On Fire: International Chef Collaboration Series

The woodfire grill will be the centre of the On Fire chef collab dinners that Rockpool Bar & Grill is hosting at its Melbourne and Sydney restaurants this spring.

First up is Diego Hernández Baquedano, who made a name for himself cooking modern versions of traditional Mexican dishes at Corazon de Tierra on the Baja California peninsula in Mexico (which ran for a decade but is now closed). He’ll bring his brand of cooking to the Rockpool grill to make a five-course dinner firstly at Melbourne on Wednesday September 7, and then in Sydney on September 11.

Then another chef ranked highly in Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list of 2021, Pedro Bargero from Chila in Buenos Aries, will cook two collab dinners, firstly at Rockpool Melbourne on Wednesday October 19 and then Sydney on Sunday October 23.

Like Baquedano, the Argentinean fine-dining chef – who is known for taking diners on a culinary journey around Argentina – will use Australian produce and work with Rockpool chefs for his dinner creations. They include Hunter St Hospitality (which owns Rockpool) culinary director Corey Costelloe, Rockpool Bar & Grill executive chef Santiago Aristizabal and Rockpool Melbourne’s head chef, Declan Carroll.

“I cannot wait to see the impact that Rockpool’s woodfire grill has on Diego’s rendition of Mexican cuisine," Costelloe said in a statement. "The punch of those robust spices combined with the aromatic spark of the woodfire grill will be a sensational marriage ... Careful use of fire, smoke and heat from the Rockpool grill is sure to coax out some amazing Argentinian flavours [too].”

The five-course On Fire dinners are $245 per person, which includes snacks on arrival and a cocktail. For more info and tickets see here.