Aaron Devitt – Hackersley Restaurant & Cellar Door
In this interview, Aaron Devitt from Hackersley Restaurant & Cellar Door in the Ferguson Valley shares his journey into the industry and recounts some humorous stories along the way.
What do you do?
Our business is the Hackersley Restaurant and Cellar Door which we established some 23 years ago. Besides my own day to day role as chef, my wife and I do just about everything associated with the running of a small business. It may be easier to list what we don’t do.
How did you get into the industry?
We moved into the Ferguson Valley with a young family, having a couple of close friends already living here. Having dabbled in a little wine making, and hospitality tourism for the previous few years the attraction to the Ferguson Valley was obvious. After only a little time in the Valley we were approached about establishing the Hackersley Restaurant and Cellar Door. And in April 2002 we opened for business.
After the first three to four years of employing a main chef, I decided to take on the role myself. Not formally trained, my background was in chemistry and industry training. But I had been observing the kitchen long enough to give it a go, and I had a love of food. And we were passionate about growing the Hackersley business.
What’s the best/ worst part of your job?
We change our menu every seven to eight weeks, and this is probably the best and worst part of the job. It is both stressful and exciting as we try to come up with new ideas to satisfy our many regulars who come back for every one of our menus.
One of the most rewarding parts of being a chef is that you get almost instant feedback from customers. We have a great team in the kitchen and a lot of love goes into the food we present on the plate so we are nearly always greeted with positive comments.
Aaron Devitt’s favourite food and beverage pairing?
I really enjoy cooking (and eating) duck, and I’m happy to experiment with different preparation techniques. My favourite is duck breast, which is simply marinated in a brine solution, dried in the refrigerator, and then either cooked sous vide or seared in a pan to render the fat and baked in the oven. Served with a rich red wine sauce, perhaps with a hint of seasonal fruit (our Southwest-grown cherries are perfect around Christmas time), and paired with one of our older Hackersley Shiraz or Merlots. We have vintages dating back to 2000.
I’m also a big fan of our Hackersley Semillons, made in a Hunter Valley style, with vintages dating back to 2004. They make a great accompaniment to some of the seafood dishes we create for the restaurant. We always use local products, with our favourites to cook, such as Rankine Cod and Red Emperor from WA’s Northwest and scallops from Esperance or Rottnest Island (which has an extremely short season but is well worth it).
What’s one of the funniest things that’s happened to you at work?
Every year at our Christmas function, we present an award for the funniest event of the year. We call it the Babycino Award, and there are always plenty of happenings to choose from. The naming of it comes from a day in our early years when I was forced to cover the floor for an hour or so because Adrie was sick. I had two kitchen helpers with me and we were prepping for lunch. Of course, a family of four comes in as soon as the doors are open wanting wine tasting, cakes, a skinny macchiato, an almond milk latte and two babycinos. I was a little stressed but went about making them. My two babycinos looked magnificent, I’d seen Adrie making them so I had a fair idea. The family were seated outside on the balcony, and I picked up the two babycinos and walked over to them. Adrie is a stickler for spotlessly clean glass, and unfortunately for me, the concertina doors between me and the customers, which looked open, were not, and I walked straight into them, spreading the babycinos all over the glass doors. The customers did not seem amused, but there was a lot of laughing coming from the kitchen. Oh, and also, I found out later from Adrie that I wasn’t meant to put a shot of coffee in the babycinos.
What is one of the biggest challenges you’ve overcome?
Growing a business from the ground up in a region that was in its tourism infancy has been a huge challenge, and understandably, we have had many ups and downs along the way. Getting the right formula for how often to be open and the style of food and service to provide has been an evolution in itself. And the blend of staff is an important component of that and definitely consumes a fair amount of our time. Over the years, we have been fortunate to maintain a fantastic team, and this correlates directly to our customers’ satisfaction.
The Ferguson Valley as a whole has grown since we began here, but there is still room for more tourism and hospitality businesses and definitely more accommodation. Bringing more visitors to our area will benefit all the existing operations. Over the years, the cooperation between the varying business operators has always been great, and we have all worked well together to help grow the region.
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