Mandy Hall

Save the dates., clear the diary. Here we go, the program is live! . Very excited to be part of Tasting Australia 2026, presented by Journey Beyond, 8–17 May in South Australia. You’ll find me here - Tasting Australia by Train, The Ghan Edition Hosting the greatest adventure from Darwin to Adelaide, wildly beautiful, deeply delicious and absolutely unforgettable. 📅 Wed 6 May to Sat 9 May Tickets available via @tastingaustralia   @tastingaustralia | @southaustralia #TastingAustralia | #JourneyBeyond | #SouthAustralia

Hand on heart, no one was more shocked than me! Completely unprepared, four champagnes deep, a room packed with people—including some very fine politicians —when that moment came, instinct there; mic in hand, and the words just tumbled out—research, food waste, and why investing in this fight is absolutely critical for our nation. The door cracked open, the mic was shoved in, and boom—straight into campaign mode. But here’s what I missed while standing up there—the most important part. I would never, ever get to do what I do without the incredible support of so many extraordinary people. Too many to name—family, friends, colleagues, chefs, producers, farmers, and all-around food legends. I’ve been lifted by countless legs, stood on the broadest shoulders, and been gifted generosity, wisdom, and an overwhelming wave of belief, love, and mateship. And to the women I stood with tonight—nominee or winner—what an absolute force you are. So bloody impressive. Thank you all. To have fermentation and food waste on the mainstream agenda was amazing. @endfoodwasteaus @thegreatunwaste @thetiser @skycityadl @newscorpaus @masterchefau #foodwaste #fermentation #endfoodwaste #fightfoodwaste #preserve #foodsystems #hospitality #masterchef

Since I left @masterchefau I’ve worked my proverbial off to fight to the good fight and make sure to do justice to the opportunity that wearing that apron gave. Directing and launching @thegreatunwaste today has been huge - it’s only the beginning, with a third of the 7.6 million tonnes of food waste every year in Australia coming from households - we need to help. @endfoodwasteaus #thegreatunwaste #foodwaste #sustainability #masterchef #itsworththefight #savemoney #movement #australia

There is something pretty remarkable about the fact that in the very same week South Australia is announced as a Michelin Guide destination, @karena_armstrong and @salopianinn achieve a three star result through the globally respected Food Made Good Standard @foodmadegood . Two global forces in hospitality, both arriving in our state at once. We already know what Michelin represents. International prestige, craft. technique, the kind of dining that makes people book flights and plan journeys around a table. Food Made Good is another hugely important global marker too. One that looks beyond what is happening on the plate and asks big questions about how hospitality operates in the world around it - sourcing, waste. regenerative farming, staff wellbeing, community and responsibility. Honestly, seeing both conversations land here at the same time feels incredibly exciting because South Australia has quietly built a food culture capable of holding it all. Beautiful restaurants and serious culinary talent, also deep relationships with growers, producers and landscape. A hospitality culture where seasonality, thoughtfulness and integrity matter enormously. I also love that one of @karena_armstrong ‘s first instincts in receiving this recognition was to acknowledge others, it says a lot about hospitality, the good stuff is rarely built in isolation. Ideas move between kitchens, farms, regions and people and the greatest success’ built when everyone pushes each other forward. I think that what feels so significant about this week is not simply that South Australia is being recognised internationally, but that we are being recognised across all different expressions of what great food culture is. Congratulations @karena_armstrong 📸 @foodmadegood #southaustralia #australia

I have had a few calls today from media outlets asking which SA restaurants I think might be Michelin star worthy, and whilst that is an awesome and exciting conversation, I think there is another really important part of this moment worth talking about too. For anyone unfamiliar with Michelin’s philosophy, the guide has long asked a simple question of restaurants. Is it worth stopping for? Is it worth a detour? Is it worth a special journey? And from what I understand, the important nuance here is that Michelin stars are ultimately awarded for what is happening on the plate. Service, atmosphere and beautiful spaces absolutely contribute to the overall experience, but Michelin’s core focus has been the quality of ingredients, technique, harmony, consistency and the personality of the chef expressed through the food. Which is why I think this matters so much for South Australia. Michelin does not arrive somewhere by accident. There is an enormous amount of work, advocacy and industry effort that goes into a destination even being considered. It arrives where there is already depth, produce, identity, talent, regionality and hospitality culture strong enough to justify global attention. That kind of recognition, it comes from years of work across an entire ecosystem. The chefs, sommeliers, waiters, bartenders, kitchen hands, front of house teams, back of house teams, growers, fishers, farmers, winemakers, producers and artisans. The women and men who have spent years building something here, service by service, harvest by harvest and season after season. I think that deserves an enormous moment of pride, because everything that has come before this point, is vital. This is further recognition that this state and its hospitality offering is a place worth travelling for, worth detouring for and worth paying attention to on a global stage. Huge congratulations to everybody who helped make this possible. #southaustralia #hospitality

