Food Wine Sleep

Head Chef Prime Restaurant, and Executive Chef Postales Restaurante and Tapas Bar.

Iwao arrived in Australia in 1999 after working as a chef in an international hotel in Osaka, Japan for seven and a half years during that time he learnt the cuisines and cooking techniques of Japanese, French, Spanish and other European cuisine. On arriving in Sydney to pursue his love of European cuisine it was not by coincidence that he started working at Tony Billson’s Ampersand where he furthered his French cooking techniques.

In 2002 he moved to another award winning restaurant, Restaurant Seven where he again followed his passion for French food and fine dining. With the closure of Restaurant Seven in 2003, Iwao joined the team at GPO and by 2005 had progressed to being the Head Chef of both Prime Restaurant and Post Seafood Restaurant. Iwao’s success at GPO has been amazing and he has been the recipient of the following awards:

Prime Restaurant

Best Steak Restaurant, Restaurant and Catering NSW, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

Post Restaurant

One Hat, SMH Good Food Guide, 2005 and 2006

Best Seafood Restaurant - Informal, Restaurant and Catering NSW, 2006 and 2007

Finalist best Seafood Restaurant – Informal , Restaurant and Catering NSW, 2005 and

2008 Iwao’s amazing ability has shown in his receipt of awards by Restaurant and Catering NSW for both Best Steak and Best Seafood categories for the years 2006 and 2007.

Iwao and Post Restaurant were also recognised b the SMH Good Food Guide in 2005 and 2006 with “One Hat” being awarded for each of those years.

Australian Gourmet Traveller described Prime in 2007 as “…very cool room, the nation’s best steak and utterly professional service.” Prime has been Sydney’s leading steak restaurant since its opened in 1999 and it was the first restaurant to Focus only on premium cuts of beef such as Fillet, Scotch, Rib Eye, Sirloin, T-Bone); introduced dry aged beef in 1999 and expand its menu offer multiple choice of yearling, fully matured & Wagyu offers the widest range of premium cuts.