Up In Smoke

In his new book, Igni, chef Aaron Turner chronicles the turbulent demise of the award-winning Loam and his return to cooking at his equally celebrated restaurant in Geelong.

It all started with a restaurant called Loam, down the end of a dirt road, nestled on an olive grove overlooking the bay. It was simple: 30 or so seats, a small team, and a network of farmers to work with. We were happy, and if only 10 people came a day, that was 10 people we could share our story with. There wasn’t a menu, just a list of ingredients – 50 or so seasonal fruits, vegetables, plants, fish and meats from small suppliers, gardeners, growers and what we could find in the wild.

Most days would start at about 6am when, with blurry eyes, I would set off to pick various plants along the train tracks. Or I would set the alarm for low tide to gather fresh sea lettuce and seawater for making cheese or brining, my head swimming with ideas of new dishes and flavours for the day’s menu. The day would w ind up somewhere between 1am and 2am. No one complained; we just got on with it. Before the reviews, before the media storm, we had all the time in the world – we just didn’t know it yet.

Six months in and we had our first review, in The Age. I remember the service being horrible – we were so behind I was butchering raw suckling pig to roast to order as we just hadn’t had time to break it down that morning. We were flying blind, as we often did then, not knowing what was needed. Despite all that the piece was titled “When the food speaks for itself”. We got 16/20 and were labelled “a confident newcomer”. I was over the moon. The day after that, the phone wouldn’t stop ringing. By the end of the day we were booked solid.