AlFie Ingham

We met Alfie briefly when he came to Roses for one of our Winemaker Residences - with his notably nice wife and some other lovely friends. After going through the menu, Alfie immediately ordered one of everything, zero questions and I think it would have been that way even if I hadn’t talked him through the menu. I remember thinking, that's my kinda guy. No fucking around, we’re here so lets just give it all a whirl.

When we chatted to him about doing a residency he had just finished up at Hugo’s Bistro and was feeling a bit idle without a prep list and a knife in his hands. I think anyone who works in hospo can relate to that itchy feeling and a desire to always be cracking onto the next thing. Most recently, Alfie has just done the tasty pop-up XO Mangal at Satya.

Alfie describes himself as a greedy child who ate very well growing up. Both his parents were exceptional cooks and if he’s honest he thinks he probably took good food for granted. His own interest in cooking developed when he was working as a butcher in a supermarket as a teenager. He would muck around with different cuts of meat and experiment with different butchery techniques. He then worked briefly as a dishwasher but was fired early on before becoming a terrible waiter for a summer at a local pub. 

Aflie is from Lancashire in England but he first started cooking properly in Melbourne. He was travelling around and he just thought he’d give it a go. He got lucky and landed in a great restaurant. Looking back, he can see they were actually desperately in need of an extra pair of hands which is probably the main reason he got the job. From there he fell down the rabbit hole of restaurants, eating, drinking, chefs, bars, cookbooks and old menus.

Alfie fell in love with old-world food, Escoffier and Bocuse and old Parisian bistros and that hasn’t really ever left him. His version is twisted and tinged with a modern, lighter sensibility. Naturally, he’s inspired by European country cuisine and the dishes you find in the tavernas and bistros of Spain, Italy and France (that sadly we just don’t have here!), when Alfie creates a dish he borrows the ethos from those places and applies it to his food. 

Alfie has some exciting plans in the pipeline so we suggest you get in for a taster!

Alfie’s favourite flower is the Dhalia.