spicers retreat

Chef Ash Martin, Homage, Spicers Hidden Vale

What do you do and how did you get into the industry? 
I am a chef and my passion lies with growing the produce from scratch, taking it through the process of nurturing from the ground to the plate. I’m not sure where it started but I remember stealing strawberries from my Nana’s veggie garden and I now I find myself with an 89 bed market garden at the back of our restaurant – I still get that same feeling of excitement when I’m out collecting produce.
Share with us an interesting story from behind the scenes. 
An interesting fact that not many people know is that we have our own bee hives and harvest our own honey. We get amazing fresh honey and the benefit of the bees pollinating our market garden.
What’s the best/ worst part of your job?
Creating food that people enjoy and seeing the excitement in people’s faces through the open pass.
The worst part is working Christmas Day!
What’s your personal favourite meal/ drink at Homage?
I love the tasting menu because its more of an experience. You don’t have to make any decisions about the food or the wine, which I love too.
What’s one of the craziest things you’ve seen behind the scenes?
In one of my previous positions, I saw an apprentice’s hands on fire. He was fine but in an open kitchen you can imagine the chaos!
The perfect day off would be… 
… beer, burger, sun.
A day in the life of a chef is…  
… typically it’s  coffee, prep, coffee, prep, prep, prep, coffee, service, prep, briefing, service. I’m a little bit lucky because I do spend time in the market garden and with guests. I have an awesome kitchen team who are a heap of fun and as crazy/ passionate about food as I am so we often spend our days while prepping and drinking coffee, talking about food and what we’ll do on our next menu.
What do you do for fun? 
I love eating at other restaurants. I really love burgers.
What’s something you’d like guests to know about Homage? 
It’s all about the produce – that goes for cooking at home and for restaurants. You cannot beat produce picked the same day as preparation… it’s nothing like what you get in the supermarkets.
What’s your view on the Brisbane food scene? 
It’s an exciting time. I’m originally from Melbourne where the food culture was amazing and there was a different option for every day of the year. Brisbane is growing and now has gems popping up all over the place. It’s so great to be a part of that and see the public get so involved and excited about it.
What’s in store for you in the upcoming months? 
A local produce dinner is scheduled for the 5th of February where the producers come and tell our guests about their product. We have a wine pairing for each course and the event is always a sell out.
Check out our dining experiences at Homage here:

2 Comments

  1. So funny…. drinks a lot of coffee! He's talented and handsome as well.

  2. I was really pleased with my meeting here. I would be the perfect person to have on an infomercial for this place if they ever had one. Ha! I highly recommend these meeting room guys.

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