5 minutes with Restaurant Hubert’s Exec Chef Brendan Fong

When I first came to Restaurant Hubert as a diner many years ago, I loved it. I was working at Mr. Wong at the time, so it was great to have a place I could go to get a bite to eat after work.

The challenge of cooking French-style dishes again [appealed the most to me]. It has been quite a while since I have cooked this style of food and I like to constantly challenge myself. Being able to do it in such an iconic Sydney restaurant is a bonus.

I didn’t want to go too far out of the realm of what Hubert already is, so the first change was bringing back some modern takes of dishes I learned as a young chef and incorporating things I have picked up over the years.

When it comes to developing new dishes, I like to focus on classics and try to bring a fresh perspective to them. So far, the team has been excited to see the change in the food. I think they like to see how I can incorporate Asian ingredients and techniques into French dishes.

We haven’t had too much kickback from guests which is good. In all honesty, I think they were excited to see the menu change after so long. I hope to bring back what Hubert used to be like with more of an Asian touch to French cuisine and to get people excited to come in and try something new!

[Some lessons I have learned over the last few years is] people will always try to pull the wool over your eyes, never give in. Be confident about your cooking and never take staff leaving personal, people come and go — it happens.