They’re the creative forces behind some of Morris Group’s celebrated kitchens, creating extraordinary food every day. Meet some of our newest chefs and find out more about their food philosophies and what really drives them.
Scattered across Australia in the kitchens of our collection of luxury lodges, hotels, and pubs, our chefs are a driving force behind Morris Group’s passion for elevating the Australian good life.
With such a diverse portfolio of restaurants each serving a unique style of cuisine, finding the right people to bring the vision to life is key.
But for Group Executive Chef, Peter Reffell, that’s come together just the way he’d planned.
“The depth of talent and experience we have in our team is amazing, and it’s a critical to the overall success of the group,” he said.
“We have such an array of chefs with diverse experiences who each bring unique skills and perspectives. That’s meant that we are creating more versatile and innovative menus than ever.
“Our chefs are highly creative, talented, and are constantly pushing the boundaries of traditional cuisine to offer something new and exciting to our customers. It’s a really exciting time for food at Morris Group.”
Meet Morris Group’s newest head chefs
Gianni Hendrickx
Mt Mulligan Lodge, QLD
For Gianni Hendrickx, taking on the role of Head Chef at Mt Mulligan Lodge is the culmination of a lifetime spent in the kitchen.
Growing up in Belgium, Gianni recalls fondly the hours he spent cooking with his grandmother from a young age.
“I just really loved spending time with her in the kitchen,” he said.
“With all the grandkids around it was a lot, so it was fun to have some time alone with her cooking and learning all the family dishes. That’s where my love for cooking came from.”
At 13, he began training at Spermalie Hotel and Tourism School in Belgium, one of Europe’s most prestigious culinary schools.
It was here that Gianni got his first taste of the fast-paced world of running a restaurant. He says it was an eye-opening and often humbling experience for him and his peers.
“The thing you really learn is discipline. They were a really strict school but that’s what I needed because I wasn’t the easiest kid,” he said.
“There was a lot of pressure, but that pressure prepares you for real life. It really helped me out working in the restaurants that I worked in. You learn how to deal with authority and the pressure and just to push through.
“You learn that as a chef you never really know everything. You just have to keep learning and learning, so the possibilities are endless.”
Training at Spermalie laid the foundations for an esteemed career that would see him work in some of Europe’s top Michelin-star restaurants including Vrijmoed, Zilte, and ’t fornuis under the mentorship of renowned Belgian chef Johan Segers.
Since moving to Australia and finding his way to Mt Mulligan Lodge in March 2024, Gianni says he’s been given one of the greatest gifts a chef can get: the chance to play.
“You can do whatever you want here – you can experiment – so that’s what makes it fun,” he said.
“I have a classical French background, so sometimes I will go really classical. But then there’s days that I feel like ‘Oh let’s do something crazy today!’
“We change up the menu every day, so it’s nice to come in and just go to the fridge and see what we’re going to make today.”
For Gianni, part of that excitement comes from Mt Mulligan’s unique location in outback Queensland and the interesting array of fresh produce at his fingertips.
“I’ve really enjoyed learning and experimenting with the fish here in particular,” he said.
“The quality of the seafood is amazing, and all the different species of fish like coral trout and nannygai.
“It’s been great to work with things like kangaroo and emu because I’ve never worked with them in Europe, and I really wanted to use them in the menu.
“But also of course, it’s really special working in a place like this. It’s not just about cooking, but the surroundings that really makes it.”
Yukio Ozeki
Terasu at Ardo, QLD
There’s only one place in the world that you want to be if you’re an aspiring sushi chef, and that’s the world famous Tsukiji Fish Market in the heart of Tokyo.
That’s where Head Chef of Terasu restaurant at Ardo, Yukio Ozeki, earned his stripes; and it set him on course to head up renowned kitchens all over the world.
“When I graduated school, I was working at a sushi restaurant in Tokyo. There’s the big fish market in Tokyo called the Tsukiji Fish Market and around that market there’s over 100 sushi restaurants,” he said.
“It’s quite hard. Every day I would go into the markets to get the fish with my boss. You had to compete with the other restaurants around there to get the best fish.”
“Once we have chosen our fish and the rest of our seafood, we’d take it back to the restaurant and start preparing it.”
Apart from the obvious high level of technique required to prepare sushi correctly, much of what takes the cuisine to the next level is the quality of the produce.
Yukio says it can take some time to learn how to spot the best fish from a crowded marketplace.
“First you need to learn which fish is the best. You have to look at the colour – if it’s dark, it’s old. If it’s pink, it’s fresh. You also check the eyes. If the eyes are dark, it’s not fresh.”
After broadening his skillset into other styles of Japanese cuisine, Yukio left Japan in search of new culinary challenges.
His travels took him far and wide, working everywhere from small restaurants in South America, to a friend’s 200-head Japanese restaurant in L.A. on Santa Monica Beach.
For the last 10 years he was based in Auckland working at a celebrated modern Asian fusion restaurant in the CBD.
