Simplot Foodservice: Principal partner of the Australian Culinary Federation’s Australian Young Chefs
Lillie Fielding – a young chef at work in Australia’s top end
This issue we interview Lillie Fielding, who gives us an insight into what it’s like to live and work in Australia’s Top End. Lillie is a dedicated and passionate 2nd year apprentice who is keen to build a career in the industry.
20 year old Lillie originally hails from Tasmania but has moved with her family across the country, first to Perth, then Adelaide and now Darwin. She hadn’t always had an interest in cooking, but at age 14 began working at a local fish and chips store and from there went to the beachside café where she is now employed as an apprentice chef. Once there she gradually discovered a passion for cooking.
“As soon as I started here as a kitchenhand and making sandwiches, I realised I wanted to take things more seriously and move up,” Lillie tells us. She has been working at the Saltwater @ Bundilla café for the past two years – an iconic NT food destination overlooking Bundilla Beach which claims “Darwin’s best breakfast with an ocean view” and features a diverse menu offering including Indonesian-inspired dishes such as traditional Nasi Goreng, a great chicken satay and authentic Asian salads.
“There are three owners and one is from Indonesia, and she has influenced the menu with some terrific Indonesian cuisine,” Lillie says. “It’s a really awesome place to work – our team is like a massive family and very supportive of each other. We have a big staff, probably more in front of house than in the kitchen, although in the west season we lose some because the backpackers leave.”
“Working as a chef up here is a little like being a big fish in a small pond – it’s hard to find people who’ve gone into hospitality out of a passion”
Lillie explains that the top end experiences protracted wet and dry seasons each year and “in the wet season it’s basically a ghost town – a lot of people leave and go work elsewhere at that time of the year. I think working as a chef up here is a little like being a big fish in a small pond – it’s actually hard to find people who’ve gone into hospitality out of a passion for cooking, instead there are a lot who’ve simply fallen into it. We have a lot of multinationals who come up here on working visas and they’ll go the hospitality route, so you find they don’t necessarily want to be a chef, even though they are usually quite good at their work.
“But it often seems as though the cuisine side of things is not given the same focus up here – which is why I’m very grateful to be working somewhere where the staff are passionate and dedicated to their food. When it’s busy, it’s busy and I love the thrill of it – but when it’s wet season it’s very quiet.
“That has a positive side too, in that it gives you time to hone your skills – I’ve had the opportunity to come up with menu specials and stuff like that, which I don’t think many apprentices would get the chance to do, but because we’re not busy my boss lets me do it which I think is really awesome.
“I think generally speaking it is pretty hard to find a head chef up here that wants to train you to be a protégé, and it’s hard to find guidance generally, so I’m very lucky to have the support of my bosses and also my lecturers at Charles Darwin University. They’ve told me that their commercial kitchen is one of the biggest in Australia and I actually cried when I saw it for the first time, it’s amazing!”
A further source of strength for Lillie is her mum – “she gives me an insane amount of support, it’s crazy! I competed in the Nestlé Golden Chefs competition a few months ago, and I was messaging mum ‘I can’t do this’ and within 20 minutes she drove to the comp and sat there watching and cheering me on the rest of the way!”
Nestlé Golden Chefs was Lillie’s first experience of competing and she emphasises it won’t be her last. “My lecturers really want me to keep going, they’re very encouraging. As Darwin is such a small pond, it’s relatively easy to get your name out there so I’m going to be representing the NT in the upcoming Tabasco competition. There’s a lot of people cheering me on which is great. I think competing is a terrific way to network as well as test your skills against your peers.”
Now entering the second year of her apprenticeship, Lillie is keen to remain in the café environment: “Looking ahead I think I’d like to have my own café and patisserie at some point. Once I complete my apprenticeship I would love to do some training in pastry as that is my second passion after cooking. I bake a lot at home and my boss has put me in charge of the baking cabinet at work and I think that is a route I would definitely like to go down in the future.”
