Justin North
Justin North’s culinary career began in New Zealand, following his passion for French cuisine, he travelled to Europe in 1996 to work in the 2 Michelin Star kitchen of Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons with Raymond Blanc. Upon returning to Sydney he joined one of the city’s most exciting kitchen teams at Banc with Liam Tomlin.
Between 2001 and 2012 Justin ran his own restaurant, Bécasse in Surry Hills. In July 2005, North relocated Bécasse to the CBD with the restaurant developing and evolving into one of Sydney’s premier dining spaces.
Bécasse was named in the top 100 restaurants in the world in 2007. In that year the restaurant also won the coveted Sydney Morning Herald Restaurant of the Year. Justin was awarded the title of 2009 SMH Chef of the Year and in November 2010 was named GQ Chef of the Year at the Man of the Year awards.
At the beginning of 2014, Justin joined the Sydney-based Halcyon Hotels as Executive Chef to oversee the recent acquisition of one of the Eastern Suburbs’ favourite locations – The Centennial. Re-branded, re-furbished and relaunched as Hotel Centennial, the venue has received a loyal following from locals as well as those from farther afield, drawn to sample Justin’s take on contemporary hotel dining.
Justin is the author of two award-winning books — Bécasse: Inspirations and Flavours and the recently re-published French Lessons. In 2014 he published his third book Family Cooking with Penguin Australia. Justin has authored many articles including a sustainability opinion piece published in the New York Times.
Justin’s media credits include Masterchef Australia and Junior Masterchef as well as appearances and cooking segments on Nine’s Today Show, Chanel Seven’s The Morning show, The Lifestyle Channel’s Christmas Special, Mercurio’s Menu (a Sydney Special) and The Circle, Chanel 10.
Justin is the co-founder and director of Concept Hospitality with business partner Will Talbot, a Sydney hospitality consultancy firm set up in early 2018.
L’amour is thrilled to be collaborating with Justin North and he is available to consult on your menu for the upcoming season.