Today’s Turkey

Martin Boetz

Executive Chef - Longrain Restaurant & Bar, Sydney & Melbourne

German boy, Asian food – it’s not an association that springs readily to mind, but it’s a testament to Australia’s diversity. Born in Germany, Longrain’s chef Martin Boetz’s passion for cooking began at an early age in Queensland with an apprenticeship at Lennons’ Brisbane Hotel. He completed his training at Faces, a restaurant then owned by Vincent Rae – now of Byron Bay’s Rae’s on Wategos fame.

Moving to Sydney in 1990, Martin furthered his career at several well known Sydney restaurants. He worked with David Novak-Piper at Zigolini’s in Double Bay. It was here Martin first met Sam Christie, who would later become his Longrain business partner. This was followed by a brief stint at The Russell Hotel before moving on to work with his mentor, David Thompson at Darley Street Thai. (Thompson now owns London’s Michelin starred restaurant, Nahm.) It was during this period that Martin first developed a passion and palate for Asian food cooked with the freshest, local produce and ingredients.

Martin later went on to run Sailors Thai - another of Thompson’s celebrated Thai restaurant ventures. It was here that he garnered his reputation as one of Australia’s leading talents of contemporary Thai-style Asian cooking. In 2003, Boetz was honoured when David Thompson visited from London to officially launch his first cookbook: Longrain Modern Thai Food (Hardie Grant Books). Martin has also developed a range of Longrain Produce - there are four delicious Asian sauces to help the home cook create a taste of Longrain for themselves.

In 1999, Martin joined forces with Sam Christie to launch Longrain Restaurant & Bar in Sydney’s Surry Hills. Together in late 2005 Martin and Sam opened Longrain Melbourne in the CBD.

More information and images can be found at: www.longrain.com