Xippo's Story

With more than 20 years experience as co-owner and head chef of his waterfront restaurant in Sydney’s Southern suburbs of Blakehurst, the self-proclaimed ‘Cowboy of Cooking’ injects wit, humour and spontaneity into his classes in a bid to awaken newfound awareness and passion for food from creation to consumption.

Xippo’s fresh and flamboyant cooking style has seen him prepare meals for global celebrities and sports stars, including Pharrell Williams, Atomic Kitten, Spice Girls, Cat Empire, Michael O’Loughlin, Tim Cahill and Anthony the man Mundine. So a few words from the other man…..
 
“From age 10, I knew I would be a chef. I loved to play with food and help my mum in the kitchen. There would be days when I came home after school and rather than watch cartoons, I would be fascinated with cooking shows.
Remember when Bernard King was on every afternoon?
I would have the TV on in the kitchen, with my blunt knife, old pots and chopping board with an oversized T-shirt over my school uniform, ready as a loyal subject of King Bernard to replicate his work.
When you’re 10 it’s all about colour and nothing to do with taste!
He would use parsley, I would use coriander, he would use sweet potato, I would use carrot, he would use pork, I would use whatever meat was in the fridge. Eventually I worked out there must be more to it, as my supportive families faces grimaced each time they took the first taste of my latest dish!

In High School, I loved Home Science especially the hospitality side of it, although I am also a wiz with a needle and thread.
One thing I am sure of, when it comes to food, you are best served if you have a passion and a willingness to learn and most importantly experiment with different flavours.

I’ve been fortunate to work with some great chefs over many years. You find yourself taking a little something from everywhere and then make it your own. Giving it what I like to call, a twist of Xip!
Which is one of the factors that inspired Chef Club…

On numerous occasions I would be enjoying dinner with my wife, and a mate would call asking how to make a dish to impress their partner, or hot date.
Step by step I would talk them through it, and then a few hours later (or if things went really well..the next morning) I’d receive a call to hear how much they enjoyed the meal.
On each occasion I was excited as they were about the result, so Ada suggested I should look into developing something fun where I could share skills and the enjoyment of cooking in a new way..at your place.

In 2010 Chef Club was born.