A Word With John Ralley

He’s been called the rock star of the dessert world. Known for his skilled sugar creations, pastry chef John Ralley of Manta restaurant on the Woolloomooloo wharf in Sydney, has had an incredible career run. I spoke to Mr. Ralley about his experiences, achievements and plans for the future.

Describe yourself in three words.

(Laughs) describe myself in three words um, perfectionist, passionate, loyal.

Why “perfection”?

I always like to make things as nice as possible.

When did you decide you wanted to become a chef and who was your greatest inspiration?

Well I was kind of looking for a job and I just fell into it, and then from there on I had a good boss and I guess he was my inspiration at the time.

What was his name?

Tracy Nichols.

What did you admire about him?

Just his pride in his work and he always kind of pushed to better himself, and always pushed me to kind of better myself. It was hard but it was always for the best reason in the end.

Why did you choose to work in the area of pastry?

I guess I just fell into it and I kind of loved it from the first week you know. I kind of could see myself doing that later on so I just kept going and going and going. It was nothing, I went out to kind of try it and it just happened.

What is a typical day at work like for you?

Yeah (laughs) at the moment its coming up to be a bit busy so a typical day I will come in and prep up and get ready for service. I guess that would be a typical day. Do a bit of sugar if I can.

What is the best thing about your job?

I like the sugar work, creating something out of sugar.

You are noted for your skilled sugar creations, what is it like to work with sugar? What is involved?

Cooking the sugars properly, correctly and all that sort of stuff so that you get the best result later on when you’re making something I guess, so yeah working with sugar is a challenge so it’s always good, there’s always something new, yeah it is quite challenging.

You create some amazing dishes for the Manta dessert menu, including the mandarin parfait and green apple trifle, where does the inspiration for such dishes come from?

Um, I guess I read a lot and from there on I do it on my own, I just kind of plate up different layers and see what looks best, flavours and I guess what works with each other.

What is your favourite dish to cook on the menu?

The “Textures of Amedei dark chocolate (and Piemonte hazelnut)”, it’s got different techniques kind of, the chocolate on the aero bar, I do a sugar ribbon, yeah so all the different tempering techniques with chocolate.

In 2010 you were awarded the title of Australian Pastry Chef of the Year, how did you feel?

I felt great because hard work paid off.

You are a member of the Australian Pastry Team; tell me about your preparations for the Asian Pastry Cup in 2012.

Well there are four of us in the team so we’ve been training two on chocolate, two on sugar, to compete in Singapore. There’ll be two out of four from that team that will compete so until then we will ideas up in the air, change all the time so.

What’s it like to go up against the other chefs

Yeah I don’t really think of it much like that, I kind of do my own thing so I don’t try to think about it.

You spent three years in London at Michelin-starred La Trompette and the Hilton on Hyde Park Corner, what did you learn from these experiences?

Being in them, it was quite big and there were a lot of pastry chefs and it was kind of like a real big kitchen so it was different to see it that way than into a restaurant where it was more two pastry chefs and worked non-stop. And just yeah it was flat out, I learnt quite a lot of techniques and different things there, especially in the Michelin starred restaurant which I found I liked that a lot better, the restaurant side of things. Just the plating up everything, you know a lot more care a lot, more pride when working in the restaurant.

Now within your career you have travelled around the world many times, where is your favourite food destination?

Probably one of the Michelin-starred restaurants I went to in London which was the Roux Brothers to put it down to a restaurant. That was the waterside, just outside of London which is a French restaurant.

And what was your favourite dish that you ordered there?

Oh it was a while ago, I’m not 100% sure everything was so amazing so to pick a favourite dish is a bit hard. The desserts, I do remember I had a brûlée and a soufflé. They were a bit classic but it was really well done.

How have food-related programs such as MasterChef helped to boost interest in the industry?

I guess people want decent stuff now; I guess it has helped a lot especially with the pastry with Adriano (Zumbo). He has kind of lifted the bar up from what people thought pastry was I guess so in that way it is good.

What was the first thing you learnt to cook?

Probably just the basics, sweet pastry, frangipani, those things, the basic kinds of doughs.

What do you cook for your friends?

Pretty much whatever they demand (laughs) they always ask for something stupid or whatever.

You have to keep them pleased don’t you?

Yeah.

You spend a lot of time working with sugar so are you a sweet tooth?

I taste everything but I don’t overly indulge (laughs) apart from when I go out, I’ll have dessert, you know. I don’t overly eat, I just taste a lot.

What is your advice to people who want to get into the industry?

Yeah go for it, work hard and see what happens, I guess. If they want to do it, they want to do it.

Manta Restaurant
6 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo
Telephone: 02 9332 3822
Facsimile: 02 9332 3655
reservations@mantarestaurant.com.au

Photo: gallery.me.com/thepeopleagency

Brendon D’Souza a.k.a. The Smiling Chef :)