David Boyle joins Northside Group as executive chef
After visiting a couple of Northside venues, chef David Boyle quickly became a fan of the group’s beers. So when a job came up with the company, Boyle – who was then working as head chef Alejandro Saravia’s award-winning farm-to-table restaurant Farmer’s Daughters – found his interest piqued.
“I felt like I had achieved a lot at Farmer’s Daughters and that I was ready for a new challenge,” Boyle tells Hospitality.
Soon, Pete Walsh invited Boyle in for an interview, and a few meetings followed. “He sold me on the direction of the group and the concepts of the venues and where they were going,” says Boyle.
Northside has now brought Boyle onboard as executive chef – the first time the industry whiz has officially held the role.
Ireland-born Boyle cut his teeth at Michellin Star restaurants in Dublin and Kilkenny, before working at Corrigans Mayfair in London and Pichet in Dublin. After moving to Victoria, he worked at The Lake House in Daylesford, Ôter, and Saravia’s Pastuso.
Saravia brought Boyle onboard the development team at Farmer’s Daughters in 2018.
It’s here that Boyle was involved in running pop-up events like Whisky Wine Fire at Caufield Racecourse. He also helped to open the restaurant with a tight team of about ten staff.
“By the time I finished up we had 60 in the kitchen team and were running 33 services a week across two sites and three kitchens. We also kept a chef’s hat at the restaurant level for three years,” says Boyle.
Boyle brings to the role a depth of multi-venue experience, and his goal is to use this experience to efficiently put systems together to allow clear communication across the group.
In terms of managing the team, Boyle says making reporting lines clear was crucial in his past roles, and something he hopes to bring to Northside. “[It] meant that all the chefs knew their responsibilities and what was expected of them, junior chefs knew that they would be held accountable but senior chefs knew that it was their responsibility to train and mentor the team below them so that everyone had a pathway to progress in the business.”
The Northside Group runs Bodriggy Brewing Co, Albion Hotel Collingwood, and Dr Morse. Boyle’s leadership will see each venue’s distinct food identity updated. Bodriggy will continue to showcase Latin American flavours, while the Albion Hotel is set to embrace an English pub style menu with a strong focus on locally sourced ingredients.
Meanwhile, Dr Morse is undergoing renovations to relaunch as a New York Italian inspired “bistro disco”, in line with its 12th anniversary.
“We’re proud of the last 12 years and the legacy of music and artists that have come through Dr Morse,” says Pete Walsh. “Now, with David Boyle, we can explore the intersection of music, food, and wine, we can continue our mission to create a space centred on enjoyment.”
Boyle will focus on sourcing interesting and high-quality ingredients, “like the amazing Meredith kid goats, aged buffalo milk cheese from northern Victoria, dry aged Gippsland beef and some really special smallgoods and chilies from Italy and South America”.
“Across the group, I want to focus on a real quality experience so guests can be confident that even if the styles of food are different the level of the experience will be the same,” says Boyle.
He also plans to incorporate produce from the brewery in each menu, including “stout in the sticky date pudding at The Albion, Larger reduced with raw sugar to marinade our pork at Bodriggy and we use the unfermented and unhopped wort instead of water to make the focaccia at Dr Morse,” says Boyle.
Bodriggy and The Albion Hotel are open daily, and Dr Morse will reopen in mid-February following renovations.
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