Caffeine fix of choice?
If I’m on the move around Melbourne, then Proud Mary, Seven Seeds or De Clieu, but it’s 30 Mill Espresso in Malvern with my beautiful wife, Emma, most mornings.

Best place for bread?
I’m a bit obsessed with Iggy’s Bread in Sydney’s Bronte, but overseas it’s Du Pain et Des Idees in Paris. This gorgeous artisan baker makes chocolate-pistachio scrolls and fantastic pain roulé – elastic-like rolls baked with pork lardons and juicy swags of prune or oozy reblochon cheese.

My recent foodie discovery is…
A ridiculously easy breadcrumb soup that tastes and smells amazingly of mushrooms! It’s so addictive and only costs cents.

Best for cheese?
Laiterie du Petit Diable in the Swiss village of Les Diablerets where they will point to the hillsides where each of their gruyeres come from.

My choice for a tipple…
In winter, hard (brown) liquor with a cider chaser at The Baxter Inn in Sydney. In summer, it’s a jug of Gin Gardens at Melbourne’s Madame Brussels.

Top seafood?
The best is direct from a fisherman or the Sydney Fish Market. There I love Claudio’s Quality Seafood for their sea urchins and flathead.

The ingredient I can’t cook without is…
According to my book’s index: lemon, corn, celery, cucumber, lettuce, pasta, bacon, chicken wings, lamb chops, fresh herbs, sea salt flakes and maple syrup.

The local I couldn’t live without is…
Scullerymade in Malvern, Melbourne, for the copper pans, silicone mats, and just about anything you didn’t know you needed; automatic cherry pitter, anyone?

Must-have meat?
Gary’s Quality Meats at Prahran Market in Melbourne is one of the few butchers who are properly dry-aging their meat for the public.

When I don’t feel like cooking…
I’ll happily make a salad.

My favourite dish to cook at home is…
Anything that is quick, easy and delivers maximum flavour.