LOVING LIFE BY THE SEA By Melissa Walsh
T
he opening of Alatonero a few months ago meant that head chef Graeme Walter could combine his two great loves – working by the beach and cooking incredible food.
The 31 year old who everybody calls ‘Ginger’ started his cooking career further inland in the beautiful Yarra Valley. However, once he and his partner, Sarah, discovered the peninsula, they knew this is where they needed to be. “I’ve been working kitchens for 16 years, starting with washing dishes after school at the local clubs and pubs. I’d get off the bus and go over and do dishes. At first I just wanted to work, but eventually I decided to do an apprenticeship at what was then called the Yarra Valley Dairy, and made a career as a chef,” says Graeme from the beachside restaurant, Alatonero. “Once I qualified at 18 I took off and worked on the islands for a few years.” Doing his apprenticeship and training in the very formal old school French techniques has served Graeme well, giving him the work and life skills he needed to master all cuisines.
E ssence
78 | PENINSULA
February 2017
“I started out in the Yarra Valley doing my apprenticeship first at the Yarra Valley Dairy, then the Sebel, and qualified with chefs that taught me how to cook the hard way,” says Graeme. “It was the best experience anyone could have with incredible mentors.” For this well-travelled chef, coming down to the peninsula to live and work happened by chance after a holiday with his partner 12 years ago. “It was in 2005 and Sarah and I came down here for a weekend. As soon as we got here we loved it, and fell in love with the water, the farms and the restaurants. We stayed down here for two nights, went home, packed a bag and came straight back down to live,” he said. As a testament to their determination, the young couple lived in a tent on the Rosebud foreshore for the first four months. “We were both working at Stillwater at Crittenden at the time and Sarah would do her hair and makeup in the tent and I would iron my chef ’s uniform,” he said. “Eventually we moved out and bought a house in Capel Sound, which we are still in today.”