A couple weeks ago, the Asian Food Channel (AFC) brought over celebrity Chef Adrian Richardson to the Philippines for a cooking demo and to promote his shows on AFC. The Philippines is his last stop after visiting Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Chef Richardson is the owner and executive chef of La Luna in Melbourne, Australia and is known as a meat master.
Chef Adrian Richardson is the host of "Good Chef, Bad Chef" that airs on AFC every Mondays at 7:30PM together with nutritionist Janella Purcell. He also has a new show called "Secret Meat Business" that starts airing this January, where he will be talking all about meat.
I got a chance to meet him face to face and share a meal. Chef Richardson, at first glance does not embody what I imagine a chef would be (think Chef Gusteau from Ratatouille). I admit I was not familiar at all with him since I avoid watching cooking shows, too much temptation.He actually looks more like a surfer or a rock star than chef.
In between dishes, he regaled us with stories of his childhood where He never liked going to school, but good thing his dad let him find his way. He went from flying airplanes to apprenticing at a restaurant, washing and peeling vegetables. He is someone who started from the bottom.
He loves meat and is very particular with it that he even slaughtered his own beef before but now is too busy already. At any one time, slabs of beef are hung in his cold storage, dry-aging to make them more tender and flavorful. Another anecdote he shared that had us staring in disbelief is the tidbit that his parents were vegetarians.
Chef Richardson also talked about how hard it was to open his restaurant, using milk cartons as shelves because he did not have the money to have shelves made. He works a lot of hours at his restaurant but still finds time to spend with his family, which is very important to him.
I was disappointed that I was not able to try his cooking out, maybe one day in the future I'll be able to travel to Melbourne and eat at his restaurant, La Luna. For now I'll try to convince my wife into cooking some recipes from his newest cookbook titled "The Good Life". His first cookbook, entitled "MEAT", where he shared his passion for clean and fresh food, was nominated for a number of awards.
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Chef Richardson meets Ricardo! :)
ReplyDeleteI always watch Good Chef, Bad Chef on AFC.. :) Love how he cooks meat! Hope I can get my hands on one of his cookbooks soon so I can try some of his recipes for my carnivorous family.
ReplyDeleteI think his 'surfer/rocker' look is DEFINITELY part of his appeal! :) He may know how to cook, but I think I would watch him stare at a wall. :)
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