Meet the Daylesford chef who trained at a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Osaka

Aaron Schembri started cooking as a way to avoid doing the dishes in a “free range” single-parent household in Daylesford, but it’s since taken him to Osaka to train at three-Michelin-star restaurant Hajime, and back home to launch Japanese restaurant Kadota.

🗣️: “My mum was a jazz singer, and she’d work quite late,” he told the Brolga. 

Schembri said his mother was strict on chores being done in her absence. 

• “Cooking seemed like the easiest task, to be honest,” he said with a laugh. “It was the perfect way to explore with flavours and have fun. And not have to do the dishes.” 

The restaurant is named after his wife and business partner Risa Kadota, originally from Okayama. 

Meeting Risa: An ill-fated journey to Cairns left Schrembi and each of the friends travelling with him penniless. 

🗣️: “We were sleeping on the beach. I even made a deal with a friend’s brother to swap his guitar for $40 to get food.” 

Schembri eventually got a job cooking at a restaurant neighbouring a hostel. He negotiated free accommodation in return for work and it was here he met fellow traveller Risa Kadota.

By the end of their time there, Kadota had agreed to accompany Schembri back to Daylesford. 

Training at Hajime: Schembri described renowned chef Hajime Yoneda’s eponymously named restaurant as his favourite in the world. Its theme is “Dialogue with the Earth”, with the menu listing concepts rather than ingredients. Schembri says “those guidelines give purpose and identity and reason, other than it’s in season and local”.

Schembri exchanged emails with Yoneda for a year before being offered the apprenticeship in 2015. The work was gruelling, with the team of eight staff working 19 to 20 hour shifts.

The differences: Schembri said food systems in Japan are highly organised, with fresh scallops from the north of the country deliverable to the south within an hour. 

🗣️: “From a food culture point of view, they’ve got a real identity. Real depth and focus on the ingredient and presenting an ingredient in the best way possible.”

He says there is “little wastage”, giving the example of calamari: “It’s so common in Japan to have squid innards for sale. In Australia, we’d just have the hood and the legs.” 

Bringing it home: The couple’s culinary plans back in regional Victoria were put on hold due to Covid lockdowns.

“We went a bit stir crazy, but it was also our first time spending real time together,” Schembri says. “We never had the same days off before.”

They opened Kadota about five years ago.

During lockdowns the two had started cooking together regularly at home, drawing from the Japanese and Italian cuisine of their respective childhoods. 

🗣️: “We decided we had to get there, no matter what happens,” Schembri said.  

The restaurant offers Kaiseki-style dining, which is a multi-course menu emphasising presentation, seasonal ingredients and artistry that balances texture, colour and flavours. Even the tableware is selected on these principles. 

Examples of this are shio koji braised mushroom made with cauliflower puree and black barley, and cold smoked nannygai sashimi made with winter truffle. 

The dry-aged duck breast incorporates produce from the Moorabool Valley, paired with Daylesford-farmed turnip, quince and wasabi leaf. 

Schembri and Kadota have blended the hyperlocal produce with traditional Japanese cooking. 

“We just do our best to make it work and not get divorced,” the chef says.