Harmony is the watchword of one of Australia’s most celebrated and recognisable food icons, Peter Gilmore. The executive chef at Sydney’s award-winning Quay restaurant is famous for achieving a perfect balance between subtlety of flavour, texture and exquisite presentation in every dish he creates. ‘That’s the art of the cook.’

It’s a far cry from Gilmore’s first culinary job of making garlic bread to his fabled snow egg dessert (see his Guava Snow Egg recipe) but his cuisine is constantly and consciously evolving to echo the cultural diversity of modern Australia, and he is zealous about showcasing and celebrating Australia’s natural produce in his cooking, too.

With traditional culinary training in Australia and the UK, it’s not surprising that Gilmore uses classical techniques and ingredients in his dishes. But he also likes to expand his food horizons, studying ancient methods of food preservation like fermentation to give him inspiration.

Sydney-born Gilmore’s food adventures began in his childhood, sparked and encouraged by his mother. With her advice to ‘cook from the heart’, he decided on a culinary career at the age of 14, began an apprenticeship in New South Wales aged 16 and spent his twenties working in UK country house hotels – and then London – honing his skills.

Back in Sydney, after spending time in Guillaume Brahimi’s kitchen (French-born Brahimi being another celebrated Sydney-based chef) and at De Beers Restaurant at Whale Beach, Sydney, Gilmore finally landed his career-defining post at the Quay in 2001.

Here his skill soon stood out and a clutch of Australian and international awards were showered on him and the Quay. In 2015, a decade-long ambition was fulfilled when he took over the Bennelong Restaurant at Sydney Opera House.

Like most chefs, Gilmore has precious little family time, but when he does manage to hang out with his wife and two sons, they often go out for Chinese tea (yum cha). Nor does the cooking stop just because he’s at home: ‘I love the buzz of having family around, firing up the pizza oven or making a Thai curry from scratch.’

Secret Food Haunt

Victor Churchill butchery, located in Sydney’s eastern suburb of Woollahra. Founded in 1876, it’s one of Australia’s finest and oldest butchers, specialising in quality lamb, pork and beef.