It would be handy to have Jo Barrett around in the event of apocalypse. A fishing, diving and foraging kind of chef, she also boasts an admirable quiver of from-scratch skills that includes churning butter, making cheese and milling her own grains to make bread.
An alum of locavore Yarra Valley winery restaurant Oakridge and Joost Bakker’s wildly experimental Future Food System, where she lived a closed-loop existence at Melbourne’s Federation Square for almost two years, Barrett personifies the low-waste, low-impact restaurant movement. And as she’s continuing to showcase at Little Picket, her recently opened dining room at the Lorne Bowls Club, sustainability can also be delicious.
“Great produce just tastes better,” she says. “I see my job as a chef as making good food that people respond to – nothing too fancy. My philosophy at Little Picket is simply to be a little community restaurant that locals love.”
Her first venture as an owner has taken the lessons of past years and applied them to a menu based in ethical produce from Victoria’s Surf Coast region. Opening for only three services a week gives her time to cultivate her relationships with artisan producers, pick in the shared gardens and keep a fishing line in her hand.
“It’s all in aid of keeping everything in house. It’s a time-consuming approach to running a restaurant but I wouldn’t do it any other way.”
No dish sticks around for long in the Little Picket kitchen, but many are adaptable in terms of seasonality – as these recipes shared with show. “A lot of them can be used all year round, by subbing in the seasonal
