After helming the kitchen at Clamato in France, Robbie Noble has returned to Melbourne to make his mark.
The most compelling part of a new restaurant announcement is often the chef attached. So it was intriguing when two seasoned hospitality pros broke the news about their upcoming Parkville venue in February with a call-out for a head chef.
Nathen Doyle (co-owner at Heartattack and Vine, Sunhands) and Cameron Earl (former Carlton Wine Room front-of-house manager) created their 60-person venue Residence as a blank slate for up-and-coming chefs, allowing a different culinary talent to take the reins each year and bring their own concept to life.
“We want to help foster the next generation of industry professionals,” Doyle said in February.
Today, Doyle and Earl announced the inaugural head chef of Residence is British-raised, Melbourne-based chef Robbie Noble, who says he will do “produce-driven, refined country cooking influenced by where I’ve been and what I’ve seen”.
Noble cut his teeth at England’s Michelin-starred Northcote, a modern British restaurant driven by its kitchen garden, before he moved to Melbourne and climbed the ranks at three-hatted fine diner Vue de Monde. Over half a decade, he progressed from commis chef to executive sous chef while founder Shannon Bennett was at the helm and as the baton passed to current executive chef Hugh Allen.
Post-COVID, he set off for France, becoming head chef at Clamato, one of Paris’s hottest destinations for seafood and natural wine. (Its sibling, Septime, is a pioneer of next-gen French dining and currently No. 11 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.)
Noble saw the Residence call-out as a chance to have a “red-hot crack at something you’ve developed yourself”. His concept, Cherrywood, was selected after a three-stage assessment of applicants.
“Ultimately it was Robbie’s clarity of vision that put him up front. He has an amazing breadth of experience coupled seamlessly with a very humble attitude,” Doyle says.
It remains to be seen whether Cherrywood can have actual wood burning in the kitchen, given its position inside the overhauled Potter Museum of Art, part of the University of Melbourne.
Regardless, Noble’s plans include bold-flavoured dishes such as house-made oxtail marmalade and smoked bone marrow slathered on toast; lamb tongue skewers served with artichokes and pickled red cabbage; and grilled John dory with tomato butter and tarragon.
Residence offers next-gen talent a rare opportunity, providing a testing ground where they have creative control but also mentoring, staffing and, most importantly, financial backing.
“If you don’t have money to open a restaurant, you need someone who’s going to give you money to open a restaurant, and that’s hard to come by,” says Noble.
He also gets a share of the profits, another rarity early in a chef’s career. “Normally you have to work in a place for years for someone to throw you a piece of the pie,” he says.
Cherrywood only has a year to make its mark in Parkville, but Noble hopes it’s just the beginning. “It’s all about exposure – you never know who you’re going to meet or who’s going to come in and eat.”
Cherrywood opens at Residence this winter.
Potter Museum of Art, 815 Swanston Street, Parkville, residenceatthepotter.com.au
Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.
