Meet Hotel Australasia's head chef - Luke Wakefield

While we've brought you sneak peek articles looking into the multi-million-dollar restoration, there hasn't been much word on the brilliant minds involved in the business.

Hotel Australasia's new head chef, Luke Wakefield, has recently moved to the area, bringing with him both passion and experience in delivering high quality food, which he is excited to share with the community.

"We want to create an exceptional experience for people visiting the hotel," Mr Wakefield said.

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After working as a chef for 22 years across various different cuisines, he said he is ready to bring the best of each of his experiences to Eden.

Mr Wakefield said his main focus was on delivering quality food using local goods and creating a menu that showcases the region's quality and fresh produce.

"I want to champion our local food producers, from seafood, to local fruits, vegetables and so on because there's a great opportunity to do that here," he said.

"For me as a chef, I see it as a responsibility to support local producers and help put them on the map."

Mr Wakefield said while the dinning room was not set to open with the rest of the Hotel on December 17, due to ongoing works being made on the kitchen and dining area, there would be freshly made pizzas on offer along with other food options.

Mr Wakefield said he was focusing his attention in supporting the chef in charge of running the pizzas during the interim, until the opening of the dining room, which he anticipated would open in a couple of months.

"We're collecting some great talent for the team, because as you know any successful restaurant doesn't have just one person that makes good food, it's a team," he said.

Mr Wakefield said while he was putting his focus mainly on sourcing as much fresh local produce as possible, he was also putting in some research into what the menus used to look like when the hotel was in its prime in the early 1900s.

"We're doing some research into what kind of food was getting served in restaurants back then and creating a modern interpretation of that," he said.

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Mr Wakefield said he was also looking into incorporating a fine dinning approach in the style of traditional French and Italian methods of cuisine, which was all about using fresh local foods from the nearby towns rather than leaning on imported food.

"With the background of cooking that I've got, I feel like I can bring something different to the area, using the fine dining food that I've done in the past and bringing my own approach on it," he said.

Mr Wakefield's background in hospitality is an interesting one that has seen him move around the country to various different positions, styles of cuisines and led him to having a wide array of cooking experiences.

This experiences ranges from working in a French fine dining restaurant in Berry called Jasper's Brush to working alongside a talented baker called Darrell Potter who taught him how to make quality fresh bread and pastries.

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He moved to Perth to work in a private club called the University Club of Western Australia which is where he finished his apprenticeship.

Afterwards he spent two years working in the Kimberley on a private catamaran as the sole chef on board, which gave him experience in working closely with a variety of fresh seafood products.

Moving onto Victoria, he worked as head chef in various venues, where he said he had the opportunity to really appreciate regional cookery.

The last and final job Mr Wakefield held before casting his sights on Hotel Australasia was working as head chef a restaurant in Perth called Balthazar.

Around a year ago Mr Wakefield began looking at finding a place to settle and caught wind of Hotel Australasia's hunt for a head chef to take the reins.

"I was looking for a new opportunity to explore and produce quality food in a new area, with a country and coastal life for me and my family," he said.

Mr Wakefield moved to the area seven weeks ago, to settle his wife and five children into the area and prepare for the big opening.

"This is going to be a long term investment for me. I'm planning to put my roots down here and establish a reputable brand for Hotel Australasia," he said.