Eat local: A Chef’s Pocket (interview)

A Chefs Pocket is run by two Peruvian Byron Bay Locals; Peruvian cuisine has an enormous rich and diverse heritage. Influenced not only by their indigenous origins, but also from cultures all around the globe. African, European and Asian migrants have shaped Peru’s gastronomy over the generations.

Eat local: A Chef’s Pocket

It is also a food scene of opposites: hot and cold on the same dish. Sweet & sour. Powerful acidity combined with delicate textures.

As you can sense by now, it is vibrant, eclectic and full of surprises.

Byron Bay’s (and Northern Rivers) food scene has a few Peruvian skilled gems. Like the one-and-only Aldo, but we will talk to him at a later stage...

Today we have the absolute pleasure of talking to the infamous Franco & Andres. Or in other words - A Chef’s Pocket.

Who are you?

We are both originals (born and raised) from Lima, Peru. We met at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school over a decade ago. We both moved to Australia following separated paths, but managed to meet again in Melbourne, in 2013.

In 2016 we both relocated to Byron, again in separate paths, and so we continued our connexion. That is when A Chef’s Pocket was born.

A Chef’s Pocket… Tell us all about it!

We are both strongly rooted to Peruvian cuisine, so that always was the centerpiece of the project. But the Peruvian cuisine itself can be quite eclectic and gather influence from other traditional cuisines. And the skills we learned cooking in kitchens all around the world, makes A Chefs Pocket everchanging and full of surprises.

The early beginnings were fun: Empanadas & ceviche stall at the Ballina Farmers Markets.

As we kept on learning and discovering the richness of the local produce, we started swifting the project towards catering weddings, private events and dinner parties.

We have also been doing periodically some pop up events collaborating with local venues. We enjoy the aspect of interacting with the local community, versus purely private events. Given the current circumstances (covid restrictions & lock downs) we are also doing a weekly rotating set menu, which is available for Friday delivery or pick-up.

We like doing different jobs, and adapt to it with different cooking styles & flavours - We have plenty of them in our pockets!

Best & worst gig you’ve ever done (no need to name if you don’t want)

We always have lots of fun doing our events, we enjoy cooking for customers, meet new people and have a laugh. Always!

We think pop ups are our favourite type of gig for what we share with customers and the vibe that the whole event brings together.

Worst gig: It was a bad gig, but it was a fun one too. We were doing the good food and wine festival in Brisbane. Cooking some demonstration classes and one of them was a “lomo saltado” or beef stir fry. We had microphones attached to our heads, cameras filming and a crowd paying a big deal of attention!

The pan was so hot that when we added oil, the pan went on fire and we had to pull that fire blanket out and a few F words! Everything was under control at the end. No one got hurt. Lots of laughs and at least we demonstrated what to do in THAT case.

Music of Choice to play while cooking:

If we have a big prep day: techno.

If we are just chilling: either reggae or jazz

If we are in a sort of happy mood: salsa or latin rock.

Best leader/mentor/boss you have had in your career:

Franco had a very important one when working at Jaime’s Italian in Perth: Lorenzo.

Me (Andres) always felt inspired and followed Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio and American chef and writer Anthony Bourdain.

Favourite place to eat in the local area:

If on a rush, either bahn mi or yum cha at red ginger.

For dinner Barrio or Yulli’s

We are having a drink… What are you having?:

Negroni without a doubt unless Pisco sours are on the menu. A cold beer in the sun is always a good idea as well.

You have guests at home for dinner, you are cooking and you have to use mustard. What do you make?:

Andres would use mustard on a honey mustard dressing most of the times where Franco is more of a Steak and mustard kind of guy.

Links to socials and how to contact you:

www. achefspocket.com

IG: @a.chefs.pocket

FB: A Chef’s Pocket