Meet the Locals: Willow Vale Cooking School
Last year, Catherine and Bruno Loubet relocated their successful Willow Vale Cooking School from the Gold Coast to 100 acres of horse-friendly land in Ravensbourne. We sat down with the couple to talk veggies, pastries and the importance of local.
Published 17 May 2022
Photography: Blasius Erlinger
CATHERINE, WHAT WAS BEHIND YOUR REASON TO MOVE TO THE REGION?
The horses! That’s where it started – the Gold Coast was beautiful, but our property there wasn’t fit for our needs. We bought it before we had the hobby of horses. So we decided to find the right space for an arena and some riding trails, and also to run our business.
We’d been catering some boutique functions in Toowoomba, and we’ve always loved it here. We were concerned we might lose our clients, but they’re still coming! Our first few classes have been fully booked.
We also realised this area was quite a foodie spot. Gary down the lane has turmeric and ginger. Then there’s organic blueberries, walnuts, rhubarb and more... We didn’t have that at the Coast unless you went to Tamborine. But here it’s all small farmers trying to do something different, like us.
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BRUNO, TELL ME ABOUT YOUR BEAUTIFUL VEGETABLE GARDEN!
It’s not big enough! But I don’t want to make more raised beds. I want to use the land and topography. I planted all the fruit trees and I’m watching where the sun goes to decide where to plant more vegetables. Mother Nature can do 80% of the job if you just plant in the right place.
It would be nice eventually to do local swaps. If you have too many lemons, you can exchange it for a bit of Chardonnay or bok choy someone else has. Even when running a restaurant, I don’t see the problem with one week having lots of Asian greens on the menu, because that’s what’s being grown at the moment. And then a few weeks later, there’s lots of citrus, so you use that.
Why buy asparagus from Mexico when you have beautiful local broccolini here? They’ve travelled from the other side of the world, and they’re also sprayed with a ton of chemicals. I don’t get it.
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IN LONDON, YOU BECAME RENOWNED FOR YOUR PLANT- BASED RESTAURANT, GRAIN STORE. WHY PLANT-BASED?
Grain Store was the first large restaurant in London to go plant-based – not just salad for starters and then all the meat afterwards. The philosophy was more about relooking at the way we eat. Instead of having a 250g steak, you have a 80g piece and then everything else on the plate is actually more important. It’s reversed. The beef becomes the support. For us, the whole concept was to show people that you can eat very well without eating as many animal products. We still used them, but it just wasn’t such a big part.
On the menu, we reversed it. Instead of “venison with with root vegetable sauce etc.”, it said: “Roasted root vegetables with salsa of fig leaf oil etc with braised venison...” The meat was at the end. People associate flavour with meat. They don’t associate it with a carrot. But baked in its skin with chamomile and tarragon, it’s sweet and beautiful. It’s different when it’s just boiled in salt water.
Now, we thought our flexitarian classes would be the least popular, but we did it because we believe it. It’s become our top selling class. Things have changed a lot in the past few years, but I think plant-based is the fastest growing food movement. People are thinking about where their food comes from both for taste as well as the environment and their health. We’ve had to become conscious about it.
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WHAT CAN SOMEONE EXPECT FROM ONE OF YOUR CLASSES?
They arrive around 9.30 in the morning and are greeted with pastries and coffee. Then I start to cook. I’ll go through three dishes – sometimes a few more – and they all sit around our kitchen while I cook, and we all chat.
We’re finding people like it to be casual, not like being at school. So there’s some technical aspects, but we really just want to make sure people have fun. Then they sit and they enjoy lunch. Sometimes we join them, but obviously we don’t impose ourselves on everyone!
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WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY LOOKING FORWARD TO?
We advertise six classes a month, and in between we do private groups and catering. The ideal situation for us is to finish the garden, finish a few other bits and pieces. And then have some time to be able to enjoy our horses. If you enjoy your life, you enjoy your job – and vice versa.
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Find the latest cooking workshops at Willow Vale Cooking School through our calendar.
A version of this interview appeared in our spring 2021 newspaper. Find our latest newspaper in cafés and shops around town for more interviews with inspiring locals.
