CHEF PROFILE

DAN SHANKS, EXECUTIVE CHEF

Through his role with Atlantic Group [V], Dan Shanks oversees five commercial kitchens, which last festive season fed an average of 15,000 people each week.

Shanks' childhood had great influence on his decision to follow a career in the kitchen. Growing up in Borneo taught him that vibrancy taste and balance in Malay and Thai cuisine is essential, while access to sheep and chickens on his family farm and home-grown vegetables convinced him from an early age that fresh is best.

As an apprentice chef in New Zealand, Shanks trained under the guidance of Phillip Kraul at Le Bon Bolli, one of the country's top fine-dining French restaurants. During his early years in the kitchen, he worked with a number of culinary 'superstars' including Peter Gordan, Tetsuya and Jimmy McIntyre for whom he credits his creative style.

With the benefit of an events and restaurant background, Shanks' goal at Central Pier Docklands is to close the gap between restaurant and function dining, "It's really about planning ahead, being creative and using the freshest ingredients possible. These rules apply whether you're feeding five or 500 people," says Shanks.

GEORGE FOWLER, HEAD CHEF

Born in the U.K 1978, George and his father immigrated to Perth in 1992. He started cooking at the 4 star Good Earth hotel as an apprentice, then moved to Chianti on Collins restaurant, fine dining Italian restaurant owned by Umberto Tinnelli. In his 3rd year of his apprenticeship he started working at the Peppermill Restaurant, which is where he really tuned his cooking skills. Chef Greg Potts was a chef and a mentor and taught George to work clean and be organized, work practises he still uses to this day

Still in Western Australia, George went on to chef departie at the Crown Plaza restaurant "gusti", then onto " Oceanic restaurant" famed in Perth because of the award winning chef Andrew Man. Before leaving Perth, George gained his first head chef roles at "The Oyster Bar On The Beach" working for one of the biggest restaurateurs in Perth Warren Mead.

In 2006 George moved to the U.K and worked for Michelin chef Barry Tonks at the Threadneedle Hotels restaurant "Bonds", this was very serious cooking and provided a turning point

George then moved back to moved to Melbourne and started working at "fenix" restaurant in Richmond. Molecular was the word everyone used to describe this food.