, and
a lot of great meals. This is the most
delicate of all cheeses. A goat from Las Blanc, a vital power of
good cheese making is the gentle way, in
particularly goat milk, the way you handle the curd. Everything has to happen slowly. Only people with the
greatest of confidence can have the courage
to serve something very, very simple. [Anthony] Ah, fresh bocconcini. It doesn't come any
fresher than that, I can tell you. Oh, it's lovely. Mmm. The future for our
cheeses is really the comfortable flavor in them. You get them to always
have the aim of looking at what the best is around and saying let's
try and equal that. [Anthony] This is a guy
not just fighting to win, but a guy fighting for
what he really believes in. [Richard] The last frontier,
as far as I'm concerned, is that of fermented foods. My responsibility is
to continue to push those boundaries of flavor. [Anthony] Richard's not
alone in his unflinching pursuit of flavor. There are others. Melbourne seems to attract them. Don't think it all
in money, money, money. Only thinking to do
the right things. And that is good for everybody. [Anthony] Like Angel Cardoso. A former NASA engineer turned
jamon and sausage maker. 20 years took me
to the pressure ton. I make the ham, the dry jamon. [Anthony] The operation
center is in the basement of his home. To do this type of food you have to be out of
industrials, you know, factories. [Anthony] Only open
air from the windows is used in the curing process. It's the only way to
get the natural taste. Anyway, come into
the room, here it is, and I will show you another one. Look the aroma, the smell. [Anthony] Oh, look at this. This is jamon. The Spanish version. Frankly, the better version
of Italian prosciutto. Look at these, oh my God. I love the smell in here, too. (laughing) These ones were the first ones I started making in Australia. But good, because this
is not cholesterol. [Anthony] Angel
tells me that jamon, when it's been cured
for over a year, has no cholesterol. Very good for our health. Did I hear that right? No cholesterol in
Euro cured meats? Americans are very
afraid of fat. [Angel] If it's not
fat, it's not taste. Yeah, no texture, nothing. That's something very
special, isn't it. Oh, that's good. Great taste, nice smell. The fat, for me, is the best. Yeah, me too. Speaking of fat, a
little something to eat. Homemade salami,
jamon with melon, and a spanish tortilla. An omelette with potato,
onion, and chorizo. Real, real flavor. The fruits of over 20
years of hard work. Yeah. I knew this was gonna be great before we even sat down. This is the way heaven
should look, you know? Lots of beautiful pork products hanging from hooks. Nevermind heaven. It should look like this
on Earth all the time. You know the old wive's tale, young gun slingers
don't make good chefs? It ain't true. Even though I'm an
old fart myself, I guess my sympathies
are always gonna lie with the, the young Turks. One large havana claw. Two jewelry, one veal,
one beef medium rare, one spinach. [Anthony] Husband and wife team, Donovan and Phillipa
Cooke are the new guard. They're doing some
extraordinary work at Melbourne's
Ondine Restaurant. Smash, soul lady krill, chicken veal. What are we going on next place? [Anthony] Both
Phillipa and Donovan were classically trained
in France and England. Where I come from
it's fish and chips. None of this (beep). [Anthony] I think
Donovan is a natural. A genius. Are we dressing it or what? [Anthony] His sauces
are second to none. [Donovan] We need to move it now or we're gonna go down kids. [Anthony] Tonight,
Donovan is short staffed. Phillipa is having
dinner with me. I'm so out of here. It's a fairly
rowdy bunch out here. There is a sort of
wild west, gunslinger, sort of new frontier
thing going on here that I find really refreshing. It's a performance to the chef's and staff. (sizzling) These two are sourcing
the best ingredients Australia has to offer. Using techniques
both classic and new. What gets them in the
door the first time is the chef. Obviously what keeps
them coming back is the food. You know, in some other cities where chefs are rushing
to get hairstylists and voice coaches
and media trainers and elocution teachers, I don't see a lot of that here. Can you see Donovan
being packed off to media training? [Donovan] Don't scorch
the (beep) spinach! Gonna (beep) season
them now or what? Send it. (beep) off back to your section. Are you gonna (beep)
answer me, where is it? When I first met Donovan I thought he was
quite cosmopolitan and quite sophisticated
but only because I didn't understand
what he was saying. As soon as we've
got them entrees out the way we'll have to
start bagging some andoule or we're going down, eh? Know I mean? [Anthony] Though I don't full
understand what he's saying, but I do know that he
speaks through his food. His talent is in
combining new and unexpected ingredients
and flavors. Case and point, first course, which marries three
different appetizers to three different champagnes. Pour whatever it is on ice to truffle and light soup. That goes with the
Australian spock which is called curry. Followed by a tartar of comfy tomato and apple. With a yuppi, which
is a little crayfish. And the last one there
is a quail's egg, quail jelly with fla gras cream. It is beautiful. I have a thing for quail eggs. This is food that comes
out of the French system. But you know, we're
looking at yuppis here. Would you describe
it as French food? How would you describe it? I would describe
it as modern French. But I try not to
describe it, also. We're doing our own thing. We're doing what we like to eat. We're doing what we're good at. Every sauce here is cooked, produced, finished. Tartar, sauces, made to order. That's the essence
of the kind of two and three star joints
these two come from. I understand that
every time I pick up a chef's menu, that I owe everything
to centuries of French trial and
