Where do you like to meet up with your old friends for food/drinks 

MW: My parents stay in Victoria, Gippsland, so if I’m home, I usually head to the local pub with old family friends. It’s nothing fancy, just solid food, beer and a nice friendly place to catch up with friends I haven’t seen in a while.

Is there anywhere else that you never miss visiting when you are back?

MW: A visit to a local farmer’s market or Queen Victoria Market. I love checking out the produce for inspiration.

If you have visitors/guests with you, where do you ensure you always go to give them a real taste of Australia?

MW: For the true Aussie experience, it's best to head down to the beach and find a local bar (anywhere will do) in the summer, or cook a barbeque outdoors. Throw some meat on the barbecue grill and enjoy a good sausage sizzle (grilled sausages wrapped in bread).
 
All the local pubs smell the same. Our Australian beer has a distinctive flavour and scent, so heading to a local pub for a taste of Carlton draught or a local tap beer would be the first thing I’d do with a guest.
 
Australia is a country of immigrants and Melbourne is a cosmopolitan city with a large Italian, Greek, Vietnamese and Chinese population. You generally go to different areas of the city to enjoy specific types of cuisine, so for excellent Vietnamese food, visit the Richmond area or Footscray. For other cuisines, Café di Stasio and Di Stasio Citta serve amazing Italian fare, while Flower Drum is a great choice for Cantonese food. After a late night out, my friends and I enjoy the souvlaki (meat on skewers) at Stalactites.
 
Melbourne, in particular, is famed for its café culture; to experience the city, you need to go to one of its cafes dotted across town for incredible coffee. There’s always a bunch of new cafes every time I return home, but Brother Baba Budan on Little Bourke Street is great, as is its sister property Seven Seeds Carlton.

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What is the first dish you eat when you return and where do you go for it?

MW: The first thing I do is eat a dirty meat pie from a local bakery (no ketchup).  Meat, gravy, pastry—what’s not to love?

What do you always take back to Singapore with you when you leave Australia?

MW: Macadamia nuts and a couple of nice bottles of Australian wine for friends. I like to bring back bottles you can’t get here in Singapore, and usually, they’re straight from a winery.

Do you have a favourite restaurant in Melbourne? For fine dining and for more casual experiences? 

MW: For the ultimate fine dining experience, you can’t beat Grossi Florentino. It’s the oldest restaurant in Melbourne—everything from the space to the service will transport you back in time. It’s truly an experience.  
 
For something a little more casual, I love Carlton Wine Room. It’s a relaxed, friendly space where you enjoy incredible wine and food.

What are your favourite heritage dishes and where are some of the places you go to find them?

MW: Australian cuisine, as many know it, is defined by large-scale migration and is the result of contributions from the immigrants that make up Australia. It is an amalgamation of different cultures, namely British, Middle Eastern, European and Asian. But when I think about Australian heritage, I think of Indigenous cuisine, which is much harder to find. You’ll find that in a fine dining context, there are many restaurants utilising native Australian ingredients in modern cuisine. But a place that is truly championing Indigenous cuisine and culture in Melbourne is Big Esso by Mabu Mabu at Fed Square.
 
Where do you go to find authentic flavours of home where you live?

MW: I cook it myself. I throw a barbecue, make sure to have a cooler of ice-cold beers ready to go, bake a pavlova (meringue-based dessert) and invite some friends over.   

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