The final stop did not disappoint. Tasting Australia by Train has officially arrived in @southaustralia , but not before one last epic day in Coober Pedy. From the ochre folds of the Kanku-Breakaways to an outback lunch at @bigwinch360 with @jobarrett and @shanflem , South Australia turned it on. Watch until the end to see @markbest after delivering 5-star dinner service onboard a moving train 🚂 #TastingAustralia @journeybeyondgroup

@thelmapiccadilly is two. And to celebrate, @imbening of @albertas_forever came to play in the kitchen with @tomm__campbell . An awesome pairing that doesn’t announce itself loudly, just so gently with consideration, and with a kind of quiet confidence that shows up dish after dish.. This is food built on care, restraint and on knowing exactly what to do. Gnocco fritto, fried in pork fat, yellowfin tuna, neighbours’ figs, pork sausage and radicchio from Tim’s farm @presqil Boston Bay mussels, wild herbs, a sliver of green tomato, and that small, mighty celery seed delivering more flavour than seems possible. A cup of joy. Browned butter, whipped into a cloud and house sourdough, smoked eggplant, kefir cultured fresh cheese. Tokyo turnips from Tim’s farm, I love Tokyo turnips, they are so gentle, not vying for space, just quietly holding their own, more of them fermented, deepened, transformed. Spring onion, lentil and chickpea miso layered into something that feels like ramen, but isn’t. Calamari in place of noodles, in a pork broth that lands with warmth and emotion, local whiting, familiar, but beyond. Baby leeks from @common.acre , softened just enough. A garden verde with an aniseed lift. Fish fumé with butter pushed a little to the edge, the kind of sauce you just don’t leave behind. Dry aged Fleurieu beef with bone marrow and porcini. Wild quince tart from Basket Range. Salted local milk ice cream and a perfect whisper of fennel pollen. And through all of it, a thread these two have delivered to me before - restraint, clarity, place and love. When food is treated like this, it slows you down, it makes you feel and it leaves you pondering long after your last plate is cleared. When you are lucky enough to be taken there with food, it is something else entirely. Thanks for the food love and so sorry I was late! Xx

From heartbreak to wonder and back, in 48 hours. I’ve always been drawn to wicked problems. The ones that don’t have simple answers. The ones that sit across people, systems, culture, policy (yes, food waste, food insecurity and food systems are big wicked problems). The past two days have been a lot to hold and consider. In rooms filled with conversations with Catherine House about rising homelessness for women, witnessing that lived experience. With industry leaders and academics understanding the housing pressure that is reshaping what’s possible for younger generations, including the biological outcomes of that. Incredible time spent inside our women’s prison, listening, learning, trying to understand what helps and what hinders, how the numbers are growing and how dignity is held. An afternoon at Hutt St Centre, again understanding demand and care. A panel and discussion with the CEO of child protection, unpacking the reality for children at risk. And then, in the evening, walking into the pre-opening of @restaurant.aptos . A space that will no doubt be talked about globally. Mind-blowing, in a way that’s hard to articulate right now. Beauty, precision, thinking and craft on full display. I’m still trying to reconcile all of it - the heartbreak and the wonder. And tomorrow, when I sit down to write my notes across the different parts of my life that require them, from dignity to beyond extraordinary dining, across such vastly different paradigms, it will never be lost on me how lucky I am to have the space to work on them all. While I’m there writing away, what I will consider is this… We can’t ignore these problems, but we also can’t solve them all at once. Starting close to home feels like our best hope, our families, our friends and our neighbourhoods. And then we circle out, and in between, if we’re lucky enough to experience moments of beauty and joy, we hold onto them as fuel. Somewhere in amongst all that juxtaposition and tension is where progress lives and change takes place. Next week will bring more work, more moments of extraordinary, always more things to be grateful for. @catherinehouseadl @huttstcentre

