If you have visited Elsewhere at SAM, you will already be familiar with Sean Cameron’s work and signature style.
The café’s menu, infused with a south-east Asian influence, reflects the chef’s journey: a combination of all the people he’s met and places his career has taken him, all brought into one project.
Sean has been head chef at Elsewhere since day one.
Now, he’s preparing to take off for Sydney to compete against 31 of Australia’s best chefs in Foodservice Australia’s Chef of the Year competition.
Sean said the invite came as a bit of a shock.
“I didn’t even know I was nominated. I got an email that I got accepted, and Jono (Chan) had this huge grin on his face,” he said.
A supportive team is just one of his many advantages.
With two decades of experience in kitchens across the globe and a fresh and innovative personal style, Sean is more than ready to take on the challenge.
While he was always interested in the flavours of the world beyond the simpler tastes of frozen chips and supermarket Kievs that made up many childhood dinners, Sean never really pictured himself a chef.
When he picked up his first job in a kitchen, it was mostly an alternative to school.
“My uncle was a chef, and I idolised him a little bit. So, I decided to pursue it from there, and I enjoyed it,” Sean said.
“It was fun, fast-paced and stressful — all the things you love when you’re young.”
He started out in Cairns, working for his uncle, and then worked in a few places in the area.
One was Nu Nu Palm Cove, where he worked with nationally recognised chef and two-time Masterchef Australia guest Nick Holloway.
“It took about three or four years of cooking before I decided I wanted to take it further and challenge myself to become the best,” Sean said.
“I chased the fine-dining dragon for about a decade. I travelled around south-east Asia and Europe, learning as much as I could from the best people who would have me.”
After returning to Australia, he threw himself into Melbourne’s turbulent fine-dining scene, where he worked at notable restaurants such as Vue de Monde under Cory Campbell and Shannon Bennett.
“I learned a lot working there, but I also got burnt out. It opened my eyes to the fact that I was never going to be the best in the fine-dining world,” he said
“I found that even when you try as hard as you can to keep up, others do it effortlessly.”
Stepping away from that chapter of his life, Sean set his sights back on Shepparton, where he saw the potential for a culinary renaissance.
Armed with a personal style that reflected everything he learnt over the years, the chef was determined to bring something different to the city.
“I want to cook food others can’t,” Sean said.
“I wanted to do something different. At the start, we (Elsewhere) decided we wanted to be different — we didn’t want to be another café.
“Those places are great, but we wanted to make something that was our own.
“Elsewhere has been fantastic with me, even giving me a blank slate to see what I could do. It’s been a really great first year here.”
During the competition, Sean will be given one hour to prepare two dishes from a box of mystery ingredients against another chef.
Respected industry judges will then judge the dishes, with the winner to move to the next round.
“I’m most excited to do something a little different from the daily grind, to have a bit of fun and (do some) networking, learn a bit from other people and what they do,” Sean said.
“I’ve got two young daughters, and I’m excited to show them they can do the things they want to do and that they can be proud of their dad.”
The team at Elsewhere will be with him every step of the way, with owner and business partners Ricardo Vilsson Mullor, Alaina Tuckett and Jono Chan to accompany him as his official cheer squad.
Sean will compete in the heat on Monday, May 20.