CBD restaurant INDU has appointed British chef James Wallis as head chef.
Wallis has been cooking in Sydney’s kitchens since his arrival in Australia in 2015. Wallis first worked at The Tilbury, where he moved from sous chef to head chef, creating a new menu and overseeing a team of chefs.
Prior to his departure for Australia, Wallis was head chef at the 2AA Rosetted Room Restaurant in Manchester and at Sheffield’s Milestone. The restaurant was crowned Best British Restaurant by Gordon Ramsay on Channel 4 TV show Ramsay’s Best Restaurant.
Wallis has a past in nose-to-tail cooking, however since traveling the globe and experiencing how the rest of the world treats ingredients outside of the prime meats, he has taken that philosophy and applied it to the vegetables and seafood used within his dishes.
The menu change wasn’t about creating new curries, but concentrating on coastal- and village-inspired dishes. Wallis took inspiration from his travels and paired his ideas with sous chef Subrata Saha’s (Subcontinental) knowledge of the countries spices to create the new menu.
Oxtail vada with cinnamon sugar and onion ash, squid ink hopper with seared tuna belly and pomelo salad and whole baked snapper with string hoppers are some of the signature dishes available. For dessert, coriander ice with coconut jelly and passionfruit is on offer.
