Test your Design IQ
MANILA, Philippines - Who is the Australian chef best known for the reality program Take Home Chef, and for being chosen as one of People magazine’s “Sexiest Men Alive?
He was studying for a business degree when he realized that his heart was in food. Given that, he began cooking at the Savoy Hotel in his hometown of Melbourne at the age of 18. There, he worked with many European and British chefs who instilled in him the importance of working abroad to build one’s experience and skills.
Upon completing his qualifications as a chef, he set off to Europe to experience life and the cuisines of France, Spain, and Italy, before finally arriving in London. There, he found himself literally knocking on the door of the legendary Marco Pierre White, the youngest chef in the world to be awarded three Michelin stars, and author of the cookbook White Heat. That afternoon, he started work with Marco at The Grill Room of Cafe Royal.
He then worked at Mirabelle as sous chef, and later as head chef at Quo Vadis, a SoHo institution since 1926. During his four-year stint at Quo Vadis, he was approached by a publisher and included in a book about London’s finest chefs, London on a Plate.
His appearance in the book led to a heightened media profile in the UK where he appeared on Taste Today on the Taste Network, Great Food Live of UK Food, BBC2’s Saturday Kitchen, and ITV’s This Morning. He then filmed the 15-minute episode of Dinner in a Box for UK Food in 2002.
He returned briefly to Australia to make the cooking show/travelogue Surfing the Menu for the Australian Broadcasting Association in 2003, after which he hosted an Australian reality series, My Restaurant Rules. Missing the heat of the kitchen, he returned to London to work with Terence Conran on the famous Bluebird Club.
He’s known to stay true to his cooking philosophy: keep things simple, and use naturally produced ingredients that are in season. “If you get your hands on good ingredients, and treat them properly, you don’t need to do much,” he says. In his cooking, he likes to concentrate on flavors with a modern European edge.
He was included in the 2006 People magazine’s listing of Sexiest Men Alive, alongside George Clooney and Brad Pitt.
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Last week’s question: Who was the Austrian-American architect whose inventive designs in and around Los Angeles have placed him as one of the true mavericks of early 20th-century architecture?
Answer: Rudolph Schindler
Winner: Anne Sherill Suarez of Quezon City
Text your answer to 09053142614 with your name and address. One winner will be chosen through a raffle of texts with the correct answer. The winner will receive P2,000 worth of SM gift certificates for use at Our Home, SM Department Store, or SM Supermarket. They can claim their prize at Our Home in SM Megamall. Call the store manager at 634-1950, 634-1943. Bring photocopies of two valid IDs and a clipping of the Design Quiz issue in which you appear as winner.