It was here that the DNA for Terasu was first conceived. When the opportunity came to make the move across the ditch to sunny Townsville and start something new, Yukio jumped at the chance.
“I came to Townsville over 20 years ago when I was on a working holiday where I visited Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Alice Springs,” he said.
“I remember Castle Hill and it was so beautiful. I just loved Queensland, the climate, the lifestyle. Everything.
“With Terasu’s menu, I took my knowledge of traditional Japanese cuisine and things I’ve picked up from other cuisines around the world to create something new.”
Much like his first experience in that restaurant in Tokyo all those years ago, Yukio says the Terasu menu lives and breaths on the quality of the fresh produce available.
“The quality of the seafood is really important. Before we opened, we got some samples from our supplier Red Coral Seafood and it was very fresh, so I was excited to work with it,” he said.
“The quality of the produce is very good – the fish, the Wagyu meat. It’s all very good.”
Aaron Brodie
Half Moon, VIC
If there’s one trait that Aaron Brodie has in spades, it’s adaptability.
Before stepping into the Head Chef role at Half Moon, he spent seven years as Executive Chef at Oakridge Wines in the Yarra Valley where the food philosophy was all about sustainability and hyper-local produce.
“We had a kitchen garden that provided about 80 percent of what we were serving,” he said.
“We set some tight parameters around what we did and how we did it. It was very much that everything’s made in-house, but we took it to another level – we made absolutely everything, from bread to charcuterie, and cheese.”
But with the strict rules came opportunity for limitless creativity.
“It takes a little bit of getting used to. You have to be able to adapt and be very fluid,” he said.
“It’s very produce led. Basically, the garden tells you what you’re putting on the menu. You don’t have the luxury of looking at a supplier list and ordering whatever you want. You’re bound by what’s at your back door.
“It means you can’t be set in your ways. You might have made something years ago, but you don’t have the same resources available, so you have to adapt.”
For Aaron, moving from a boutique winery to a bustling pub in the heart of Brighton means adapting again to a totally new way of thinking.
“I guess the goal is to be able to do a little bit of that, but to do it in a way that’s more approachable,” he said.
“The audience is a bit broader because a pub is something to everyone. When people come into a pub – especially somewhere like Half Moon that has such a reputation – and they’ve got a preconceived idea of what they’re going to get.
“What I’m trying to do is use a lot of old-world techniques, but just presented in something that’s a little brighter, and a little fresher.
“It’s food that people can relate to, but at the same time something that’s a little bit different. We’re not trying to scare them.”
Aaron’s deft ability to adapt and stay cool under pressure is no accident.
It’s a muscle he’s strengthened through an illustrious career working in some of the world’s most renowned kitchens.
Having kicked off his career in Perth working at the iconic venues such as the Subiaco Hotel, Aaron made the move to London to immerse himself in the ‘intense’ food scene.
The five years that followed saw him on board at a series of one and two Michelin-star restaurants including Gordon Ramsay’s Maze working under Jason Atherton.
For Aaron, that kind of experience has been pivotal in making him the chef he is today.
“You just become very goal-orientated, and you learn,” he said.
“I always had a thirst to learn. You really need to learn, and you need to learn quickly. You get a couple of chances but by the third chance, they’re probably not so nice about it.”
“There’s a lot of repetition but that’s how you become better. I guess it’s a bit like sport in that sense. If you’re training for something, there’s a lot of repetition and incremental gains.
“I really like that competitive nature of the kitchen. There’s no such thing as perfection, but the goal is just to make today better than the day before.”
Iker Garcia
O’Connell’s, VIC
It’s not that much of a stretch to say that Iker Garcia seems destined to be a chef.
Born in Basque Country and growing up in Spain’s coastal Catalonia region, Iker was immersed in the chef life from a very young age.
“My dad used to be a chef, and worked on boats all around the world,” he said.
“I travelled a lot. On school holidays I would go with my parents on the boat, so I was really lucky to visit a lot of countries.
“I spent so many hours in the kitchen, watching my dad cooking. I think that’s when I fell in love with it. I started cooking when I was 12 and had my first job when I was 14 working with my dad for about 10 years.
“Working with my dad really gave me my work ethic. He taught me so much about being consistent and having discipline.
“I wasn’t the best student so my dad would say ‘If you’re not going to study then you have to at least be good with your hands.’”
Since then, his career has been one filled with globetrotting, working in fine dining kitchens all over Spain, France, Italy, and Korea before he found his way to Australia 10 years ago.
“Learning English was the main priority for coming to Australia at first,” he said.
“I was supposed to come only for six months and then I extended my Visa for another year, and another year, and another year, and now here we are ten years later.”
While he’s well and truly settled into the Australian way of life, Iker says travel remains one of his biggest inspirations in the kitchen.
“Knowledge comes from travelling around the world,” he said.
“I feel very grateful for all the places I’ve been able to travel and go to really good restaurants and see what they do.
