chef

Simon Cordwell, the new executive chef at Stone Restaurant & Bar, South Bank, has quite a knack for remembering the important dates in his life.

Like his first day as an apprentice at The Original Seafood Restaurant in Hobart. "It was 1982, and I started on the fourth of January at 8.30 in the morning," he says. He was 16 and away from home for the first time, riding his bike 15km to work and back from his newly rented little flat. But the seeds had by then already been sown for a career in the kitchen.

Cordwell, had grown up in Tasmania's lush farmlands, surrounded by fresh produce. He'd regularly hunted after school with his trusty black retriever, bringing rabbit, roo or quail to the family dinner table. Also in 1982, on June 3 to be precise, he remembers arriving at Drysdale House for his first day at college and meeting his future wife. They married three years later, both aged 19. Now, 24 years on, he and wife Janine have both clocked some serious hours in the kitchens of many a restaurant, while also raising two children, Nicholas, 21, and Natascha, 18.

Early on, the couple worked alongside each other at The Outrigger Restaurant on Hamilton Island, before embarking on various positions in Melbourne and Tasmania, and finally Brisbane. Cordwell has introduced a new menu at Stone, where diners are invited to veer off the well-worn entree-main path into share plate territory. "Share plates enable people to enjoy a variety of items - they can base the whole dinner around the shared concept if they want to," he said.

Seared scallops with wakame, and tom yum jelly are an instant stand-out on the new look share list, which also includes a tasty braised pork belly with bok choy and shitake mushroom, and a splendid gluten-free, vegetarian spinach and ricotta gnocchi in tomato couli. Share plates are $16 for one, $30 for two or $42 for three. Mains include twice-cooked quail with steamed Asian vegetables and braised quail egg ($32).