Life couldn’t look better for Saffire Freycinet’s new Executive Chef, Toby Raley, who has landed his dream job while working alongside his pastry chef partner, Laura Chesterton.
It wasn’t by chance that Toby Raley landed the top culinary job at Saffire Freycinet, a Luxury Lodge of Australia property in the picturesque town of Coles Bay.
“My partner and I were working at three-hatted Quay Restaurant when COVID hit and so we sat down and thought about the places we’d love to work and landed on Saffire.”
The pair came to Saffire as a “package deal” two years ago and fell in love with the region. Raley says he always dreamed of becoming Executive Chef, but he didn’t expect it to happen here.
“It’s always something I thought I’d like to go for, but I didn’t think it’d be in Tassie, but I am super stoked, this is a massive step for me and my first head chef job and I’m lucky I have such a strong team.”
Raley’s being humble. He has worked as a chef for some of the world’s best restaurants, including The Fat Duck in London, and back home in Australia at the two-hatted Berowra Waters Inn (only accessible by boat or seaplane), as well as Quay.
A classic approach
Raley’s philosophy with his menus at Saffire is to let the food speak for itself.
“We use wagyu beef from Robbins Island and when I started here, I was trying to dress it up, but I realised it’s so exceptional by itself that the less I do, the better it is. I just have to treat it with respect. It’s just an incredible dish and that sums up Tasmanian produce.”
He says his approach is to simply get back to basics.
“I think classic is coming back and I find when writing menus I go back to old-school French and Italian techniques. I think it’s a nice difference from everyone doing Asian.
“As an example, we do a striped trumpeter dish with greens from the garden and we make a beurre blanc sauce and load that with Russian sturgeon caviar and chives. I like using traditional techniques with modern and local ingredients.
“Classic is classic for a reason, it’s good food and tastes good and it’s real food. It’s just good, honest cooking.”
Sourcing local
Local ingredients champion Saffire’s menus and Raley is keen to build on that.
“We use wasabi from the local Shima Wasabi farm, a deer farm called Springfield Farm, and pork from a farm down the road called Long Name Farm.
“We’re also working with a new supplier of sustainably sourced abalone which is hand-dived by a small, local not-for-profit organisation with proceeds going back to support First Nations Tasmanians.”
Raley also incorporates honey from the on-site beehives in his dishes.
“We have an on-site Apiarist, Rob Barker, who we call the ‘Rob the Bee Man’, and he’s a local legend. The excitement he gets out of honey is exceptional, and we use a lot of his Local Wild Hives Honey for a touch of sweetness in savoury dishes and as the main ingredient for many dessert dishes.”
Raley will also work closely with Blue House, a local nursery, in the property’s new garden to source native edibles, fresh greens, and herbs suited to the Freycinet coast environment.
“We’re finding a diverse range of seedlings grow well here, from garlic and potatoes to brassicas and Brussels Sprouts. We’ve also introduced some local natives to the kitchen garden, including kangaroo apples, warrigal greens, finger limes and native raspberry, which guests will soon see on the menu.”
Loving local life
“I’m a mad fisherman, so I spend weekends fishing and diving and I’m in the water as much as I can. I take the fish home and cook it up and we have a staff village and I’ve dropped fish to everyone’s house before. It’s a nice lifestyle.’
He says it’s that simple, quiet life why many people choose to stay at Saffire Freycinet.
“People come here to escape from busy jobs and Saffire is good at creating specific experiences based on what they want to do while they’re here. It’s like a sanctuary for people.
“There are also the food and wine guests who are here just to eat and drink… which are my favourite type of guests because they want a full-tasting menu every night.”
As for his future plans?
“We thought we’d only stay a year, but we fell in love with Tassie produce, the lifestyle of Coles Bay, and the people at Saffire.
“We’ll be here for at least a few years. It’s a special place and it’s nice having your best mate with you.”
For more information, visit Saffire Freycinet.
