Former Wildflower and Hearth head chef Jed Gerrard heads to Wills Domain, Denver Stevens to Bungalow Social

Change at the top The sudden resignation of celebrated chef Seth James from Wills Domain earlier this month sent shock waves around the hospitality industry. Wills Domain has recovered quickly, though, appointing superstar chef Jed Gerrard as the Yallingup winery’s new head chef. Gerrard rose to national and international stardom as the inaugural head chef at Wildflower at Como the Treasury hotel in the city. He then moved to The Ritz-Carlton and set up its stunning Hearth restaurant several years ago, eventually resigning to take a break from high level cookery and do his “own thing” about 12 months ago. Gerrard is an exceptional chef, but he has big shoes to fill. James brought attention to Wills Domain, catapulting it into the very top tier of WA restaurants with his often extraordinary inventiveness and skill. James has left a profound imprint on WA commercial cooking, but fans have every reason to be happy that he’s not going far. James is partnering with WA wine producer Larry Cherubino to create a new top tier restaurant at Cherubino’s Caves Road winery in the Spanish style, one-time cellar door on the former Laurance Wines property. (The one with the tasteful gold statue of a woman on a pole in a lake). These recent moves have further cemented the Margaret River region’s reputation as Australia’s finest wine country destination for exceptional restaurant experiences with chefs like James, Gerrard, Santi Fernandez (Voyager Estate), Brendan Pratt (Vasse Felix), Dan Gedge (Leeuwin Estate), Aaron Carr (Yarri) and Tony Howell (Cape Lodge) all at the top of their game. Denver moves to Bungalow In other news from the South West, one of the Wildflower kitchen crew, chef de partie Denver Stevens has resigned to take up the head chef job at Dunsborough’s Bungalow Social. Owner Justin Rees says Stevens will start at the bistro on October 26. “We’re giving him pretty much free rein, but with a guy of his calibre we’re expecting our dishes to go next level,” Rees told Broadbrush. Expect more small dishes designed around the wine offer. Bungalow Social is a wine-driven venue with a roster of “natural, pet nat and organic wines from local, often small, producers that don’t have cellar doors of their own”, Rees said. Make It a Mini Bobeche is one of Perth’s top bars. We reckon they’re a bit under appreciated, so when they told us about their new happy hour, we thought, why not? From 4pm to 6pm Tuesday to Saturday, the softly lit, plush bar will be offering $10 mini cocktails. Not only is that responsible service of alcohol, it’s a great way to go out and drink without getting too Mozart and Liszt. Perfect timing for post-work punters too. Baby negronis and little martinis are the go.