One of Perth’s youngest chefs is proving she can handle the heat after being selected to represent the State at a national culinary competition.
23-year-old Jess Roe is a newly appointed junior sous chef at one of the city’s most sought-after dining destinations — and she’s also just won a spot at the 2023 Nestle Golden Chef Hat Awards in September.
“I think, from the judge’s feedback, it was my dessert that solidified the win,” Roe said of her selection as WA’s sole representative.
“I did a sweet potato, vanilla mousse tart with a red wine caramel and walnut crumb.”
Roe works at Bistro Guillaume at Crown Metropol, assisting the head chef in managing kitchen orders and liaising between the front and back of house.
Working at one of WA’s best known restaurants has certainly been a change of pace for the South West native, who hails from a little-known town called Noggerup and began her career at the local watering hole.
Noggerup — midway between Collie and Boyup Brook — is home to less than 100 people.
“I started in our little local country pub, the Mumballup tavern,” she said.
“I started as a dishy, then went behind the bar, worked as a fryer and then they had staffing issues and I ended up running the kitchen.”
Her first ticket out of Noggerup came in the form of a scholarship to Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Melbourne, but her dad fell sick and she stayed put at the time, only later making the move to Perth.
Now a Cannington local, Roe said it was an “eye-opening” experience at Bistro Guillaume.
“It was crazy,” she said.
“But it was just one of those sink or swim moments.”
Swim she did, with the next culinary challenge on her plate the high-stress experience of competition.
“It’s obviously your name and reputation on the line,” Roe said.
“It’s for your own pride and your own self.”
The talented chef will compete in the finals against 12 others from across Australia and New Zealand in front of an audience of thousands at a convention centre in Sydney.
The Golden Chef Hat Awards is one of the country’s longest-running chef competitions.
Nestle Professional commercial development chef Elke Travers said it gave young chefs a chance to put themselves to the test.
“For close to six decades we’ve proudly supported more than 7500 chefs,” she said.
“Jess really delivered on the day a considered and well-executed menu that stood out from the rest.”
The winner will receive a European culinary experience and travel with the Australian Culinary Olympics junior team to Stuttgart, Germany, next year.
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