Struan Preston
Chefs
AUSTRALIAN GOOD FOOD GUIDE - Home of the Chef Hat Awards
Hao Chen
Born:
Shanghai.
History:
I started as an apprentice Chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in Shanghai. I believe constant improvement and research have gotten me to where I am today.
Have you always wanted to be a Chef?
Originally, I studied IT, but I always had a passion for cooking and decided to follow that dream.
How would you define your style?
Using the best and freshest Australian/local ingredients to create the best Japanese dishes.
What is your feature flavour these days?
Fresh seafood with truffle.
Obsessive-compulsive about?
Chefs following well-defined systems to recreate dishes, perfectly every time.
Your greatest culinary influence:
Travelling through Japan.
What do you love about this business?
I love seeing people enjoying something I have created for them.
An ingredient you can’t live without?
Rice.
Most ‘eyebrow-raising’ menu item?
New Zealand scampi with foie gras, soy jelly and truffle oil nigiri.
Signature dish:
Scallop with pickled green apple, garlic and jalapeño dressing.
Raku Dining
Tantalise tastebuds with modern Japanese fare at Raku Dining on Bunda Street in Canberra. Combining the precision of Oriental cuisine with the vibrant energy of Mod Oz dining, Raku is all sleek lines, pale wood tables and stools, mixed with glossy tiles and floor-to-ceiling glass windows, to create a chic and trendy vibe. Best described as art on a plate, be prepared for starters like kingfish sashimi and truffle yuzu dressing, or Wagyu tartare, sansho pepper dressing, caramelised miso butter and a lotus cracker; followed by marinated duck breast, pickled Nashi pear, plum purée and sansho pepper salt. Be enticed by robata grill options of scallops, jalapeño, green apple and garlic mayo, or teriyaki glazed King salmon and pickled radish; finish sweetly with matcha mochi and beer ice cream.
