Food Wine Sleep

Born in the Kiewa Valley, North East Victoria, as the youngest of four boys, Tony Twitchett discovered his passion for food by preparing routine family meals with his mother and brothers.

At the age of 17, Tony moved to Melbourne to join his elder brothers Paul and Peter at Royal Arcade restaurant Luciano’s. He then moved on to start an apprenticeship at The Stokehouse, St Kilda in 1997 where he learned the culinary craft alongside well known Chefs such as Michael Lambie, Paul Raynor, Jean Gorde Allen and Justin Pola.

Tony began working with Robert Cunningham after his apprenticeship and worked his way up to junior Sous Chef. During this time, Tony established his love for Chinese and Southeast Asian cuisines, which he explored while travelling through the region in 2002 and again in 2009.

Tony moved on for a stint at Ezards in the CBD before moving back to St Kilda to work with Chef Michael Lambie once again at Circa. The two developed a great friendship which continued when Tony joined him at Taxi Dining Room in Federation Square in 2004 and at the age of 26 was appointed Head Chef.

At the end of 2009, Tony - under Taxi Dining Room’s same umbrella company, Sovereign Hotel Group – opened Barkers Wine Bar & Bistro in Hawthorn, where his Modern Australian gourmet cuisine challenged the notion of ‘pub grub’ and brought a gastro pub experience to the local area.

After a successful 12 months at Barkers, Tony has now come home to Taxi to takeover the role as Executive Chef, rejoining Head Chef, Perry Schagen.

Despite training in traditional French and British cooking techniques, Tony’s breadth of experience in the different cuisines of the world has led to him continuing his signature gastronomic style of Modern Australian.