#50BestTalks: Learn from the World's Culinary Elite in Sydney and Melbourne

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As a food lover living in Australia, you're already considered hugely lucky in terms of the quality food available. The diversity of this nation gives Australia the honour of being a must-visit for global gastronomers, and each year the offerings get better and better. With a few learnings from the soon-to-visit elite, this will improve tenfold.

Australia's unique culinary history can lay claim to witchetty grubs, ANZAC biscuits, damper, lamingtons, Weet-Bix, Iced VoVos, barbecued snags, and Balmain bugs, to name just a few. But ask what an Australian's favourite food is and it can vary anywhere from a steak sandwich or meat pie, to baklava, baked kibbeh or Thai red curry.

Australia is a melting pot of indigenous ingredients and multicultural influences. Modern cuisine is all about embracing and intertwining change, so it's no surprise that no one does this better than Sydney and Melbourne. That's why, when The World's 50 Best Restaurant Awards heads to Australia in April, top chefs will be conversing with the locals in these two food-obsessed capitals.

The World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards

The World's 50 Best Restaurants is the most highly anticipated annual awards event in the gastronomic calendar and will be held April 5th at Melbourne's historic Royal Exhibition Building. It brings together the world's top chefs, restaurateurs, food media and gourmets to debate, collaborate and celebrate the greatest food experiences on earth.

The main event will be held on April 5th at Melbourne's historic Royal Exhibition Building, but there's a whole lot more to this event than just listing the top 50 places to dine. There's also plenty of opportunity to learn something new thanks to #50BestTalks.

#50BestTalks

With the superstars of the restaurant industry in town, Sydney and Melbourne will host two live theater events with some of the greatest chefs in the world. Seize the opportunity and hear how some of the most unique and intricate dishes are created, how culinary trends are set, and discover the challenges and rewards of running the world's most sought-after restaurants.

#50BestTalks in Sydney

On Saturday April 1st at the Sydney Opera House, industry superstars Massimo Bottura, Dominique Crenn, Peter Gilmore and Brett Graham will come together to talk edible ideas.

Massimo Bottura

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Massimo needs no introduction, being the Chef Patron of Osteria Francescana, the world's number one restaurant. Listed in the top five of The Best 50 since 2010, this three-Michelin-star restaurant has been carried to success thanks to Bottura's will to push the boundaries. Having rewritten the rules of Italian cuisine, he has written four books and has been the subject of several documentaries.

Dominique Crenn

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French chef Dominique Crenn was awarded the Best Female Chef in 2016 by The World's Best 50 Restaurants, and is the mastermind behind two-Michelin star restaurant Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, California and its more casual little sibling, Petit Crenn.

Peter Gilmore

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One of Australia's best-loved chefs, Peter Gilmore is the Executive Chef of Quay, a Good Food Gift Card partner and signature Sydney restaurant that has received an unprecedented number of Australian and International awards. At the forefront of Australia's food scene, Quay's success is thanks to Gilmore's love of food inspired by nature. A keen gardener, Gilmore was one of the first chefs in the country to truly embrace the vegetable garden and its diversity.

Brett Graham

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Brett Graham began his cooking career in Newcastle, Australia before moving to Sydney where he won the prestigious Josephine Pignolet Award. This granted him a trip to the UK to work alongside Philip Howard at The Square. Further awards followed, including Young Chef of the Year in 2002. Today, he's responsible for bringing Notting Hill favourite – The Ledbury – to 14th place of The Best 50 list.

Standard tickets for this event start at $30 and are available here.

#50BestTalks in Melbourne

Melbourne foodies will be privy to the secrets of some of the world's best chefs by attending #50BestTalks on stage at Margaret Court Arena on Monday April 3rd. Four chefs whose restaurants feature in the World's 50 Best Restaurants will present the stories of their food journeys, alongside journalist host Annabel Crabb.

Daniel Humm

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Daniel Humm is a Swiss chef and co-owner of Eleven Madison Park and The NoMad in New York City. Over the course of Humm's tenure, he and Eleven Madison Park have received numerous accolades, including three Michelin stars and a top spot on The World's 50 Best Restaurants. He will be joined on stage by co-owner Will Guidara.  

Jordi Roca

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Pastry chef extraordinaire Jordi Roca grew up in the kitchen. His family owned a bar and he and his brothers, once old enough, opened a restaurant annex to the bar. Within a few years it began collecting Michelin stars. By 2009, el Celler de Can Roca shot 21 spots to number five on The World's Best 50 Restaurants list, and last year it reached the number two spot.

Gaggan Anand

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Gaggan Anand is the Indian chef behind Thailand's famous Gaggan restaurant. Open since December 2010, it's been voted Thailand's Best Restaurant the last two years and is the only Indian restaurant to feature in The Best 50 list.

Grant Achatz

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Chef Grant Achatz is one of the most awarded and recognised chefs in the world. Known for his innovative, emotional and modernist style of cuisine, he has been named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Heading the kitchen at three-Michelin Star Alinea, he's undoubtedly someone to learn a lot from.

Standards tickets for this event start at $30 and are available here.

Will you seize the opportunity to learn from the best? Be sure not to miss #50BestTalks in Sydney and Melbourne this April.

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Mireille Kilgour

Mireille Kilgour

Mireille Kilgour has been an entrepreneur for 35 years in the hospitality sector. French born, she has been an accomplished business owner and operator for a number of Sydney venues. Leading the industry with high profile institutions such as Lamrock Café Bondi, she has endless passion for the industry, and now has the pleasure of supporting restaurants to fill their tables with the new Good Food Gift Card program.