INTERVIEW: Hamish Ingham

NAME: Hamish Ingham
RESTAURANT: The Woods, in the Four Seasons Sydney
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Australia
OCCUPATION: Chef
CUISINE OF CHOICE: Dynamic combo of Modern Asian/Modern Australian
YEARS IN THE BIZNESS: 15-20
SETTING: Bar H in Surry Hills, Sydney NSW, Australia.

MK: Good Afternoon Hamish, thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat with me today about Omnivore Sydney.
HI: No problems!

MK: What can you tell us so far about the experiences you’ve had with Omnivore?
HI: It’s a fantastic thing Omnivore! I was in the Sydney-based collective Toys, which involved a bunch of talented young chefs getting together and putting on dinners, so when Omnivore came calling I got excited. Toys is essentially a similar concept to Omnivore but on a much smaller scale, and I immediately recognised Omnivore as a great opportunity.

MK: What drew you towards Omnivore and its “100% Jeune Cuisine” philosophy?
HI: I always love the chance to work with other young and like-minded chefs, that is simply the biggest inspiration I can ever get. As a chef you don’t often get a chance to do that, which is why I jumped at the chance to join in on Omnivore. 
All of the chefs at Omnivore are very experienced and have a lot to give, having a chance to play around and do stuff with other peers is a fantastic opportunity. Then to cook and educate other people with what we come up with is simply a great thing!

MK: How would you describe the cooking technique you inhabit in your style?
HI: I’m lucky enough to have worked with Modern Chinese cuisine at Bar H and to have had the experience of incorporating Western-style Modern Australia at The Woods, so I guess I’m a bit of an all-rounder. It’s always fun to experiment with the two different cuisines over any given week.

MK: Where would you say you attribute your inspiration?
HI: Well my desire to work with Chinese food was brought on from my nine years experience at Billy Kwong and also travelling throughout China with Kylie Kwong was significantly inspiring. Whilst working at Billy Kwong I was awarded the Sydney Morning Herald Young Chef of the Year, which gave me a chance to go to any restaurant I wanted in the world.
 I simply love eating Chinese food it is the ideal cuisine for sharing which is the inspiration for Bar H. I then spent time working at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California & Café Zuni in San Francisco, California which is where I draw my inspiration for The Woods from as its all about the wood-fire and rustic tastes.

MK: Which events in Omnivore are you going to be cooking at this year?
HI: I’ll be putting on a combined Amazing Dinner with Michael Meredith from Meredith’s in New Zealand at The Woods on Sunday 6 October. Then I’m also staging my Master Class session in The Terrace Room at the National Maritime Museum at 12:30PM on Friday 4 October.

MK: What can guests expect to see from the talented Hamish Ingham in his Master Class performance?
HI: (laughs) I am hoping to utilise an Asian-technique using a Western-style recipe, so I’ll do a cross between both hopefully with a few different products and teach a few tricks!

MK: Is there any particular chef you are looking forward to working with at Omnivore Sydney 2013?
HI: Definitely Michael Meredith who I’ll be staging the Amazing Dinner with is simply fantastic. The produce that comes from New Zealand is wonderful and for our dinner we’re planning on creating an adventurous “Indigenous theme” and using a lot of the Indigenous Australian ingredients to draw on mine and his experiences.

MK: You’ve answered my next question really, but what can guests at Omnivore expect to be served up at your Amazing Dinner?
HI: Michael and I had a chat yesterday and we’ve come up with idea of doing an ANZAC-themed evening, drawing on our Indigenous surroundings and the ingredients of both countries to combine them together in each dish. 
Omnivore is full of such unique events, and having Michael come over here we really don’t want to be stuck behind the stove. So it is important for us to connect with our guests and talk with everyone about our culinary secrets and ideas.

MK: And what cooking technique will you primarily use with these ingredients?
HI: We’re very fortunate at The Woods to have a massive wood fire grill and oven so Michael and I are going to utilise those two cooking methods to experiment a little at our Amazing Dinner. Of recent I’ve been working with a combination of truffle oil and soy which are two earthy ingredients I’ve been created as a dressing for a wood fired steak. This is something people haven’t really seen before so I’ll look to introduce it at Omnivore.

MK: From an educational perspective, what are some of the messages you hope to impart onto guests at Omnivore?
HI: I want to touch on the concept of passion, which is my biggest philosophy in cooking, the passionate cooks are usually the best cooks. You can always learn different techniques and different ways of doing things but you have to have the passion and drive burning deep within.

MK: Hamish, thank you very much for your time it has been an absolute pleasure.
HI: You’re more than welcome.

MK: Don’t work too hard, and we’ll see you in a month at Omnivore Sydney 2013
HI: See you there, cheers.