Edge Hospitality: Gourmet Cuisine for Any Event

As owner and Executive Chef of Edge Hospitality, a boutique catering offering servicing the Melbourne and beyond. Edge Hospitality Paul brings years of fine-dining experience with an unwavering passion for nose-to-tail and woodfired cooking to create menus and events that are as equally refined as they are approachable.

Like many of Australia’s bright culinary talent, Chef Paul Cooper’s story begins at home — a quick succession up the ranks of some of Victoria’s great restaurants before taking the plunge in the illustrious yet gruelling kitchens of Europe, where cutting your teeth meant learning from the Masters in one of the world’s most lauded Michelin-star restaurants.

Chef Cooper’s first big break after working a mix of apprenticeships on the Mornington Peninsula was at North Fitzroy’s Matteo, where an elegant, contemporary take on classic Italian cooking would ignite a flame that would go on to shape the menus at his later ventures. His first Head Chef position was at Bistro D’orsay, the Collins St institution that defines the ‘Paris end of Collins’, specialising in Provençal-Mediterranean and quintessential French bistro.

It’s no surprise that Europe came next, with Cooper securing a highly competitive Commis Chef position at Pied à Terre, London’s longest serving Michelin Star restaurant. It’s here that he learnt the art of butchery and worked his way up to Sous Chef.

A stint at ABac in Barcelona, the two (now three) star institution and Catalan Restaurant of the Year 2011 followed before Cooper reached the zenith of continental pedigree, spending time at Michel Bras, now Bras, the three-star Michelan restaurant of namesake Master Chef, Michel Bras.

It’s with this pedigree that he returned to Australia to make his mark and bring his learnings to the homeland, starting as Head Chef of South Yarra’s Botanica before taking off to Sydney to open Bishop Sessa with Erez Gordon.

Six years and an avid following later, Cooper said goodbye to Bishop Sessa to start up Edge Hospitality, a boutique catering offering based in the Yarra Valley. The gamble paid off. Cooper’s European talent and Australian sensibilities were well received and the success of the produce-led catering style led to a second Yarra Valley venture, Fergusson Winery & Restaurant.

Fergusson — a previously family run Estate with vines that date back to 1968 — allows Cooper to focus on his dedication to sustainability and seasonal produce, taking much inspiration from his time at Bras. Contemporary Italian is at its core, with everything made in-house including the sourdough bread, pasta and sauces. Soon, like Bras, he hopes to grow as much veg on the property as possible, and source all other produce from hyper-local farmers.

Top-to-tail dining is at the forefront of Edge Hospitality and Fergusson Winery — not even a broccoli stump is spared from hitting the table in some creative and unexpected way — and he cites the woodfired grill, where for example, whole salmon is gently smoked just delicately enough to open the pores but not cook through, as his favourite mod-con.

Bellissimo.