Chefs Corner: 5 minutes with ALMA, Felix, Batesford Hotel, and Barwon Edge’s Jesse Hughes

Get to know the hands and minds behind your favourite dishes.

Welcome to Chefs Corner, where we take you behind-the-scenes into the kitchen of a renowned hospitality establishment in regional Victoria. From exploring flavours to discovering seasonal delights, and unpacking food memories, this is all about dishes and the creators behind them.

Geelong is spoiled with selection when it comes to hospitality. Driving four major players in our gastronomical web is Jesse Hughes. Hughes is the hero behind Ryrie Street South American speciality restaurant ALMA Restaurant, Downes Lane’s contemporary French food find Felix, Barwon River renowned restaurant Barwon Edge, and the renewed Midland Highway pub Batesford Hotel.

Keep up to date with the latest in food and drinks across regional Victoria here.

Five minutes with ALMA Restaurant, Felix, Barwon Edge and Batesford Hotel executive chef, Jesse Hughes.

What are you cooking with at the moment?

Blood oranges (in season during the winter months). They have a beautiful colour and are a great way to add freshness to a winter menu. Delicious with fish, pork and in desserts also.

Favourite culinary destination?

It’s hard not to say somewhere in Europe as the food experience is amazing, but we are so spoilt in Melbourne with some world-class eateries – and it’s much cheaper and easier to get to Melbourne.

 

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Favourite food memory? 

Riding from Strasbourg to Basel through Alsace, we ate the most beautiful dishes and drank incredible wines and it’s a memory I will have for the rest of my life. Most meals consisted of pork and potatoes with a carafe of Riesling or a wheat beer and every meal was amazing.

In your opinion, what makes a dish great? 

Balance. A dish needs harmony between flavours and textures to be truly memorable. Acid is a key player — it lifts and sharpens other elements, making the dish sing. Nailing that balance is half the joy of the creative process.

Who’s currently killing it in the hospitality scene?

I’m really enjoying my brunch visits to Rebecchi’s – their menu is comfort food done to perfection and the coffee and tunes are always on point!

 

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What dish is always on your dinner rotation at home?

A good lasagne is often requested by my partner and is a guilty pleasure in our house.

What are you doing when you are not cooking?

I love to visit my hospo friends, so if I’m not working, I’m probably having a wine at Union Cellars or grabbing a coffee at Coffee Cartel.

To experience Jesse Hughes’ culinary creations yourself, check out ALMA, Felix, Barwon Edge or Batesford Hotel now.