“A NEW PUBLIC” – Adelaide Review January 2014
Excerpt taken from Adelaide Review Article, January 2014 – By David Knight
After a decade in Byron Bay, new Public CBD Head Chef Luke Southwood says Adelaide’s food scene has matured in the time he’s been away and he’s looking forward to contributing to it.
Southwood was Head Chef at Byron Bay’s award-winning Dish before moving to The Sanctuary, the ‘world’s most exclusive rehab’ as its Catering Manager.
While the Spanish-trained chef was at Dish, the restaurant was awarded a Chef’s Hat from the Sydney Morning Herald (2004-06) and one star from Gourmet Traveller (2005-06). Southwood’s career suffered a set back after a car accident in 2010 but a call to compete in MasterChef Professionals, under the mentorship of Marco Pierre White, reignited the fire in his belly. After the MasterChef experience (where Southwood finished eighth in the competition featuring professional chefs), Southwood returned to South Australia, the state where he worked at institutions such as d’arry’s Verandah and Port Elliot’s Flying Fish Cafe and alongside local icons such as Maggie Beer.
Southwood’s new menu for Public will be available from early January after the Franklin St cafe returns from its Christmas break. The menu will reflect his Spanish background and training.
“My background is very much in Mediterranean food and it will obviously tap into Spanish food because that’s what I love to do, especially Catalan and Basque. Northern Spain is where my main influences are from, so you’ll definitely be seeing some Spanish stuff on the menu.”
In Southwood’s words his menu will be: “Simple, elegant, delicious and fast with a lot of love, which is the main thing.”
“Even when I was running Dish in Byron, which was a Hatted restaurant, [the food was] very simple in essence – it’s not 14 components per plate, foams and molecular gastronomy. I tend to harp back to the training I received, which was from classic Spanish chefs, and real old school traditional food done with a modern twist. I think the style of food that they do here is very much up the alley of what I do anyway, so it’s just going to be a matter of tweaking it a little bit to suit the venue really. I think what we’re aiming to do is quite casual, simple food in essence but quite elegant as well.”
