Neil Perry (Australia 2014)

17 January (Australia ) within release Australian Legends - Cooking goes into circulation Stamp Neil Perry face value 60 Australian cent

Stamp Neil Perry in catalogues
Michel:	Mi:AU 4070
Stanley Gibbons:	Sg:AU 4120

Stamp is vertical format.

Neil Perry AM
The term “modern Australian cuisine” has become so porous that trying to explain what it is in terms of dishes or cooking techniques is impossible. It is, instead, more about an attitude, one that doesn’t mind shaking things up – ignoring the rules about what goes with what – but is pretty fussy about the quality of ingredients. One of its finest exponents, if not solely responsible for bringing modern Australian cuisine into being, is Neil Perry.

Neil Perry owns seven highly acclaimed restaurants in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth that employ around 600 staff; he’s the culinary face of Qantas; and he’s written eight cookbooks and is a familiar sight on television. But he’s not all about the business. His 2013 Medal of the Order of Australia was awarded not just for his 25-plus years as chef and restaurateur but also for “significant service to the community as a benefactor of and a fundraiser for charities”.

Extensive charity work aside, Neil is a chef renowned for his relentless pursuit of the best ingredients in the country. There’s a reassuring fervour when he talks about great ingredients being the foundation of great cooking, and he’s passionate about sustainable produce, particularly fish. His espousing of the season–regional mantra is more than just fashionable marketing slogans, though; it’s in his blood, passed on mainly through his father.

Neil spent his first years in hospitality working front of house, stepping into the kitchen only when a chef at the restaurant he was managing couldn’t make it into work. He loved it, and over the next few years served an informal apprenticeship. In 1983, he gained his first head chef job at Barrenjoey House, and three years later he opened his first restaurant, Bluewater Grill, in Bondi Beach, where he put into play the lessons he learnt growing up: conceiving dishes according to the things he liked to eat rather than any preconceived ideas about what was supposed to go with what. So Asian flavours mingled with European flavours, all on a foundation of the best and freshest ingredients around. It was a new, exciting and popular way of cooking, and suddenly both the idea of modern Australian cuisine and Perry himself were on the radar.

In 1989, he opened the renowned Rockpool, with his cousin Trish Richards, gaining awards and accolades aplenty. Rockpool has since been joined by its upmarket steakhouse offspring, Rockpool Bar & Grill (Melbourne, Sydney and Perth), two outposts of Neil’s Chinese restaurant Spice Temple and his Melbourne Italian restaurant, Rosetta Ristorante. The best ingredients and an innovative approach remain foundational to his work.

Also in the issue Australian Legends - Cooking:

• Stamp - Margaret Fulton face value 60;
• Stamp - Maggie Beer face value 60;
• Stamp - Stephanie Alexander face value 60;
• Stamp - Neil Perry face value 60;
• Stamp - Kylie Kwong face value 60;
• Stamp - Stephanie Alexander face value 60;
• Stamp - Neil Perry face value 60;
• Stamp - Kylie Kwong face value 60;
• Stamp - Margaret Fulton face value 60;
• Stamp - Maggie Beer face value 60;
• Booklet - Kylie Kwong face value 10*60;
• Booklet - Maggie Beer face value 10*60;
• Booklet - Margaret Fulton face value 10*60;
• Booklet - Neil Perry face value 10*60;
• Booklet - Stephanie Alexander face value 10*60;
• Booklet - Australian Legends - Cooking - Premium booklet face value 20*60;