Go wild at Elements of Byron

AFTER working on an expedition yacht in Antarctica, where fresh produce was nowhere to be seen, Ebony Baker is relishing having so many native ingredients at her fingertips.

The Elements of Byron executive chef, who was named 2024 Chef of the Year at the NSW Accommodation Awards for Excellence, has introduced a rainforest-to-table dining experience at on-site noshery Azure Bar & Grill.

The native food lunch begins with a foraging tour led by the resort’s grounds and activities manager Alistair Oakman to find ingredients that have been planted across the 24ha property, such as Davidson plum, saltbush, native thyme and warrigal greens.

Guests enjoy an entree of zucchini flowers with bunya nut praline before choosing between three main dishes — native blackened fish, venison backstrap and salt baked celeriac.

Baker began her career at acclaimed Sydney restaurant ARIA and has worked at two South American restaurants that have appeared on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, including Astrid Y Gaston in Peru and Aramburu in Argentina.

“I’ve travelled the world working as a chef and in 2019 three of the restaurants on the Top 50 list were in Lima in Peru,” she said.

“It blew my mind that there were three in the one country and none in Australia, so to find out why I applied for a job at all three and got a job at one of them.

“They are so true to their ingredients — from the Amazon to the Andes — so when I got home, I wanted to use more native ingredients and learn more about them.”

The native food menu is available to members of the public, but the foraging experience is exclusive to guests. The experience is available from Thursday to Saturday until November 30, when the menu changes for summer.