This article appeared in today's The Australian Newspaper written by John Lethlean and is about my nephew Richard the son of my sister Louise
A shake-up in restaurateur Frank van Haandel’s world will see a big promotion for young Brisbane chef Richard Ousby.
The 32-year-old has been made executive chef of van Haandel’s Stokehouse trio, coinciding with the resignation of chef
Ollie Gould last week as head chef of Stokehouse Melbourne. Former Van Haandel Group executive chef
Anthony Musarra also
is no longer involved with the Stokehouse brand and now manages the
group’s Fatto restaurant at Melbourne’s Southbank. Stokehouse Q’s
manager
Peter McMahon, a familiar face on many restaurant floors
through the years, becomes operations manager for all Stokehouses. The
group faces a big year with the architecturally adventurous rebuild of
Stokehouse St Kilda, a Melbourne landmark in its pre-fire days, starting
soon, with a projected opening in October next year.
Ousby — something of a baby-faced assassin — has the task of
appointing a head chef for Melbourne and ultimately replacing himself in
Brisbane. He will move to Melbourne next year to run the ship from the
south and cook at the new Stokehouse St Kilda for the first three months
of its life, at least. Ousby, who grew up in Bathurst, Singapore and
Brisbane, says: “It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind.” Stokehouse Q has
gone ahead leaps and bounds under his culinary direction since he was
appointed to the helm in May 2013. From an apprenticeship at red-sauce
Italian Alberto’s, in Brisbane’s Paddington, to the Waterside Inn in
Britain and nearly three years at Quay in Sydney, Ousby has enjoyed an
impressive ascension. He won the coveted Electrolux Appetite for
Excellence Young Chef award in 2011. “The Waterside was definitely the
turning point of my career,” says Ousby, who sent a note up to
chef-owner
Michel Roux’s hotel room in Brisbane in 2006 that
ultimately got him the job in Bray, outside London. “It’s where I was
amazed by the effort required and the produce needed to excel.” As for
Gould? “No news as yet. Sad to be leaving but looking forward to the
unknown. I’ll take a little break. Mykonos or Santorini?”
