The Bureau Q&A: Simon Cassar
On the Australian food Media, the call of the kitchen, and Peninsula life.
This newsletter came out because I, partly, fell out of love with the hospitality business. It’s been about six months since I closed my business, a business I’d spent most of my life working towards, and more or less left behind my career of working FOH and in kitchens. You can read more about it here. Along the way, I started writing about my journey and the complex relationship I have, and continue to have, with the restaurant game. Someone whose journey is the inverse of mine is Simon Cassar, today’s Q&A guest.
The former deputy editor of Urban List Melbourne, Simon is a freelance writer who, after a life spent writing about the industry, decided to pursue his passion for food into the kitchen. Simon is a brilliant writer, and has been an incredible supporter of the Bureau newsletter; he’s helped me along the way in establishing it to where it is today. So it’s exciting to have him join me here today to talk about his life, the state of Australian food media, and following your passions.
You're the former deputy editor at Urban List Melbourne. How do you see the current state of food media in Australia? Consider this your soapbox.
I've always wanted a soapbox, and now it's my time. Well, it has certainly changed a tonne fairly quickly, even compared to how things were in early 2021 when I started. The influx of TikTok and Instagram reels has had a massive impact on the way people consume food news or get their food recommendations, this isn't necessarily a bad thing but it means that it's a lot harder now for publications to cut through.
What changes would you like to see in the food media industry? Who are some of the people and entities, both here and abroad, that are doing it right?
In complete contrast to what I just said, I love to see publications still sticking to long-form feature articles on specific food trends and industry/community news. There's still an audience for it and I love reading those kinds of pieces. Nowadays I think for Melbourne the more niche and (air quotes) "core" a publication is the better, I think Swillhouse Magazine do an incredible job, and I really like Do Something Melbourne's illustrative take on the industry.
Overseas it's more Eater and NYT Cooking, their longer YouTube videos are my absolute kryptonite, I could watch the ones where they follow a chef in the kitchen during prep or visit restaurants all day long, I always wanted to do something similar but it just doesn't seem to grab as much in Australia.
You’re still a freelance writer. In February you wrote a great piece about the Do’s and Don'ts of opening a restaurant in Australia right now. Did anything surprise you in the course of your research for your piece? What are your own thoughts about the viability of the industry in 2024?
Why thank you, yeah it was a super interesting thing to speak to hospitality folk about, I don't think anything really surprised me to be honest, because if things are expensive for us they're going to be expensive for a restaurant. I think it just reconfirmed the ethos of restaurant, cafe and bar culture that it's definitely not about the money, it's about following what you love and what you love to do, if you go into it for the wrong reasons then it's definitely not going to work out.
Tell us a bit about your writing process. Do you have any routines or rituals that you like to apply to your work?
Not really, I just like to feel comfortable in the space and feel like I have enough time (which is definitely easier as a freelancer). I'm not sure how other people write but I basically just follow the internal dialogue I'm having in my brain, I could be just in the shower spacing out and some intro or sentence will pop into my mind and I have to make sure I remember it or yell out to my loyal companion, Siri.
Since leaving UrbanList, you’ve stepped into the kitchen, working at restaurants like DOC and Donna Maria. What drove this decision?
I honestly love cooking and eating food so much, at my time at Urban List I just became really obsessed with learning more about specific dishes and techniques, I also really always wanted to do a cooking show or something it just came from desire to understand more. I can't believe how lucky I am to be in both of these places learning, everyone is so willing and happy to teach me and you just learn so much more than you ever could at home. I also always worked in hospitality growing up so I also missed that collective energy, both the highs and the lows and sitting at a desk listening to people tell you their stories of following their passion and risking it to cook and open something eventually just really got to me, I didn't want to write about it anymore I wanted to be involved, to be part of it.
How would you describe the current climate in the Australian hospitality industry?
Look I wouldn't dare to speculate, it's so multi-faceted but having stepped back inside restaurants things seem better than they used to be, still definitely not perfect by any means. As a customer I think it's incredible, it's almost baffling how many options we have at least in Victoria, I think living here makes you a bit complacent but honestly from low to high dining the food and produce here is incredible and the choice is dizzying, my list just keeps getting longer and longer.
What have been some of your favourite recent dining experiences? And what are some of the trends, both good and bad, you’ve observed?
I think my main go-to and recommendation to anyone who asks me is Many Little in Red Hill. It's a Sri Lankan diner from the Polperro team and I've been at least four-five times just in the past three months, it's just absolutely incredible. I've been lucky enough to chat to the head chef Gayan Pieris and he's just the best dude, always has time to say g'day and chat about food. The space is also incredible there's a ripper bar on the verandah and a massive outdoor section with long tables underneath fairy lights and massive looming gum trees, very hinterland peninsula.
I want to be diplomatic on the trends front and I know it's not the season, but I feel like truffle can jog on now. It could be because I don't particularly like it that much but the constant shaving or infusing it into dishes has run its course for me.
You’re a Mornington Peninsula resident; the dining scene in the area has really started to thrive in recent years. Tell us about your ideal dining day on the ‘ninsh.
I'm not a cafe breakfast enthusiast, I usually head to Miller's Bread Kitchen in Dromana and get a pastry and a coffee, they do these cinnamon and orange zest scrolls that are unreal, their entire selection would rival some of the city's best so very thankful for them being down here.
This is a really biased pick but I'm doing DOC for lunch, I am obsessed with pizza and no matter how many of their slices I've put to the sword they still absolutely nail it, the go-to is the tiger prawn with endive and sliced chilli, undefeated in my opinion.
For dinner I'm going back to Many Little, and choosing off the bar menu which is a la carte, there's this wild butterflied prawn dish with sambol butter that I can't stop ordering, then I'm diving into the curries with some hoppers or roti. Then it's another negroni and time call it a day.
Time to talk bucket list. What are some of the destinations and restaurants you’ve always dreamed of visiting?
Well I'm about to go on a two-month trip overseas and my current Google Maps list is punching above 100+ food spots so there are a few to mention. In Melbourne, I really want to get to Roti Bar, which is a Malaysian spot a chef put me onto and then there's Scopri on Nicholson Street, I've never been but it's on my grail list and haven't heard anything but glowing endorsements so that is up there. Overseas in New York, I'm super keen to check out L'Industrie which is a pizza shop in Brooklyn, and in London I want to go to Strakers (by Thomas Straker), I was obsessed with his butter and cooking videos and I feel like I've cribbed so much food knowledge from him so keen to check that out, but I've heard it's almost impossible to get into. Real Dorsia vibes.
What’s next for you? If you could build your ideal career from here on out, what would it look like?
I'd love to keep writing, it's definitely seems to be harder nowadays in terms of frequency of work when I talk to other freelancers but there's still opportunity and I've got pieces lined up writing about stuff I really care about for both Broadsheet and SBS Food that I'm really excited about. I think I'll definitely keep working in kitchens and restaurants if places will have me and I'd eventually love to open something down here but I feel like I'm a very long way from that.
Follow Simon on Instagram @simon__cassar