Chefs & gardeners of the Mornington Peninsula

Chef Adam Johnston has a bounty of delicious seasonal produce growing just metres from his kitchen. As Head Chef at The Restaurant at Montalto in Red Hill South, he works side by side with Head Gardener Julie Bennett.

Together, they plan the menu several seasons ahead, with Julie planting out seedlings months before they’ll be harvested and delivered to the kitchen.

The kitchen garden sits just below the dining room, where guests can wander through and see what is in season and what is ripe and ready. Another plot lies in the valley at the end of the vineyard, with vegetables thriving in the rich organic soil by the creek.

Adam, born and raised in Scotland, started his career at The Scotsman Hotel in Edinburgh. When he moved to Melbourne, he worked at Neil Perry’s Rosetta and then at Cutler & Co.
“I have always worked in cities,” says Adam. “Now here on the Peninsula, I am surrounded by fresh produce, so you get a real sense of the ever-changing seasons.”

Adam also works with a range of Mornington Peninsula producers, such as Hawke’s Farm, Main Ridge Dairy and Tuerong Farm.

When we visited him, he served us a beautiful dish of freshly picked raw vegetables, served as crudités to be dipped through a smoked pumpkin hummus, and a beautifully crisp deep-fried artichoke slathered in Main Ridge Dairy Cashmere – a tangy fresh curd – dressed with fresh herbs and citrus.