Celebrated chef Paul Baker has left Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens Restaurant after a triumphant stint he has described as “thoroughly enjoyable”.

Mr Bakers’ time at the helm saw the restaurant win praise from the likes of John Lethlean (“outstanding cooking and produce”) and Matt Preston (“finessed contemporary food”) as well as owners Christopher Horner and Steve Blanco.

“Paul was instrumental in the success of the Botanic Gardens Restaurant,” Mr Horner said. “He championed ethical and sustainable primary producers, his daily foraging of the Garden was unique, and he brought food tourism both to the Botanic Gardens and South Australia.”

The former Advertiser Chef of the Year and former judge of the delicious. Produce Awards said he had not taken the decision lightly. “I was there for six years and I’m going to miss it dearly. I have a real debt to pay to the restaurant. Now, it’s someone else’s chance to tell their story of the Botanic Garden.”

Jack Bird, head chef at the Botanic Gardens Restaurant, remains. “Paul has curated the current menu and will maintain contact with Jack,” Mr Horner said. “Jack and the remaining team … will continue his legacy.”

A national search is underway for a new executive chef.

Mr Baker, who started his career at Matt Moran’s Aria Sydney, has decided to press on with two successful projects prompted by the COVID-19 lockdown: Chefs on Wheels and the Pasta Project.

Mr Baker said that the pandemic had led him to focus on Chefs on Wheels, which offers ready-to-cook meals home delivered from some of SA’s most highly regarded restaurants, such as Soi38 and Emma McCaskill’s “fare”.

“Adversity pushes you to do things you never thought you were going to do, and Chefs on Wheels, potentially, could be the best thing that’s ever happened,” Mr Baker said.

Dreamt up by Mr Baker’s wife Annabelle, who heads the project as a co-owner with Mr Baker and their friend Jimmy Day, Chefs on Wheels is set to expand its range of meal kits to include even more of SA’s favourite chefs.

Mr Baker’s other passion is his Pasta Project. A fervent supporter of small producers, Mr Baker noticed that COVID closures had put pressure on producers, so he put what he describes as his “small pasta-making factory” to use, creating ready-to-cook pasta and sauces featuring the likes of Kris Lloyd Artisan cheese and Mayura Station beef, and creating items such as a buffalo curd and Warrigal green sauce, which he describes as “an Australian take on spinach and ricotta.”

“Between Chefs on Wheels, the Pasta Project and other things that I want to do, being confined to a restaurant doesn’t seem to be the place that I need to be right now,” Mr Baker said. “As an industry we’ve focussed on doing just one thing. Well the world has just showed us that we should be multifaceted in everything we do.”