Chef By The Sea

About

Chef by the sea is a reliable and seamless boutique catering service with delicious, beautifully presented, creative food, that leaves a lasting impression

Story

Chef by the sea is owned and operated by Clare. In her own words, she describes her passion for food.

Food is my first love. Eating it, buying it, photographing it, reading and writing about it.

This love was formed early on. I can recall sitting on the kitchen counter in my pijamas frying papadums with my dad as a little girl, when I should have been in bed. I also remember picking fresh mint from just behind the greenhouse in my Grandma’s garden, to chop up and mix with vinegar and sugar to go with roast lamb for Sunday lunch.

After graduating from university, where I started throwing dinner parties for my friends in earnet, I spent three winters cooking in ski chalets in the French Alps and the summer months preparing the most beautiful game and seafood catering for families in Scotland. At one home near the Isle of Skye, I remember de-bearding mussels collected from the Loch just outside the kitchen window and picking mushrooms from the house’s grounds. Foraging at its best.

Arriving in Australia in 2005, keen to formalise my time as a freelance cook, I gained my chef’s qualification whilst working at the beautiful Pilu at Freshwater, learning many lessons about kitchen hierarchy and Italian food along the way. Fulfilling the need to branch out independently, in 2008 I opened Jammy Cow cafe, which I successfully ran for five years, inventing the hippie roll and perfecting passionfruit cakes. In 2012 I started a catering business, Chef by the sea, allowing me to move away from cafe food and be more creative.

Chef by the sea is a culmination of all the things that I have learnt and it is what I love to do. To cook for others.