School of wok: Nobu’s Pingping Poh among top chefs sharing recipes with TV stars at Celebrate WA festival

Perth’s best chefs will share their favourite family-friendly recipes at this year’s Celebrate WA festival at Burswood Park on June 4 and 5. Nobu head chef Pingping Poh gave a sneak preview of her dish using Mt Barker chicken to Channel 7 reporter and presenter Elle Georgiou at Crown Perth last week. Poh said while the yasai-zuke chicken recipe came from her boss, Japanese celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa, it was simple enough to make at home with whatever vegetables were lying around. “Yasai means vegetable, so therefore we’re just blending up all the vegetables with a mix of chilli, garlic and coriander,” Nobu Perth’s first female chef de cuisine explained. “We use that as the marinade. “It’s really simple. After we wipe off the marinade, you just put it in the oven and it’s done. “I cook it at home.” Why is Poh serving up this dish at Celebrate WA, which will also see top chefs including Rockpool head chef Brendan Owens, Ethos Deli’s Melissa Palinkas and Como Hotels and Resorts executive chef Kim Brennan, plus spud king Tony Galati, revealing recipes that non-professionals can cook at home? “Firstly, this is what everyone can make at home,” she said, adding she found the technique borrowed from Nobu Matsuhisa “very impressive”. “He doesn’t want to waste food,” Poh said. “You won’t believe how tasty wastage can be.” Georgiou will be among the Perthonalities learning new recipes on the Spudshed stage alongside former West Coast Eagles 200-gamer Mark LeCras, Seven sports presenter Adrian Barich, radio broadcaster Dani Shuey, and news presenters Samantha Jolly and Tina Altieri. Georgiou said if she had to eat only one country’s cuisine for the rest of her life, it would probably be Japanese. “I love sushi,” she said. The experienced TV journalist lived in London from 2016-2019 while she worked at BBC World News and at Al Jazeera’s European bureau. When she and her husband returned to Perth, Georgiou was more than pleasantly surprised to discover the local restaurant scene had boomed. “After we moved back, Perth had transformed,” she said. “This place had really moved forward a lot … it was super-diverse and culturally interesting.” Georgiou’s favourite places for a feed include the Fremantle Markets, Besk in West Leederville, and the renovated Claremont Hotel. “Anywhere along the coast is always beautiful,” she said. While she loves eating her Greek family’s food, Georgiou said there were two good Hellenic restaurants in WA; Yiamas in Subiaco, and Brika in Perth. The free WA Day Festival returns to Burswood Park on June 4 and 5.