GT exclusive: Why Nigella Lawson loves Australia and our unique dining culture

Nigella Lawson has lost count of how many times she’s been to Australia. She tries to come every year. But she can recall precisely what first sparked her infatuation with our sunburnt country.

“It must have been in the ’90s, there were these really fantastic Australian food magazines,” Lawson recalls. We quickly establish that, yes, Gourmet Traveller was indeed one of these titles.

“There were various magazines, which really opened my eyes to Australian food, and I became captivated by this approach, which seemed to combine so many different cultures.”

She was drawn, she says, not only to the food writing and recipes but to the design and photography as well. It was here that she first came across the work of Australian photographer Petrina Tinslay, who would go on to become a long-time collaborator, photographing several of her bestselling cookbooks.

“It just ignited something in me and I always thought, ‘I’ve got to go, I’ve got to go’.”

At the time, Lawson’s children were young and the prospect of flying to the other side of the world wasn’t practical. Instead, Australia began to occupy a dream space for her.

“I would always think of it. Later on, when I could go, it was everything I wanted it to be, but more really. When you live in London, your view is always quite short, because there’s a lot of houses, there’s a lot of everything. I find the big sky of Australia seems to open more space within me. I’m a fidgety, fizzy person. I don’t ever really relax, but I do there.”

More than two decades later, her trips to Australia have become a sort of annual pilgrimage, where Lawson returns to her favourite spots and seeks out new ones, enthusiastically sharing her delight with followers on social media.

“Talent and joy and pleasure should always be shared. If we were sitting around a table eating, I would be putting things in your mouth, saying: ‘You’ve got to try this!’ So my posts are a bit like that. I cannot be enthusiastic about something and keep it to myself.”

Lawson says her posts aren’t generous but rather about gratitude, before diving into a list of her most treasured dining spots that could rival GT’s Annual Restaurant Guide. “What I think Australia does terribly well is really exquisite food in a very informal, relaxed setting. It’s a kind of acute culinary intelligence; incredible produce, married with attention to detail, while feeling laid-back. I like that combination – informal in attitude but really precise in execution.”

She cites Mat Lindsay’s cooking at Ester as a prime example. On a recent visit, her server Ollie insisted she try the chicken fat oysters. Lawson, who prefers her oysters raw, wasn’t keen but he insisted. “Oh, my God, he was so right. They are extraordinary! I can’t explain it to other people, because it sounds improbable, and yet it really works. And to have that sort of palate – he’s exceptional.”

Also high on her handwritten, must-visit list are Baba’s Place, King Clarence, Cafe Paci and Saint Peter. As for when Lawson herself is behind the stove, her style, she explains, is home cooking. And when it comes to her dinner series at Vivid Sydney in June, the experience will be firmly rooted in her signature style of relaxed entertaining, “somewhere between cosy and elegant”.

“I want to celebrate the Australian style, and the fantastic produce that Australia has. For me, it’s a voyage of discovery and a delicious wallow in these wonderful ingredients.”