CHEF PROFILE

DAN SHANKS, EXECUTIVE CHEF

Through his role with Atlantic Group [V], Dan Shanks oversees five commercial kitchens, which last festive season fed an average of 15,000 people each week.

Shanks' childhood had great influence on his decision to follow a career in the kitchen. Growing up in Borneo taught him that vibrancy taste and balance in Malay and Thai cuisine is essential, while access to sheep and chickens on his family farm and home-grown vegetables convinced him from an early age that fresh is best.

As an apprentice chef in New Zealand, Shanks trained under the guidance of Phillip Kraul at Le Bon Bolli, one of the country's top fine-dining French restaurants. During his early years in the kitchen, he worked with a number of culinary 'superstars' including Peter Gordan, Tetsuya and Jimmy McIntyre for whom he credits his creative style.

With the benefit of an events and restaurant background, Shanks' goal at Central Pier Docklands is to close the gap between restaurant and function dining, "It's really about planning ahead, being creative and using the freshest ingredients possible. These rules apply whether you're feeding five or 500 people," says Shanks.

RJ, HEAD CHEF - PENINSULA

Roberto is one of the Atlantic Groups most long serving and dedicated employees. He joined the Atlantic Group early in 2002 as a casual chef, soon after taking a full time position as a chef de partie. After six years Roberto has worked his way up to the top tier of the kitchen hierarchy.

Prior to joining the Atlantic Group V Roberto ( Rj) started his cooking apprenticeship with the Box Hill Institute Of TAFE. During this period he has worked on a few café's and restaurant . Roberto had the opportunity to step up on the industry, got a job in one of the biggest chain of Hotel in Australia, Sheraton Towers which is owned by the Starwood Enterprise who also owns The Westin Hotel, Here he spent almost 5 years learning and training the culinary art , he has worked with some of the top chef's Melbourne has to offer with the like's of Oliver Von Brunn, Andre Smaniotto, Mark Barnes , John Sharkey Eduardo Jalijali , Anthony Ross and the list goes on.

Roberto is in charge of the biggest kitchen operation in the Atlantic Group V- Peninsula which caters for a maximum of 1400 guests for sit down dinners. Roberto's philosophy on food goes back into putting much emphasis on using the freshest finest quality of ingredients backed by a lot of hard work to create and produce a dish that is not only technically solid but has a perfect flavour balance and contrast.