error and tradition. Donovan was a really
good guy to me because he's of that system and he added a
friend to that system by his very unfrenchness. I told you we're
going on this (beep) table fest. The fact that he's
not ready for prime time resonates with my own
shameful sell-out. This is Tony's next course. A Konjac flour with zucchini, whatever you call
them in your country, stuffed with prawn
and horseradish first, day's tomatoes,
tiny basil leaves and a tomato consummate. Poured at the table. This is beautiful. It's just fantastic flavor. What they're having now is a smoked Barramundi,
which is steamed, we do it ourselves. Parsley essence,
crispy fonchetta, snails, confitulates, little side of
potatoes and then egg poached in red wine. Eggs poached in red wine. I didn't see that coming. It's beautiful. God, look at that. Unbelievable. Thank you. And the side of the egg first and runs all over that. Oh yes, it's
pornographic isn't it? (laughing) It is extraordinary. It's all the things
I love about a dish. It's new, it represents
the classics. It's a local fish and
there's bacon involved. This is the main course now. Pigeon. We're trying to
braise the mushrooms rather than sautee them so they go crispy
so they're nice, spongy texture. So what we've got here is some truffles I got before. I preserved them, produce it, finish with
a teaspoon full of cream. So what we've got is pigeon, celery naki, fricose mushrooms, perigot sauce, and
a shitake foam. (jazzy music) Wow. Mmm. That is extraordinary. Plump, red, juicy, delightful. Studded with truffles. Things could be a lot worse. I'm running out of adjectives. I mean, Jesus, it's, have I used ethereal, magnificent, extraordinary, fantastic, delightful. Sublime works for me. All right, I'm out of adjectives and I still have one
more course to go. (jazzy music) It's all the main
course through there and it's got one, two, three, four, five entrees to it. Let's go, let's
get the garnishes. Time for the final course, and this is all
Phillipa's department. I do pastry stuff
'cause he doesn't have to. (upbeat music) [Anthony] Beautifully
conceived and executed desserts. Like the pyramid of
strawberry sorbet. I'm doing a pyramid. This is nugatene. It's made with
fondant and almonds which gets placed on the outside and is filled with
almond parfait glase. With raspberries (mumbling). [Anthony] That's beautiful. It's kind of Pink Floyd
crashing into this. You know, it really is. Oh man. It's beautiful. It's, this is one of those
kill me now desserts. This normal white fondant, caramelized really slowly
and then poured over toasted almonds and
flush in the oven so that it melts. It's a pain in the
ass but it really... Yeah, it really tastes good. So many basic chefs would, this would be construction
material for them and not something
totally delicious. And beautiful. So good. These two truly deserve
to be recognized. So take notice. Let's go see El Heffa. How was the pigeon,
you like that? It was sublime. Worth a 20 hour
flight from New York just for this. There's a special place
in heaven for you man, you're getting in. (funky music) Melbourne, Australia. The final frontier. Like the American West,
it's a place where you can come from far away
and reinvent yourself. Like the American West,
it's got good stuff waiting for people to discover. There may be no other place in the English speaking world where chefs and food
are so enthusiastically embraced as this
place right now. I think it's one of the
most exciting places to eat and certainly
one of the most exciting places to
cook on this planet. (funky upbeat music) (train dinging) Oh forget it, I'm not
ready to leave just yet. We really wanted to
have an Aussie barbie. Donovan and Phillipa
convinced me that my Melbourne trip wouldn't be
complete without honoring an Australian cliche. Throwing some shrimp
on the barbie. (hollering) Stop using my son, my three
and a half year old son. You remind me of my baker. This is why I don't
have bread bakers in my restaurants. In the backyard with
ambiance vastly removed from Ondine's, they barbecue for friends
and family on days off. We're gonna cook. (sizzling) We love our food, and we love our wine. We're having some
fabulous wines. We usually get
food PC on Sundays. (laughing) What we're eating
now is crayfish. Just gonna barbie them up, serve them in a
salad of green beans, and a sauce called wabordan. [Anthony] Wabordan,
meet Tony Bourdain. [Donovan] Ketchup,
Worcestershire sauce, tobasco, shallots. [Phillipa] Isn't it great? Oh, lovely. Next to the backyard grill, Donovan exhibits a
refined ability with food that clashes with an
informal vocabulary and tells of humble beginnings. I left school at 15. My nickname was (beep) man. And my favorite chef fancies a didn't try on so I look like. Iggy Poppininda. Skin tight and a
cucumber hanging down. [Anthony] Nonetheless,
Donovan moves quickly up the ranks. First assessment I got
double distinction again. Said that was the
best sauce he ever had in 25 years in a kitchen. One minute I was saucier,
the next minute head chef. You take your sauces seriously. And he takes his
grilling seriously, too. Look at that. Most important
thing with crayfish, I know, is everybody
likes to boil it until it's like,
nice and papery. So I blanche this for like
one and a half to two minutes then you can just sear it
and slow bake in the middle. It means it's still
moist and tender. [Anthony] The
crawfish are great. But this wouldn't be
barbie without the steak. This is the Australian
version of like, the Kobe beef. [Anthony] Just of
Donovan's caliber could grill steaks
in their sleep. [Donovan] Will you get
me a tray for this meat? [Anthony] Time to eat up. Not before we thank the chef. (cheering) [Donovan] Still got a magic. It's great. Life is good. You don't call the place, you've got all the food, now (beep) off mate, (mumbling). (funky music) (country music)
