Bios

Alex Herbert was born in Sydney , October 1967. From a young age Alex was inspired by her family's influence of eating and enjoying good food in the home and gained p her love of cooking from watching her mother, aunts and grandmother in the kitchen.

During her nineteen-year career Alex has been fortunate enough to have worked for some of Australia 's finest cooks and restaurateurs and has been strongly influenced by the great food writers of our time.

Alex began cooking in 1989. After three years studying History and Languages at Sydney University , she decided to follow her passion and started as an apprentice chef in the busy kitchen of Berowra Waters Inn , under the direction of Gay Bilson and Janni Kyritsis.

In 1991 to 1993, Alex together with her partner Howard Gardner, whom she had met at Berowra Waters Inn, took the role of proprietor manager/contract caterers of Pine Log Restaurant , on the central coast of NSW . During this time the restaurant was awarded Sydney Morning Herald Country Restaurant of the Year 1993.

Following on from here Alex made the move to the Barossa Valley, South Australia for a stint as chef at Maggie Beer's Pheasant Farm Restaurant . In late 1993 Alex relocated back to Sydney , with Howard, and took up working alongside Christine Manfield in the position of sous chef at the award winning Paramount Restaurant , Potts Point Sydney.

In 1994, one year following the birth of her first son Luke, Alex returned to the stoves working in the kitchen with David Thompson at Sailors Thai in The Rocks, Sydney. This is where she first met Martin Boetz with whom she now has a close ongoing personal and professional relationship.

With a young son in the family and a desire to have more independence and flexibility in life, Alex and her husband Howard opened their own business Bird Cow Fish –(now known as the first Bird Cow Fish, Balmain) in 1996. Alex was joined in the kitchen by Martin Boetz as co- chef for the first 6 months. This 48 seat restaurant was cited by the Sydney Morning Herald Good Living restaurant critic: Terry Durack: “This place is a dream. What should be freshly made is freshly made, what should be crisp is crisp, and what should be soft is soft. The balance of flavours is harmonious and elegant. The overall effect is chic simple. Bird Cow Fish - Good Simple Delicious.” SMH - Eat Out, 5 November 1996.

During this time a series of external opportunities surfaced and in August 1998 Alex in conjunction with Maggie Beer, Stephanie Alexander, Norma Willis and Genevieve Copeland cooked for the Breast Cancer Institute Dinner in Sydney for 500 guests. Following on that same year in November, Alex and the Bird Cow Fish team were invited to cook at David Jones 160 th Birthday Dinner in Sydney for 160 guests.

Between 1998 and 2002 Alex in partnership set up and was head chef of De'lish Store, Lindfield : a gourmet food store specialising in catering, cakes, desserts and take-home meals.

In 2002 Alex established a food consultancy business: Alex's clients included: Trippas White Catering at the Art Gallery of NSW and Australia's leading Food Consultancy Company Success Cycle Australia www.successcycle.com.au.

The food retail experience that Alex gained at her store Delish and the subsequent Retail Food Consultancy that she became involved with has been invaluable in separating the passionate chef from the consumer demands and clarifying how these two seemingly inseparable players must successfully interact.

During this time Alex was also featured chef in Picnic , by Sophie Zakolar 2002, Fremantle Press and Cooking with Verjuice by Maggie Beer Penguin books, 2001

In late 2003 Alex worked again with chef Martin Boetz in the kitchen at Longrain, Surry Hills Sydney, for a further eight-month stint as a senior chef.

In 2004 Alex worked with Penny Chapman as Food Consultant to Chapman Pictures for ‘The Cooks' television drama series. Her main roles were to tutor and mentor the actors to perform as chefs do and to cook the food for the show's scenes.

In March 2006 Bird Cow Fish reopened. Situated at shops 4 & 5, 500 Crown Street , Surry Hills. Bird Cow Fish is a unique espresso bar & bistro concept.

Alex is the co-owner and head chef overseeing a busy team in this past paced bistro using sustainable and locally sourced produce.

Alex goes to Flemington Markets twice weekly to source her fruit and vegetable produce and has established an extensive network of suppliers who share her passion and commitment for humanely reared and quality products.

Alex's youngest son Joel has severe food allergies to eggs and nut and this had led to her involvement with Anaphylaxis Australia since 2007, cooking for their annual major Fundraiser.

More recently in October of this year Alex assisted with the launch of the Greenpeace True Food Guide, once again showing her commitment and support to the education of the wider publics understanding of importance of the safety of food and knowing where it has come from as well as it tasting and looking good!

Alex has appeared as a regular guest on ABC radio's Morning Show with Deborah Cameron and also with ABC's Simon Marnie on his Weekend Breakfast show.

When not doing all this Alex keeps herself busy looking after her two sons Luke and Joel aged 14yrs and 8 yrs respectively.

Howard was born in Singapore , November 1962 and relocated to Australia with his family in 1971. After spending his childhood behind the scenes with his father running a sequence of leading Asian hotels Howard's step into the hospitality industry was a natural one. During the past 23 years Howard has worked with a range of industry luminaries, such as Greg Fraser and Grant Van Every.

Howard's career in Sydney started when he joined Barry Ross and Phillip Searle in 1987 at Oasis Seros restaurant, Paddington Sydney, in the position of waiter. The following year Howard made the move to Gay Bilson's successful Berowra Waters Inn , where he remained working on the floor for the next four years.

During this time Howard met chef Alex Herbert and their next career move was together. In 1992 Howard and Alex relocated to the central coast of NSW to take over as proprietor managers/contract caterers at Pine Log Restaurant, receiving great acclaim and being awarded The Sydney Morning Herald Country Restaurant of the Year 1993 .

Mid 1993 Howard moved into the role of waiter at the award-winning Maggie Beer's Pheasant Farm Restaurant in the Barossa Valley, South Australia. And later followed this up with a move back to Sydney working at Christine Manfield and Margie Harris' Paramount Restaurant , Potts Point Sydney.

With a young son in the family and a desire to have more independence and flexibility in life, Alex and Howard decided to open their own business: Bird Cow Fish , in 1996, situated just off Darling Street , Balmain. This 48 seat restaurant was cited by the Sydney Morning Herald Good Living restaurant critic: Terry Durack: "This place is a dream. What should be freshly made is freshly made, what should be crisp is crisp, and what should be soft is soft. The balance of flavours is harmonious and elegant. The overall effect is chic simple.

Bird Cow Fish. Good Simple Delicious." SMH - Eat Out, 5 November 1996.

After three years of trading Bird Cow Fish was sold in April 1999.

For six months during 1999 Howard was maitre'd/sommelier at Bond Restaurant, on Phillip Street Sydney and followed this up late the same year starting in the Restaurant Manager's role at the new Sydney eatery - Aqua Luna, Circular Quay Sydney. Howard was also responsible for setting up front of house operations of this business. Aqua Luna was awarded One Chef Hat at The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Awards 2000 & 2001.

From mid 2002 to early 2003 Howard worked in the role of restaurant manager at Bayswater Brasserie , Kings Cross. And following in February 2004 he started as a freelance consultant to Harasty's Agency, working with a range of VIP clients including: Westpac, Freehills, Deloittes, AMP, Australian Stock Exchange, Goldman Sachs and Southcorp.