General News
1 November, 2024
Local chef Cat Clarke is opening a new restaurant at the Dimboola Golf Club
Cat Clarke prepares to open restaurant at Dimboola Golf Club.
Cat Clarke has had a lifelong passion for food and became an apprentice chef at the age of 16, but while raising her son as a single mother she moved into teaching for the more favourable hours.
With her son now 18-years-old, Ms Clarke is ready to jump back into the kitchen by opening up her own restaurant at the Dimboola Golf Club.
With plans to open in late November, Ms Clarke is busy preparing the space, but said she is overwhelmed with excitement and nerves.
"[I'm] nervous, is it going to work, will people come out ... but also excited to be able to create a space and build my team," she said.
Having started her apprenticeship in the 90s, Ms Clarke quickly felt a connection with food.
"There's just a beautiful harmonious thing with food, you can forget about everything and just get involved and be creative," she said.
Since announcing the new endeavour, the community response has been one of excitement, not only from followers of her food journey keen to support Ms Clarke in her new venture, but also from Dimboola locals excited to see more use for their local golf club.
Currently, the Dimboola Golf Club is only open six months a year, but with Ms Clarke's restaurant operating from within, the community will be able to get year-round use out of the unique facility located on the opposite side of the Wimmera River to the town centre.
The Dimboola Golf Club is also a facility Ms Clarke has personal history with.
"I use to come out here with my Dad and my family, they'd play golf on the Saturday, they'd have the Saturday dinner ... my dad's names up on a couple of these plaques and bits and pieces," she said.
"And it's a beautiful space out here."
Looking to the future, Ms Clarke said she hopes to see her Dimboola restaurant grow.
"Hopefully this will eventually be to the point where the kitchens running five days a week, and I'm training staff," she said.
"I would eventually love to have relationship restaurants [in places like] Melbourne, where we could swap apprentices, to give them that experience, and also the exposure for the city folk to see what it's like in the country."
Ms Clarke said the way she grows her team is important to her.
"I'm a 90's chef, and when I was training, kitchens weren't pleasant for females," she said.
"I have a lot of students train, but they always hear you shouldn't get into hospitality."
But Ms Clarke said she wants her team to be like a family.
"I want it to be a fun environment to work, when guests are arriving [I want them] to feel like they're part of the team " she said.
As she builds menus for her new restaurant, Ms Clarke said utilising bush foods is a focus of hers.
"[It is] extremely important, because it passes on the knowledge," she said.
She also noted she purchases her bush food ingredients off first nations suppliers, or indigenous affiliated businesses.
"They're the oldest ingredients, the rightful way [to use them] is to put it back into the community," she said.
"I worked with some really beautiful elders in my time and it just shows the cultural significance and the connectivity through food.
"I think that's something that if you don't show respect, it's kind of like biting the hand that feeds."