Soren Thogersen

I grew up in a small fishing town on the New South Wales coast, which exposed me to some of the best seafood in Australia. My mother and uncle are both great chefs and I found myself hanging around their workplace kitchens, helping wherever I could from an early age. Like so many chefs, I started as a kitchenhand and made my way through many positions and restaurants until I became the head chef of Seville Estate in the Yarra Valley. In my journey through commercial kitchens, I have worked in steak and seafood restaurants, and also with Moroccan, Mexican, Japanese, Thai, and Italian cuisines, but nothing has resonated with me quite like Andrew McConnell's Builders Arms Hotel/Moon Under Water. The years spent in that kitchen, among chefs of high caliber and the best independent producers in the area, had me combining flavors with no boundaries and confinements of cuisine to create refined dishes. This has certainly shaped the type of chef I want to be and the type of food I want to produce. Today, I consider myself a strong supporter of locality and seasonality when defining my menus. I enjoy using nostalgic flavor combinations to provoke emotions and encourage relatability with my dishes. I cook everything the way I would love to eat.