JESSE GERNER

Jesse began his apprenticeship early at 15 after always being very keen to cook professionally. He started and finished his apprenticeship in Adelaide at The Eagle on the Hill, The Oxford and The Lion. After qualifying Jesse moved to Newcastle and worked as a sous chef for a couple of years for Michael Carroll (Ex.  Bon Ricordo head chef, Sydney), at his restaurant – Carroll’s on King.

With his wife and two friends Jesse started a 120 seat café near the beach that he called Grind Coffee Co.  They were instantly busy, open seven days a week from 6am to midnight. They sold the Grind after two and a half years and Ness (his wife) and Jesse flew to London and ate their way around Europe for six months. They returned to London and  Jesse started work at Moro. This is where he fell in love with Spanish and Muslim Mediterranean flavours. Part of his role was to fly to Spain to buy jamon and other small goods. After Moro he worked at The River Café (1 Michelin Star) where sourcing the best ingredients is paramount. Here Jesse was lucky to work with one of his food hero’s  – Rose Gray.

After invaluable experience in London,  Jesse and his wife had fallen for Spanish flavours and way of life so they travelled and ate their way through Spain and Morocco for six months planning Añada.

On returning back to Australia they decided that Melbourne was the place to be and after a quick stint at Movida, Añada was born.  After running Añada for three years Jesse started jealously eyeing off larger kitchens.

He fell for the locavore philosophy when travelling through New York and San Francisco in 2011 and decided to open a new restaurant focusing on vegetables he grow and can locally source, rare breeds and other organic heritage produce. The Aylesbury started in September 2011 and is coming up to its first year birthday.