George Calombaris has a disclaimer at the bottom of all his menus at Hellenic Republic that states the food served there will never be as good as your mother’s. And it’s not because he doubts his cooking abilities, it’s more the case that the love, the flavours, the familiar scent of your mother’s moussaka just can’t be replicated… ever. And it’s not his intention to try and recreate your mum’s food; but it is to inspire you to do something about it.
“If there is any statement I can make to any Greek Australian it would be not to take for granted the things your parents do for you.” For the self-confessed chef and cook, these ‘things’ are always about food.
The 33-year-old’s love of food and the kitchen began from an early age. Having a father born in Egypt to a Greek father and Italian mother, and a Greek-Cypriot mother, foods like hummus, koupes, pasta with fresh ricotta, falafel and moussaka were staples on the Calombaris table.
It’s precisely these memories and experiences that he takes with him to create his six successful Melbourne restaurants – and the one in Mykonos. He calls them “reflections of something or somewhere in his life”, which he confesses has only just begun.
And inspirations this chef finds everywhere, but nowhere more so than the Hellenic Republic.
Although he is a proud and passionate Australian, George says there is something he feels about his Greek heritage when visiting the country.
“When that plane lands in Venizelos I get this electricity through my veins, it’s like I am here!,” he says with warmth in his voice.
He describes his Greece as hidden and Athens as his playground.
“Just under the butchers market, I think about the little place that does one katsarola – that’s all he cooks every day. And you go in there you get whatever is in the katsarola and a piece of bread and you’re done.”
He visits Greece each year to get inspired, to get rejuvenated and when he returns to Australia, he passes on that knowledge and that spark to all around him.
Travis McAuley, head chef and partner at Hellenic Republic, is one of those people. They visit Greece together each year to uncover culinary gems to give to Australian diners.
“That Aussie boy knows more about Greek food than what Greeks do because he is passionate about it,” says George about the chef he has worked with for eight years. McAuley will at times even surprise George’s mother with tips on Greek cooking.
“It makes me feel so warm knowing that I threw that log on his fire by showing him this passion. That for me means everything.”
This ability, to inspire through his manic love of all things food, is one of the reasons he was selected as a judge on the hit television show MasterChef Australia.
Now in its fourth year, the show’s own winning recipe for success comes down to “honesty” and showcasing people’s dreams for all to see, George believes.
“These people are making big decisions, drastic decisions. Some people were a couple of weeks away from graduating from their Masters for physiotherapy and suddenly dropping that all because they made it on MasterChef (Australia) and they want to change their life and make it in food – that’s real, there is no joking around there.”
This year, George says the show will be going back to basics, keeping it simple and really hone in on who the people are and focus on the multicultural and diverse foods of Australia. But more than anything,. to celebrate the good home cook.
“My mother is a perfect example of this as everything she does is the ultimate to her – its life or death [when she cooks] and it’s got to be right. That’s the same for these contestants.”
Along with judges chef Gary Mehigan and food critic Matt Preston, these three lads have become the unlikely heroes as they mentor contestants through their MasterChef adventure and grant them culinary secrets. But as a judge, George says he has one point of difference over the other two – his Greek background.
“All a Greek needs is a table and two chairs and they can talk for hours,” he says.
“I can sit there and listen to the contestants and offer them advice and just be ‘real’ with them.”
He has taken this approach to the kitchens of all his restaurants, inspiring and motivating the 330 employees, and using it to fuel his cookbooks to resonate with amateur cooks around Australia.
But this ‘realness’ is most vibrant as it is when he speaks about his nine-month-old son James.
Unlike his frenzied personality we’ve come to know, there is a definite calm in his voice right now. Don’t get me wrong, he is still as enthusiastic as ever, he still over annunciates words when he gets excited, you can still feel him bouncing on the balls of his feet as he is talking down the phone.
Yet this is a different George we are speaking to a year on; a composed George; a settled George; a father George.
We get on the subject of his new son, James, and you can hear how having a child has completed him somewhat. When George mentions him for the first time, his voice slows and he addresses him with his full name, Dimitri – his father’s name.
“Dimitri is just absolutely beautiful,” he gushes, “crawling around like a lunatic and he’s eating solids now so it’s exciting.”
George is lapping up fatherhood and it suits him. Watching his son change week-to-week isn’t the only thing inspiring him – it’s watching the changes in his father that has given them both a new lease on life.
“I have just given my dad another ten years on his life – he’s youthful again,” explains George.
He recalls coming home the other day to his father swimming with little James in the pool. He says this is unlike his father; a strong stoic man who rarely shows emotions but something that he is certain his father did with George when he was a baby.
There was no question in George’s mind about passing this tradition of naming his first-born son after his father, after all, he was named after his pappou, and his father the same.
George respects traditions. And with James having an Italian Roman Catholic mother – George’s fiancee Natalie – he says his son will inherit “the best of both worlds” as George did himself as a young boy.
He talks openly about his own dreams and wants for his son. All of them centre on being an honest man, with integrity and never forgetting where he comes from. Regardless of what James becomes, as long as he remembers these core values – the ones that have put his father in good stead – then everything will be alright. And maybe like his father, success will beckon him too.
Always one to have the last say, George interjects when I call him successful.
“Success hasn’t come to me yet,” he says correcting me.
“I think I will be successful when I am sitting on my porch rocking in my chair thinking about all those days. One minute when you think you are on top of the world and everyone loves you – especially because I am out there – people will come along and burst that bubble and that’s okay.
“It’s about blowing yourself back up and keep believing in what you are doing.
“At the end of the day, I am a cook and a chef and I keep going for it, believing in it, and that’s the most important thing.”