From Tech Industry to Fusion Cuisine

These days you’ll find him a world away, hard at work in Sydney’s Inner West as the Head Chef of Coro•88 in Burwood.

“I’ve been a chef for 10 years, but my background is actually in IT. I worked at Symantec troubleshooting computers and then decided to change careers to pursue a long-term dream to be a chef,” he says.

“It was tough at first, as I started at a later age, having already completed a Bachelor’s degree and working in the tech industry; I was 27 and for a chef that was pretty late.”

Having watched cooking shows throughout his high school days and being fascinated with the process, the lure of the kitchen eventually proved too much and Mark left Symantec to enrol in the prestigious International School for Culinary Arts and Hotel Management in the Philippines.

From there it was on to an internship in the United States with the Ritz Carlton and Broadmoor hotel brands in Colorado, before taking up another internship at Balmoral’s Bathers Pavilion in Sydney in order to be a little closer to home. 

“I really honed my skills in cooking there and fell in love with fine dining — I really liked the learnings that you encounter in terms of skills and techniques in cooking,” he says.

After several stints working as a sous chef across Sydney, Mark arrived at Coro•88 four years ago — his second club, having previously worked at the Mosman Club.

“I was invited to become the head chef at Coro•88 and by then I thought I was ready,” he says.

His arrival would prove fortuitous for the Club, which was in the midst of a refurbishment and complete rebrand from the Coronation Club to Coro•88.

“Coro•88 is a refined dining experience, and I came from a fine dining background. I’m obsessed with beautiful food that’s well presented, cooked properly and I thought I wanted to bring that here.”

“That was the concept of the Club after its relaunch in 2021 — an elevated venue that would stand out. Burwood is more of a heavily Asian-inspired cuisine in the restaurants here, so we thought having a proper French modern cuisine here would be a good point of difference.”

On the current menu you’ll find dishes such as a two-day dry aged duck breast, beef tartare on roasted bone marrow and squid ink pasta, but there are also the classics such as a chicken schnitzel, and bangers and mash.

“At first we were struggling as locals didn’t know what we could do, and our cuisine was maybe too different to what they were used to, but over the past four years we’ve shown them consistently really good food,” says Mark.

The menu is refreshed twice per year, with a heavy emphasis on fresh seasonal produce and cost efficiency.

“We have a spring/summer menu and an autumn/winter menu, and although there’s a lot of produce available all year round, as a restaurant you want to use seasonal because they are the best and seasonal is cheaper, so you can bring down the price to a more approachable level,” says Mark.

“The dish components will change each season, but the main protein component will remain. For example, the duck breast will stay the same, that’s how we approach it.”

He also uses special events such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to test new ingredients and dishes for possible incorporation into the next season’s menu.

Mark describes the overall offering at Coro•88 as Western contemporary and fusion cuisine, and it’s proving a success in terms of attracting a new demographic while keeping long-term members happy.

“Our demographic is mainly millennials, people in their 30s to 40s, but the Club is around 90 years old, so we have also retained the bulk of the older membership,” he says.

“I am very data-driven, we do sometimes get verbal feedback about a dish but every time we change the menu, we review the sales report and examine the numbers, that’s what drives me.”

The Club was also crowned the winner of the ClubsNSW Western Metropolitan region in the Your Local Club 2024 Perfect Plate Awards, a title they’re planning to defend this year. 

While Mark may have begun his working life in the world of IT, his feet are now firmly planted in the kitchen.

“Having that first career was really meant to be because I was in a leadership/management role and the skills I acquired are also essential in being a chef and leading a team,” he says.

“I look back and will always be thankful.”