UK-born talent Max Crawford has been appointed as head chef at Margan Restaurant in the Hunter Valley’s Broke Fordwich region.
Crawford joins the award-winning restaurant team after roles across the UK including at Petersham Nurseries cafe, and here in Australia at Tasmania’s Havilah Wines in Launceston.
“I am looking forward to working my way through the seasons here, using the extensive range of organic produce grown on the property and sourced locally,” says Crawford.
“I have always liked to start with simple and sometimes humble ingredients and find interesting ways to elevate and complement them while paying respect to the time and effort that went into growing, harvesting, or raising that produce. I am looking forward to continuing along that path here at Margan.”
Crawford will work with the Margan Restaurant’s one-hectare kitchen garden and orchard, plus the estate’s olive groves, free-range chickens, lambs, and beehives to further enhance the venue’s, hyper-local agri-dining philosophy.
The Margan Restaurant offering includes a Farm to Table tasting menu ($115pp); small plates menu; and an a la carte menu.
Margan Wines and Restaurant is known for for its eco-friendly practices and seasonally focused approach running as a fully certified sustainably farmed practice for the last decade.
The restaurant and estate are 100 per cent family and owned and operated by the Margan family, under Managing Director and Hospitality Operations Lisa; Managing Director, Winemaker, and Vigneron Andrew; and son Ollie who is across viticulture and front-of-house operations while also co-owning Adelaide venues Maybe Mae, Shobosho, Shosho, and Bread + Bone.
Crawford takes on the head chef role from Joey Ingram who was with the Margan Restaurant team for four years before recently moving into a role with the Spicers Group.
Crawford’s debut menu is now available at Margan Restaurant, 1238 Milbrodale Road, Broke, New South Wales.