Female Australian Chefs Making Waves in the Culinary Scene
Meet the Australian female chefs transforming restaurants across the country. With a knife-sharp precision for combining technique, culture and innovation, they’ve earned recognition as some of the most important Australian female chefs today. In celebration of International Women’s Day 2026, we sit down at their table and learn about their kitchens, culinary ethos, and the flavours shaping Australia’s culinary future.
Hannah Green
At Lygone Street’s Etta, Hannah Green has shaped a dining experience that is defined by trust and thoughtful leadership as much as by food. She opened the restaurant in 2017 with Dominique and Hayden McMillan and has since guided it through significant evolution, appointing chefs including Charley Snadden Wilson, Rosheen Kaul and Lorcan Kan. Each contributed to menus that were celebrated nationally and internationally, from hats to The World’s 50 Best Discovery list. Green’s approach is rooted in her early years in hospitality, her pub traineeship and her instinct for reading spaces, which informs how service unfolds and how guests experience the restaurant. Recognition such as the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Personality of the Year nomination in 2022 and the Good Food Guide Service Excellence Award in 2024 reflects her careful cultivation of atmosphere and culture. Daphne, her newest venture, carries the same ethos of generosity and community focus, extending the reach of Green’s hospitality philosophy beyond Etta.
Danielle Alvarez
Danielle Alvarez’s approach to cooking reflects a seamless combination of experience, technique and ethical consideration. From early lessons in her Cuban-American household to formative years at The French Laundry, Boulettes Larder and Chez Panisse, she has developed a philosophy that prizes freshness, seasonality and accountability in sourcing. At Fred’s in Sydney’s Paddington, she applied this vision to menus that are inventive and approachable, earning two chef’s hats and a national reputation. Her commitment to ethical meat and organic produce reflects a belief in thoughtful consumption and culinary responsibility. Her departure from Fred’s in 2022 saw Alvarez honing in on broader creative projects and new culinary challenges. In 2023, she took on the role of Culinary Director – House Venues at the Sydney Opera House, bringing her signature approach to Yallamundi Rooms, the Utzon Room, the Joan Sutherland Theatre and the Concert Hall Northern Foyers, continuing her influence on Sydney dining at an iconic scale.
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Sharon Salloum
Australian-born Sharon Salloum grew up learning to cook authentic Syrian food at home, guided by her mother and aunts in a household where generosity was expressed in the kitchen and over the barbecue, and where every meal was an act of care. Without formal training, she absorbed the rhythms and pressures of a commercial kitchen through experience, developing an intuitive understanding of hospitality that would shape her career. In 2007, she and her sister Carol opened Almond Bar in Darlinghurst, a space that brought family traditions into a Sydney context. The publication of Almond Bar, Australia’s first Syrian cookbook, cemented her role as both custodian and interpreter of her heritage, translating memory into method. Today, the sisters continue the tradition with 3 Tomatoes in Ashbury, a lively café that celebrates Middle Eastern flavours and the culture’s flair for hospitality.
Thi Li
Thi Li’s restaurants extend her vision of Vietnamese cuisine as dynamic, versatile and capable of evolving with context. Anchovy’s menu introduced Melbourne diners to nuanced interpretations of traditional dishes, highlighting technique, seasonality and local produce. The pâté chaud, a buttery pastry filled with gingered pork mince and wood-ear mushroom, and a fried blood pudding fragrant with star anise exemplify how Li balances precision with playfulness. In 2021 and 2022, she expanded her footprint with Ca Com, focusing on wood-fired banh mi, and Jeow, a celebration of Laotian cuisine. Each venue is carefully curated to explore a different aspect of Southeast Asian food while maintaining Li’s hallmark attention to flavour and authenticity. Her experimentation extends even to preservation, as demonstrated by a three-year fermentation project with anchovies caught in Port Phillip Bay, producing a product she describes as “liquid gold.” Li’s work connects heritage, innovation and technique in a way that has redefined perceptions of Southeast Asian cuisine in Melbourne.
Alanna Sapwell
With cuisine rooted in the seasons and the land, Alanna Sapwell’s food is marked by intention and care. Australian born, she trained at The River House in Noosa, Queensland, before travelling to Italy and Japan to refine her craft, experiences that broadened her understanding of technique, flavour and ingredient respect. Sapwell’s philosophy centres on letting exceptional produce speak for itself, crafting dishes that are precise yet understated. From early kitchens in Brisbane to Sydney’s Saint Peter under Josh Niland, she built a reputation for thoughtful, technically exact cooking. Her dishes reflect the rhythms of nature, drawing on local seafood, vegetables and ethically sourced meats. Sapwell’s pop-up project, Esmay, allows her to bring intimate dining experiences directly to guests while exploring new ways of engaging with food. Beginning as a three-month residency at Noosa’s Wasabi in 2020, Esmay gave her a platform to share the stories behind every ingredient and dish.