The Market is set to come alive this May for Tasting Australia! Join the incredible Larissa Sewell and Mandy Hall as they host FREE live cooking demonstrations on 8th and 15th May. Watch as they celebrate local flavour, seasonal produce and show-stopping dishes from some of South Australia’s finest chefs. #AdelaideCentralMarket #TastingAustralia

Ah yes… that time of year where we absolutely don’t spiral back into a former life… 🙃 (yes, this is a long, caption. Strap in or scroll on.) A new season of @masterchefau is about to land… and no matter how many years pass, it can pull you right back into your own time in that kitchen. I’m not a chef, I’m a home cook who showed up with a belief in people, in food, in connection, in farmers, growers, preservation, and the curiosity about the stories behind things. I went on because I cared and I wanted to learn, I gave it a crack. The show opened the door, but what’s come since is what I’ve built, step by step, with much heart. My own, and alongside chefs with immense talent and even bigger hearts. Producers, artists, performers, farmers, winemakers, artisans, writers, people who are so generous and hold knowledge, craft and care in ways most will never fully see. I get to sit with them, learn from them, champion them, that’s the win. It’s allowed me to do work that matters deeply to me. So yes, cringe dialled up, I’m sharing a few snippets because they matter for all sorts of reasons and it’s not a bad thing to look back sometimes. Including glancing back the moment I was sent home and Nigella was so generous. I genuinely felt like I’d won (after dusting off my bruises from being shown the door). And when Curtis Stone told me my béarnaise was better than his… well, I dined out on that for a good hot minute. I was never going to be the best cook in that kitchen, but what I could bring, and what’s been given space to grow since, I feel incredibly lucky for that and I’ll be forever grateful for giving my daughter that moment, that tearful epic hug when I got my apron @gcalombaris looked far too happy kicking me out… just saying. Good luck to the new season. Soak up every second and do good things that matter when you’re done x #masterchef #goodlife

Social media hates a long caption, but like many things of late, I’m quite comfortable ignoring that… so here we go anyway. Yesterday, I had the joy of curating the menu for the launch of the @historyfestival of South Australia, the theme of “connection” could not have been more apt. Working with recipes drawn directly from Don Dunstan’s cookbook (circa 1976) was such a privilege. It’s a book that still speaks with curiosity and connection, and no matter where you sit politically, it’s hard to deny the depth of impact he had on this state, on culture, and also on the way we understand ourselves through food. So rather than try and reinterpret, I chose to follow his lead. Lunch took the guests on a journey across the globe, just as he would have done. From Eastern Europe to Indonesia to Greece to Italy, a table shaped by many influences, everything sitting comfortably side by side, a world connected by food. His recipes, shared and recreated, with the simple intention of bringing people together as we celebrated the launch of this brilliant festival. There was also something quite surreal about the experience - sitting and dining in the middle of Rundle Mall, the balls in the distance, people passing by, life unfolding around us. It was open, generous, and completely right. Of course, any time I get to share a moment with the spectacular and very talented @katiespainwrites , I’m a very happy woman. Congratulations @historyfestival a program that beautifully explores connection in all its forms, from the threads of family stories to the lines that link past and present, and the South Australians who live those connections every day. Creative & Event @superstudio.world Table art by @elever_aus and @nathanjamescrane Wine partner @hughhamiltonwines Food beautifully created by @therichmondhotel.adl

Nearly twenty years ago, I walked out of a restaurant owned by these two, Sharon @shazarama on the floor, David @david_swain_fino on the tools and sat in my car with my sister, completely floored. The food, the care, the quiet confidence of it all. You just knew you’d experienced something very real. Tonight marks the final service for Sharon and David at @finovino_adelaide in the CBD, and it was an absolute privilege to drop in, to celebrate, to hug, to smooch, and to properly acknowledge what Sharon, David, Sarah @sarahjanemunn (and Jess) have built. This was never just a restaurant, it was a continuation of standard, a commitment, a way of doing things that didn’t bend, even when it got hard. They backed their producers, they honoured provenance, they showed, day in and day out, what it means to be a moral, loyal and a deeply responsible player in this industry, and they never wavered. And typically, the thing that matters just as much, while they step away is that the team they’ve loved, shaped and stood beside remains. Still there and committed, still carrying that same standard forward. That doesn’t happen by accident, its culture and legacy in motion. You’ll still find Sharon and David at Seppeltsfield, and you’ll still feel them in every corner of that exceptional restaurant in the CBD. Sharon and David, you don’t just run restaurants, you raise the bar - congratulations, you absolute giants. What an extraordinary legacy. Thanks for it all xx