Melbourne Favourites
Greg Brown

April 1997

And on the seventh day this baker does not rest. Greg Brown chef and creator of Browns Bakeries spends his Sundays giving classes for kids.

“ It’s the best fun I have in my entire week. I look forward to getting up on a Sunday and watching these crazy kids cook . . . anything from 8-14 kids at once. They are all hands on. And that is such a pleasure. It was just, as my kids started to learn to cook, and now Rory, my son (just over 4) can make sponges, as long as they are bright blue or red. Georgia is really good with pasta - she is 2 1/2. She loves it. But you know it’s what I do, I’m a cook, so the kids just come in and help Dad.”

Rory and Georgia were there one recent Sunday with ten other kids whilst Dad demonstrated the art of fruit pizzas with fresh berries, Browns’ strawberry jam and yoghurt.

Kids in the Kitchen, a series of free demonstrations, is part of a program of Cooking Classes held regularly at Browns, 545 Malvern Road. The Malvern Road shop is probably the most successful of Browns seven shops -- Toorak ; Albert Park; Brighton; Hawthorn; Hampton; and one opening this Thursday in Lygon Street, Carlton.

Browns Bakeries are now in their fifth year of operation and increasing success. There are some 150 staff working in the excellently equipped factory in Windsor, in the shops, in administration and in delivery all around Melbourne.

Bur for Greg Brown, there’s not the same satisfaction (nor the long hours) there in running a restaurant. Paysan, opened in 1987 by Greg and his wife Merran, won numerous accolades as did Browns, opened in 1990. So why did they decide to close the restaurant??

“That was an easy decision, that was a life style decision and a money decision. As I tell everybody, you make no money in a restaurant, I’ve never hid from that. You do it for love. I love it. I miss it every day of the week. I miss the interaction with people, the romance of food, I miss just the excitement, the pace of the kitchen. It’s not the same in the bakery. I’m not hands on like I used to be.”

Greg is modestly forgetting more than four years of very hard work, very long hours and all the planning and thought that must go into the expensive and efficient factory capable of producing 12 tons of bread nightly; the fleet of successful shops in Melbourne; the Sydney bakery planned to start very soon. None of this could have happened, Greg says, without his brother Chris who manages the large well trained and committed staff and “finds ways of making things work”. Greg also speaks very highly of his key bakery staff, Derren Mayfield, chief baker and Phil Mutton in charge of the new cake kitchen. So with a loyal and dedicated team at the bakery, his brother in administration and Merran’s eye on the shops’ management, Greg is now finding the time to “indulge” himself.

With “the school” in Malvern and its $50,000 demonstration kitchen, he’s able to do what he really loves. “I have a chef’s table which is 12-16 people and once or twice a week I just cook for 12 people . . . my little restaurant. I make one long table and everyone sits at the one table and I just select a menu and I just cook for them.Then there are the cooking classes, held regularly, once or twice a week. But the best one is the kids class. This was just born out of the pleasure of cooking. To be with families and to see Mum and Dad over there smiling and talking with their kids.

“I really believe that the bridge for conversation and repairing of relationships is at the table and (it’s fundamental) for families to cook and to eat together.”

I suggested to Greg that he was providing wonderful therapy for the families that are participating in it. “Pretty good therapy for me,” (says Greg). We’ve got something we call agression cookies . You make the batter and then you belt the living daylights out of the cookies. And you’ve got all the kids, one after the other (bashes the table) and they make these great aggression cookies. It’s good therapy for them”.

Kids in the Kitchen, Sunday mornings at Browns, 545 Malvern Road, Hawksburn. Phone 9827 7322 for bookings and for information on Bread Classes, Cookery Classes and for The Ultimate Dinner, Greg Brown’s Chef’s Table, where Greg chooses the menu, you bring the wine and he gives you his recipes. There are many other aspects of Greg Brown’s work -- the training given to his factory staff, the devleopment of new grain with local farmers, his experience overseas and the study programs he finances there which can be explored on Mietta’s internet site. Also tasting notes of some of Browns’ products.