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He first arrived in Byron Bay in 2011 to open a restaurant at The Beach Hotel, which he ran for four years before relocating to Tasmania. There, he established his own restaurant, Franklin, which closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe closed Franklin because we were 50 per cent reliant on international tourism and we didn\u2019t see a future in it,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the time there was absolutely no certainty to what was happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like many chefs during that period, Moyle returned to the Northern Rivers, where he worked at venues including Harvest and Barrio.<\/p>\n
He opened The Salty Mangrove in 2023 with two business partners, serving approachable seafood dishes such as poke plates and crumbed snapper sandwiches.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all lived in Ocean Shores and there was an opportunity there with the space,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can order oysters with your coffee at 7am if you want to, and a lot of people do. It\u2019s a really nice way to start the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The venue has long been a community gathering place, and the trio wanted to maintain that ethos through a blend of art, music and food.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of professional chefs have returned to the area where they may have grown up,\u201d Moyle said. \u201cThey still want to cook in an area with good food, but they\u2019re having families and want to be part of the community. High end restaurants can only really exist at night, which isn\u2019t convenient for people bringing up kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moyle has also been involved in a range of major festivals over the years, including Laneway Festival in Melbourne and Dark Mofo in Hobart, and said he enjoys the atmosphere such events create.<\/p>\n
Featuring open-fire cooking demonstrations, talks, tastings and live music, Vivid Fire Kitchen is at Barangaroo Reserve every night of Vivid Sydney from 22 May to 13 June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Salty Mangrove chef David Moyle has been selected as one of 10 \u201cflame master\u201d chefs to showcase his grilling skills at this year\u2019s Vivid Sydney festival. Moyle will join fellow Northern Rivers chefs Mindy Woods from Karkalla at Myocum and Ben Devlin from Pipit at Pottsville and Sydney chefs such as Mark Best from […]<\/p>\n