Television cooking shows may be marketed as reality, but Greg Nicholas says they’re nowhere near the experience of a full-time chef.
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“I think the biggest problem with our industry is that you've got shows like My Kitchen Rules and Masterchef that give it such a false image,” Mr Nicholas said.
“What you see in the kitchen in the tv shows, that's only a small part of it. That's the final act in the play.”
Mr Nicholas has an impressive resume: he’s cooked for Gordon Ramsay in London, spent two years cooking at Nauru and owned his own restaurant. But now Mr Nicholas is area manager and head chef at Holy Spirit Dubbo, Lourdes Hospital and St Mary’s Villa.
“My sons say to me ‘I want to be a chef’ and I say ‘no you're not’. It's a hard job,” Mr Nicholas said.
“It's one of those careers that if you're willing to out your head down you can go rally far, you can travel the world quite easily. But if you're one of those people who just want a job than maybe it's not your career path. Because when your friends are out partying and you're stuck behind a stove it becomes very, very hard to find motivation to stay there.”
His mum would say 'that's your dad’ and he would look at me as if to say 'who are you?'.
- Greg Nicholas
Mr Nicholas took over a resturant when his son was two-weeks-old. Two years later, his son didn’t even know who he was.
“I was going to work before he was awake and I'd be home from work when he was asleep. His mum would say 'that's your dad’ and he would look at me as if to say 'who are you?'. It breaks your heart,” the chef said.
Cooking in fine dining restaurants, Mr Nicholas said his day would often start at 6am and not finish until midnight.
The long hours was one of the main reasons he said he decided to find a nine to five job which would allow him to spend time with his children.
Mr Nicholas now commutes from Mudgee everyday. While before there may have been more than 700 dishes served in one of his establishments, now he makes 175 for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
It took time to adjust to a slower kitchen, but it was awesome to be able to watch his children play sport on the weekend and go away camping, Mr Nicholas said.
And while he may no longer be cooking beef ribs cooked for four hours in his ‘legendary’ sauce, or make duck tortellini with a confit carot puree, herb oil and a duck jus, the chef said he still does experiment with the food he provides.
Two years since he began working for Holy Spirit, would a move back into fine dining be considered by the chef?
“No way. It’s a young man’s game. I’ve got no hair from the stress of it.”