2/1 - AUSTRALIAN MADE MEN: Featuring Vintner Rob McDonald of Girls in the Vineyard and Chef Guy Grossi of Grossi Restaurants International

Chef Guy Grossi

Join us as Slow Living Radio celebrates southern meets northern hemisphere with two Australian gents of extreme passion - internationally renowned chef Guy Grossi and award-winning vintner Rob McDonald. 

Guy Grossi is a leading Australian chef, presenter and food and media personality. He is the owner and head chef of Grossi Restaurants including esteemed international and Australian restaurants: Melbourne’s iconic Grossi Florentino, the colourful Mirka at Tolarno Hotel in St Kilda, Grossi Trattoria, Bangkok and Merchant Osteria Veneta located at  Rialto Collins Street.

Guy is frequently sought out to present his love and expertise in Italian culture and hospitality both in corporate settings and across many media platforms including international and national television and radio.

This year sees Guy star as Australia’s Iron Chef alongside chefs Neil Perry and Guillame Brahimi. He has also appeared on Australia’s most popular lifestyle and current affair programs including Postcards, Getaway, Neighbours, My Kitchen Rules, Masterchef, A Current Affair, The Morning Show, Fresh, Sunrise, The Circle and The Today Show. Guy joins Maeve O’Meara as a co-host with Italian Food Safari on SBS One this year and has also graced American television screens, on CBS in New York and Good Day Philadelphia.

He is also called upon as an industry spokesman for a range of events. Guy is a national judge of the Electrolux Appetite for Excellence awards and The Age Good Food Guide Young Chef awards. He is a dedicated Patron of Hospitality, Employment and Training (HEAT) program and is Victoria’s first Skills Ambassador; organisations which like Guy, believe in engaging youth through skills training.

A champion of presenting ‘la cucina Italiana’ in Australia, Guy was awarded the prestigious L’insegna Del Ristorante Italiano, by the president of Italy in 1996.

With his unique vibrancy and insight into food and culture, Guy is often involved in promoting tourism and hospitality. The reinstatement of the 2010 Moomba Parade saw Guy as a chef representing the ‘Melbourne is Food and Wine float’.

Guy has been the ‘face of food’ with the L’Orèal Melbourne Fashion Festival for the past three consecutive years; a fitting title as Grossi Restaurants continues to pioneer marriage between food and fashion with staff dressed by designers Leona Edmiston and Ted Baker.
 

Guy has also been engaged by the Victorian Government as Victoria’s face of food and wine during the Shanghai World Expo 2010. The expo expected to attract a record 70 million people. Guy designed menus for a series of prestigious dinners held in Guangzhou, Beijing and in the Australian Pavilion during Victoria Week, which ran from 17-21 May. Guy, a passionate advocate for Victoria’s culinary pedigree highlighted the State’s premium produce to a global stage and through cooking demonstrations for Chinese delegates.

During Melbourne’s 175^th year celebrations Guy has been recognised as a finalist for his individual contribution in raising Melbourne’s profile and continues to do so with vigour.

This year saw Guy take to the stage in his own highly acclaimed production, “In The Raw Dinner and Live Show with Guy Grossi and Luke Mangan”. Guy shared the set with long-time friend Luke to deliver this cabaret-style show in Melbourne.

This Grossi experience will be extended into the home through Guy’s premium quality product range, available at Grossi Restaurants and specific Essential Ingredient stores. His hand-crafted range will include: extra virgin olive oil, grissini, antipasto, passata, verjuice, red wine vinegar, panforte, torrone, pink salt, spice mixes, chocolates and a variety of pastas just to name a few.

Guy is also a committed philanthropist with particular consideration for sustainable practices and social responsibility. He dedicated much of his time to work with selected charities. These include: Hospitality Employment and Training (HEAT), Australian Marine Conservation Society, Starlight Children's Foundation, Ovarian Cancer and Muscular Dystrophy Association.Guy, an avid supporter of the Royal Children’s Hospital was invited to attend this year’s televised event which raised a record $14.462 million for the medical and clinical care of our children.

 

Guy is also the author of two exquisitely presented cookbooks: Guy Grossi ~ my Italian heart and Grossi Florentino ~ Secrets & Recipes, which won the Australian Food Media Book of the Year Award in 2004. Guy is currently writing two new books, due for release in the next two years. One of which he will donate 50% of his royalties to MDA.

More information about Guy and Grossi Restaurants can be found at: www.grossi.com.au

Vintner Rob McDonald

Rob McDonald and his wife Kat have been active in all aspects of the wine industry for over 20 years.  They founded Old Bridge Cellars, a high profile wine importing business in 1993, and led the way in the USA for small, hand-crafted Australian wineries. After settling with their children in Napa Valley, they founded Art Farm Wine, along with their partner Matt Stone.  Here they turned their attention to Lake County, just north of Napa and have championed the uniqueness and quality of specific vineyard sites spotted around Clear Lake.  Their Lake County wine is called the Girls in the Vineyard, producing cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc. The Art Farm Wine portfolio also includes The Messenger wines. The Messenger embraces the time honored art of blending, as ancient and revered as the written word itself.  ###