“I just want to explore as much as I can, surround myself with the best people, and learn from the best.”
A peruse through the menu at South Melbourne neighbourhood favourite, O’Connell’s, is a nod to Iker’s upbringing, with a definite shift towards a lighter, Mediterranean inspired fare.
“I used to live in a fishing village, and I was really lucky to have friends who worked on boats so I could get the fish from them and take it home and cook it for that night. You can’t beat that,” he said.
“Obviously coming from the Mediterranean it’s all about seafood – I really love cooking fish especially on charcoal. I just love seafood. If I had to pick one ingredient, my favourite thing would be seafood every time.
“My main thing with cooking is always to treat the ingredients and produce well and do the least possible with it and showcase it because if it’s good, you don’t have to do anything to it. Less is more.”
Chris & Alex Norman
Beechmont Estate, QLD
While their paths towards the chef life were pretty different, husband-and-wife team Chris and Alex Norman say they were both sucked in by the same thing.
“For me I think it’s the camaraderie, the banter between the chefs, and the lifestyle,” Chris said.
“I remember walking into my first kitchen at 14 or 15 years old and just going ‘This is so cool. This is an environment I want to be part of.’
“I just was drawn to the idea of being part of a team – especially at a young age. They really took me in.
“It’s a lot like going into the military or something. You’re in a team and it’s got a strict hierarchy, and you’ve got your leader at the front driving the team. And sometimes going into service is a lot like going into battle.”
The story was much the same for Alex.
“I always worked in big places with like 40 or 50 chefs. You were doing big hours, but you were all in it together,” she said.
“The bonds that you make – they’re friends for life because you just go through all this stuff together.”
Having cut his teeth working in a pub kitchen throughout high school, Chris had no doubts about his direction post-graduation and began his chef apprenticeship.
It wasn’t long before he sensed a big change. Suddenly it wasn’t just the team dynamic driving him. His passion for food and the craft had been ignited.
“I was working in a fairly good place, but it wasn’t the best of the best,” he said.
“I just had this realisation that if I’m going to do this I may as well do it properly. From there I started what we call ‘chasing stars’, which is looking for work at any restaurants with a Michelin star.
“I put myself through 10 years of working at the best places that I could, trying to learn and soak up as much as I could like a sponge.”
The decision to become a chef was a pretty clear one for Alex. Clear enough for her to follow her gut take her career advisor’s words of warning with a grain of salt.
“My career advisor at school really didn’t want me to be a chef. She was like ‘You’ll just waste your career!’ But I think that kind of I was like ‘Well, I’m just going to go and do it now,’” she said.
And with that, at the age of 16 she landed a scholarship at London’s Royal Academy of Culinary Arts: one of the UK’s most prestigious culinary schools.
“Only 30 people a year get to do this scholarship, so I was very lucky,” she said.
“You essentially do three months full time at the University of Bournemouth and then you go to London for a year and you’re just a chef in the kitchen.
“So, I was a 16-year-old living in London, and I just had the best time! It was pretty clear then. I was like, ‘Yep, this is this is what I want to do.’”
As her skills in the kitchen grew, so did her fascination with the pastry kitchen.
“I think I was attracted by the science behind it. It’s a little bit more academic in some ways,” she said.
“There are really clear rules. Like, there are reasons that things will work in a certain way – a sponge will rise in different ways depending on how you make it. I really enjoyed that part of it.
“I also enjoy that you can do a some more crazy things with pastry and push the boundaries. You can do some mad stuff!”
The pair met when their careers both led them to working at The Ritz in London, and they’ve been working together ever since.
While most people would find it difficult working in such a high pressure environment with their significant other, Alex and Chris say they’ve found a way to make it work seamlessly.
“We like to be under the pump we like to be under pressure,” Chris said.
“We’ve had some steep learning curves. It was very tough earlier on,” Alex said.
“There are times when you bring work home, but now we are used to working each other. We kind of know and understand each other and what we do so it’s easy.”
In 2011 they made the move to Australia and found their way to Southeast Queensland – a place that holds a special place in their hearts.
For them, that stunning location was a huge part of the appeal of joining the team at Beechmont Estate to lead its celebrated chef-hatted restaurant, The Paddock, into a new era.
“It’s a beautiful area and we’ve worked already with the local suppliers for years. So, coming here was very easy for us,” Chris said.
“For us, having full creative autonomy is a big factor. We want it to be a destination where people know they can come and have a really good meal, but not necessarily just for special occasions.
“One of the biggest things for us is that we want to get the best quality ingredients and cook them with respect – it does matter whether it’s a piece of Wagyu or some coral trout or some vegetables from a local farm.
“We don’t want to change anything. We don’t want to take ingredients and dehydrate it, mix it with a load of chemicals and turn it into something else. We’ll keep it as it is.
“We’re classically trained, and we’ve worked in restaurants that have kept to that kind of philosophy, but we do it with a more modern Australian spin.
“We like to think our food is unpretentious and approachable but still really high quality.”