PROFILE

From an apprenticeship at a local Italian restaurant (Alberto’s) in Brisbane, to Executive Chef of the Van Haandel Group’s Stokehouse Restaurants, Richard Ousby’s star has risen rapidly after a chance conversation with Damien Pignolet at the very start of his career.

“Michel Roux and a full house of Australia’s top celebrity chefs were in Brisbane for a food festival and I volunteered to help out during the event. In a chance conversation with Damien I mentioned that I’d like to work abroad and he encouraged me to send a letter to Michel’s hotel room. I took his advice and it changed my life, I was in the UK within a matter of months,” says Ousby.

In Bray (UK), under the stewardship of Michel’s son Allain, Ousby worked as a Commis Chef at the Roux family’s’ three Michelin star Waterside Inn for just over a year. It was here his core cooking skills were honed and his lifelong passion of classic French cuisine was established.

After his time at the Waterside Inn came to a close, Sydney beckoned and Ousby returned to Australia where he commenced a three-year  stint at Peter Gilmore’s Quay, working his way up to become a Junior Sous Chef.

While at Quay, Ousby competed in the national ‘Appetite for Excellence’ competition two years running, winning the ‘Electrolux Young Chef of Year’ on his second attempt in 2011. This win qualified him for the worldwide competition in Venice and he went on to win the ‘S. Pellegrino Young Chef of the Year’ in 2012. Ousby has since joined the Appetite for Excellence judging panel and is entering his third year in this role.

After his win, Ousby took a whirlwind trip around Europe with his new wife Kristy, before returning to Australia in late 2012. In that same year, he joined Stokehouse Q and was promoted to Head Chef within less than a year, becoming Executive Chef across both the Brisbane restaurant and Stokehouse St Kilda in 2015.

Ousby always knew he wanted to be a chef, but finds it hard to know exactly when or why this came about.

“Growing up in regional New South Wales I was surrounded by sheep, wheat and grain farmers. I’d never met a chef, or even seen one on TV so it was an unusual career choice. My earliest memories of food are of my mother’s homemade bread and my nan’s pickled lamb’s tongues – which taste much better than they sound!”

But as it turned out, his plan wasn’t as outlandish as it sounded for a budding Bathurst chef in the 80s. His rural childhood filled with home gardening and wholesome cooking has informed a deep-seated passion for local sustainable produce that Ousby holds true to today, and which underpins the culture of both Stokehouse kitchens.