A day in the life of Adelaide Oval’s senior executive sous chef, Dennis Leslie
And that’s not on the field, but in the kitchen working as Adelaide Oval’s senior executive sous chef.
Adelaide Oval senior executive sous chef Dennis Leslie with one of his signature dishes at the Hill of Grace Restaurant. Picture: Roger Wyman
The Australian-Filipino, who began his hospitality career 22 years ago, started out washing dishes at Hilton Adelaide and in 2013 began his culinary journey at one of the state’s most iconic venues.
He says it’s not your average nine-to-five job, but one that requires long hours and dedication.
“I begin my working day around 9am and it’s full-steam ahead until I leave which is sometimes 13 hours later, depending on what’s happening at the Oval that day,” he says.
“I look after and oversee the corporate section which involves working with the chef de cuisine to manage the Audi Stadium Club and corporate boxes, but a lot of my focus is on the Hill of Grace Restaurant,” he says.
With 23 function spaces, Adelaide Oval also hosts events from conferences and meetings to cocktail parties and weddings.
Dennis’ expertise allows him to cater for these, preparing meals for two to 2000 people alongside his team of chefs.
He manages between 60 and 80 cooks at any one time which he says can prove quite the challenge.
“To manage chefs with different personalities, backgrounds and skill levels is a great challenge because it’s hard to get them to operate in one, solid thinking pattern to get the job done,” he says.
While his talent remains in the kitchen, Dennis says he’s a jack of all trades and cooking is just part of the picture.
Jobs away from the stovetop include attending to any service issues, food and labour costs, ensuring chefs are on target, ordering produce, attending meetings with department heads and entering financial data in to the system.
But his rest and release is going into the Hill of Grace Restaurant kitchen and plating up dishes for individual diners or private functions.
He experiments with a range of techniques from slow cooking and sous-vide (cooking in airtight bags) to creating gels and foams.
“It’s not molecular gastronomy; it’s all about the food and making sure all ingredients are highlighted more than the trickery around cooking,” he says.
With all of this in a day’s work, Dennis admits he rarely gets a chance to glance at the field when games or concerts are taking place.
“We’re right there where the action is, but unfortunately I never get to pop out and watch anything,” he says.
“The cricket is one thing I really miss ... I’ve been coming to Adelaide Oval since I was a kid and I haven’t had time to watch one ball.
“We do get to meet some of the players and entertainers that come here though, so it’s a bit of positive with negative which balances itself out.”
After a long but rewarding shift, he says coming home to his fiance Ever Lynne Galut is the perfect way to end his day.
“Ever Lynne also loves to cook so it’s nice to give her instructions and then see her cook by herself ... it’s definitely nice to be cooked for,” he says.
“If we decide to go out, you’ll often find us at La Trattoria on King William St ... we think they do the best marinara in town.”
He says to survive in the hospitality industry, passion is key.
“I’m lucky that the career I’ve chosen is something I also like to do outside of work and every day I wake up excited to see what the day has in store.”
Source: Adelaide Now - Messenger, Stephanie Timotheo, July 15th 2015
