Overview
A new regional fine dining restaurant within an hour of Sydney is opening later this year with serious ambition and serious backing. The Executive Chef comes from two of the most respected kitchens in Australia and the UK. You would be one of two senior sous chefs building the kitchen from scratch, working directly alongside him, cooking over fire, and helping establish what aims to be the best regional restaurant in New South Wales.
About the Venue
This is a brand new luxury lodge and restaurant. The hotel is adults only, premium rate accommodation opening alongside a fine dining restaurant targeting two hats. The property is backed by significant private investment and has been years in the making.
The kitchen is brand new with live fire cooking, wood fire, combi ovens, large walk in cool rooms and freezer, dedicated dry storage, a pastry section with laminator, and plans for a wood fired bread oven. Everything is untouched. There is also a kitchen garden on site.
The design is refined without pretension. Marble, brass, timber, beautiful crockery combining old world elegance with handmade ceramics. The goal is to create an experience that could not simply be replicated in the CBD. Stylistically, the references are La Doyenne in France, Arpege, Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Not copies, but indicators of standard and approach.
The Role
You would be one of two Senior Chefs working directly under the Executive Chef as part of the founding kitchen team.
The restaurant operates seven days across multiple formats. Thursday to Sunday the restaurant opens to the general public. Sunday night through Wednesday it serves hotel guests only with a refined menu.
You will be cooking with fire, whole fish, seasonal vegetables, and produce from the kitchen garden. Proteins arrive whole. You will butcher, prep, and plate at the level expected in a serious kitchen.
Who This Person Is
Someone who has worked in quality hatted or equivalent restaurants for at least three to four years and has genuine experience running a kitchen at this level independently. Someone who has cooked and organised at a level where refinement, precision, and plating actually matter.
You might be a Snr Sous or Head Chef looking for a launch opportunity with more creative input and a chance to help build something from the start. Either way, you know how to hold a section, train a junior, and keep the kitchen calm when things get busy.
The Executive Chef values curiosity, work ethic, character, and leadership.
The style of food draws on produce first cooking, traditional techniques, whole fish, seasonal vegetables, and country driven refinement without pretension. If you have worked with fire cooking before, that is a significant advantage. If not, you will learn. Very few kitchens in Australia or globally offer real training in cooking over fire.
Sponsorship is available after a probationary period. The business is set up for both 482 and 491 visas, and this is the first postcode outside Sydney with regional visa access. Transfer of sponsorship is open if you can explain why you are moving.
Benefits and Why You'll Thrive
Salary range of $100,000 to $130,000 plus superannuation plus plus, negotiable for the right person.
Four day weeks are planned, though there may be some flexibility required during the opening period.
You will work directly with the Executive Chef, not as a distant reports to relationship but genuinely alongside him. He wants to collaborate with the right people and is open to creative input from chefs who earn it.