PHILIP JOHNSON

New Zealand-born, Philip Johnson has become one of Australia's most celebrated chefs. He has worked in London and New Zealand, and is currently based in Brisbane, Australia.

In 1997 he won the Remy Martin Cognac/Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the Year award for his bistro e'cco, which first opened in 1995. He has received national acclaim for his sure yet simple approach, and his landmark bistro continues to delight all comers.

Philip regularly travels overseas to broaden his outlook and techniques. Prior to the opening of e'cco, Philip worked in London at Antony Worrall Thompson's bistro, dell'Ugo and in early 1997 he returned to London, working for several weeks at The River Café with Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers.

From 1998 to 2004, Philip held appointment as Air New Zealand's Australian consulting chef, joining a stellar global team including Peter Gordan of The Providores [London] and Chef Katsuo "Suki" Sugiura of The Beverly Hills Hotel [Los Angeles].

Philip is currently consultant chef to Aromas Noosa; Consolidated Properties and Domain Resorts consulting on menus for restaurants at their multi-award-winning development at Casuarina Beach, and the newly opened Stradbroke Domain Resort; and for Drinx Pty Ltd.

Philip conducts numerous cooking classes, demonstrations and guest chef appearances, both nationally and internationally. Previous appearances include The Treasury Restaurant and The Essential Ingredient in Melbourne; the Radisson Playford and Red Ochre, Adelaide; Accoutrement in Mosman, Sydney; and Berardo's and Spicers Peak on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

He has also donated his services to many worthwhile charities, working alongside a stellar line-up of industry peers to raise much needed funds for many worthwhile causes, including the Starlight Children's Foundation, Mission Australia and The Leukaemia Foundation.

Internationally, Philip has been a regular visitor to New Zealand for cooking classes at Epicurean Workshop and guest chef spots at Harbourside and Soul Bar, Auckland, as well as at the beautiful Seresin Estate, in the Marlborough Sounds and Craggy Range Vineyards in picturesque Hawkes Bay.

He ventured to Dubai in 2004, joined by fellow Aussie chefs Geoff Lindsay of Pearl Restaurant in Melbourne, Peter Doyle of Est and Guillaume Brahimi of Bennelong, both in Sydney, where the foursome participated in a week long campaign to promote Australian food, wine and produce in the luxury hotels in the desert region.

In 2006 he travelled to Chicago as guest chef at a Queensland Government business reception launched by, then Deputy Premier, Anna Bligh, which coincided with BIO 2006, the world's largest biotechnology convention and trade show, helping to promote Queensland food and wine.

Philip has contributed recipes to a multitude of publications, including Simply Australia, Australian Food, Providore and Great Australian Chefs, where Mietta O'Donnell named Philip as one of 50 chefs at the cutting edge of Australian cuisine. Philip's recipes have also featured in publications by both Maggie Beer and Iain Hewitson and he is a weekly columnist for The Courier Mail's Good Life supplement.

Philip is also author to four cookbooks that are distinctively Philip Johnson - unpretentious food, simple yet stunning - and a reflection of the ideas and beliefs that have made E'cco the success it is today.

The recently released classic e'cco, a Murdoch publication, is a reproduction of his first two highly successful publications, e'cco and e'cco 2, in a single bound edition. Along with Bistro (Murdoch Books, 2004) they all include a wonderful collection of recipes that are distinctively Philip Johnson - unpretentious food, simple yet stunning - and a reflection of the ideas and beliefs that have made e'cco the success it is today.

His latest offering, titled Decadence, pays homage to his passion for all things sweet and is due for release in April 2008.