About.

The kitchens have been varied: modern Indian, African-inspired, Cantonese, Japanese izakaya and European wine bar. What stays consistent is the job: turning a food direction into something a venue can actually run.

That means narrative, identity, training, costing, prep systems, service structure and kitchen culture. Most recently, as Culinary Director for Mama’s Dining Group, I helped shape Suzie Q, DISUKO and Windsor Wine Room across an eighteen-month period of openings, refinement and operational build-out.

My food language is cross-cultural by practice, not by trend. It comes from family, place, kitchens and repetition: German, Mauritian, Chinese and French roots; Darwin, Macau, Germany, Mauritius and Perth in the background; Japanese food as an early obsession that became a career; Indonesian food through marriage, home cooking and Bali; European wine-bar cooking through Windsor Wine Room.
The through-line is not fusion. It’s translation: taking flavour, memory and technique seriously enough to build food that feels specific, not assembled.

I work heavily with fire, fermentation, umami, acid, texture and service rhythm. I’ve cooked across Melbourne, Bali, Jakarta and Shanghai, from a 12-course omakase in Jakarta to a Wednesday sandwich collaboration in Richmond. Both matter. The room changes, but the standard doesn’t.

The part that rarely makes it into a brief is the people. Every venue I work on needs more than a menu. It needs a kitchen culture that can hold the food after launch. That means mentoring, structure, standards and enough ownership in the team that the kitchen doesn’t need babysitting once the opening noise dies down.
made by stolley. is the working archive: culinary direction, venue launches, collaborations and independent food projects. The independent practice runs beside the group work: pop-ups, residencies, Indonesian-leaning menus, guest collaborations and the kind of projects that don’t fit neatly into a venue brief.