NORNIE BERO: THE PIONEER

BORN AND RAISED IN THE TORRES STRAIT ISLANDS, CHEF NORNIE BERO PUTS A LIFELONG PASSION FOR AUSTRALIA’S NATIVE BOUNTY AT THE HEART OF HER MELBOURNE RESTAURANT.

- RANETTE PRIME

At Big Esso, diners are greeted by a tiger shark. The bamboo sculpture, from Moa Island, in the Torres Strait, hangs from the ceiling, while a wall is adorned with a bold mural by local Indigenous artist and activist Aretha Brown. Cocktails feature ingredients like muntries (berries with a spicy apple flavor), Kakadu plums and Adelaide-made Australian Green Ant Gin. The food menu, meanwhile, features kangaroo, bush tomato and sea succulents.

For chef Nornie Bero, ensuring native Australian ingredients are “the hero of the dish” is key to her central Melbourne restaurant. And, she says, although many other chefs do use the likes of wattleseed or strawberry gum, “it’s always been just a tokenistic thing or a little sliver on top — you never really get to taste it. If I put kangaroo bourguignon on the menu, I want you to concentrate on the kangaroo tail and the pepper berries that it’s cooked in”.

Opened in June 2021, Big Esso is Bero’s tribute to the abundance of the land, as well as to everyone who’s influenced and supported her. “‘Big esso’ means ‘the biggest thank you’ [in Torres Strait Creole],” she explains. “This is what you say when you really want to express your gratitude. All our recipes pay homage to the people of this land that my business is on. I’m not just representing myself but those who were here before me.”