the Docklands under the name Chuck-E. He travelled overseas with brother Edward and lived in Spain for two years, fascinated by the “pintxos” bars, where patrons chose from a range of skewered snacks, keeping the spikes to work out how much they owed. “I managed a pub in Barcelona and also had a side business leasing out pensions for my landlady, which provided a bit of extra income,” he says. At 24, Sedgley was back in Melbourne managing a fine-dining hotel. Three years later, he opened his own restaurant. Named after Barcelona, Barça Food & Wine opened in High Street in 2007. The edgy menu has evolved to include bold creations such as the Dirty Cigar entrée of braised black beans, ash chevre (goat’s cheese), black garlic, quinoa and smoked cocoa salt. It is served on an ashtray with the cigar-shaped pastry-encased filling sitting atop the cheese and quinoa. The look is amazing and the taste sensational. The crayfish bisque with parmesan foam and prawn-and-chive ravioli is also something else. It is served with a basil and cream sphere that “my passion, resembles a large olive but literally bursts in your mouth. though, is Another popular dish is the kicked-over food” flowerpot dessert combining chocolate sponge pudding, malt meringue and garden flowers. They had wanted a chocolate tree but it wouldn’t stand up. “The only dish that is exactly the same as when we started is the paella,” Sedgley says. “We now change our menu seasonally and also when we stumble across a great idea.” Ingredients are fresh, with some provided by family. Sedgley uses award-winning brie made by his aunt Sue McGorlick with her husband, Bruce, at their Locheilan Farmhouse in Shepparton. His father, Michael, makes the quince paste at the family’s Metung property. Sedgley also started Sedgley & Sons wines with Michael and Edward after seeing an old photo his 96-year-old grandfather had of relatives running a butcher shop of the same name. The family label is among 130 wines offered at Barça. Chef Robbie Yoon takes full advantage of the quality ingredients. “He is a true inspiration,” Sedgley says. “He insists on making everything in-house and is not just a chef but a bit of a mad scientist as well.” Sedgley has kept Barça affordable and offers a prix fixe (fixed price) dinner menu of two courses for $45 and three for $55. The lunch special is one course and a glass of wine for $25, or two courses and wine for $35. This year, with his father and brother, Sedgley opened Lona, a pintxos/wine/cocktail bar down the road, completing the Barça/Lona theme. It is also doing well. Keeping it in the family, Sedgley’s wife, Jessomine, 34, who works in fashion and has an eye for detail, ensures Barça and Lona’s modern interiors stay crisp and fresh. Their children, Jackson, 3, and Blossom, 1, also inspired his latest business venture. As someone who never leaves a good idea hanging, Sedgley noticed no one had produced bells to alert people to oncoming prams. Pram Bell products can also be used on scooters and bikes and will soon launch in Britain. If that’s not enough, Sedgley wrote his children a \ book about a famous sheep that escaped on an island at Metung and lived with kangaroos. He is also keen to expand his hospitality business when he finds the time. Given his can-do attitude and endless ideas, it will no doubt be sooner rather than later. \ ccritchley@theweeklyreview.com.au bells for prams, scooters and bikes. He has also written a children’s book. Not bad for a former Melbourne » Barça Food & Wine, 1007 High Street, Armadale Grammar boy who left school early after feeling stifled 9822 8515 in the classroom. “School wasn’t exactly for me,” he says. Open Tuesday to Saturday lunch and dinner “I was a wild child.” After washing dishes at a local butcher’s shop, Sedgley » Lona Pintxos Bar, 963 High Street, Armadale spent four years doing an apprenticeship. “I learnt all 9822 0382 about different meats and the art form of butchery. Pintxos available Wednesday to Sunday, noon However, one of the main lessons I learnt was customer until late service,” he says. “My old boss Len was a master of this.” One job was never enough for this driven young » www.barca.com.au, www.lona.com.au, man. While learning the meat trade, Sedgley had DJ www.prambell.com gigs on the side, in 2000 playing at Welcome 2000 at
An appetite for success
Business profile Living life on the edge has paid off for this young entrepreneur, writes CHERYL CRITCHLEY Keeping busy: Charles Sedgley, owner of Armadale’s Barça Food & Wine. (ChriS hopkinS)
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f you can get him to sit for five minutes, Charles Sedgley has a fascinating story to tell. The dynamic young entrepreneur is always on the go, developing new ideas and refining old ones. He literally hasn’t stopped since leaving school at 15 to take on the world. “Because I dropped out of school I’ve approached everything I’ve done at 100 per cent,” he says during a rare break at his Armadale restaurant, Barça Food & Wine. “My passion, though, is food and it is amazing how things you do in your life become so useful later on.” At just 34, Sedgley owns or co-owns the edgy Barça, its sister bar, Lona, and a company selling warning
NOVEMBER 6, 2013 \ The weekly review 13