Chef Davide Della Bella travelled the world before settling in Canberra with his wife. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Who are you?
Davide Della Bella, chef at Trevino’s Clubhouse at Gold Creek Country Club. I like to travel a lot, and I’ve worked in lots of different parts of the world: Italy, Spain, Germany and Canada. I came to Australia on a holiday but this is where I met my wife and where I decided to settle.
How did you end up at Trevino’s Clubhouse?
A member I know from the golf club let me know about Trevino’s, and how the owners wanted to improve it and modernise the menu. The place has got limitless possibilities. It’s still a work in progress, and there are a lot of things we want to do.
How did you get involved in the hospitality industry?
In Italy you choose the path you want to take when you’re 13 years old and you attend a specialist school. My best friend said he would do hospitality school so I went with him. It was very fun; I got thrown into the hospitality world which is made up of pirates and other peculiar people!
Trevino’s Clubhouse at Gold Creek Country Club. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
If you weren’t in hospitality, what would you be doing instead?
Every chef will occasionally think, “I’m done with this! I need to get out!” So I did work as a plumber for six months and I loved it; it was an awesome job! But the problem with cheffing is that once you’re away from the kitchen you start to crave it and you have to go back. At the end of the day, you don’t really want to get out of the kitchen.
What is your food philosophy?
Italians tend to be quite closed-minded about food and say it has to be done in an exact way. But I’m the opposite. I like to cook by looking at what’s in the market, what is good and what the people I’m serving want to eat, even if that’s not ‘traditional’.
What is your current food obsession?
I do get obsessed with different stuff, but right now it’s probably kaffir lime. Last year I was obsessed with ceviche – I was making it all the time and putting coriander in it by the tonne!
Who do you admire in the Canberra food scene?
George Giannoulis. He was the first person I worked for in Canberra and we’ve been friends ever since; he’s like my second family. He opened Kivotos in Braddon recently.
George Giannoulis and Anita Ling are the team behind Kivotos Wine Bar. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Who is your dream dinner party guest, and what would you make them?
I would like to have a couple of chefs who are my best friends from Italy. I haven’t seen them in 10 years so I’d like to have them as guests. And as celebrities I’d invite Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White because I think they’d be very interesting.
Often as chefs we are hidden in the kitchen, so I’d like to cook a barbecue so everyone can be together and have a beer and chat while I’m cooking. I have a little charcoal barbecue so I’d slow cook something like a big fish, or a brisket with some nice veggies. And maybe also some ceviche with kaffir lime to nibble on first!
What’s the best thing you ate this week?
I made some lamb rump with lemon myrtle and kaffir lime on my barbecue this week which was delicious. I first cooked it with sous vide for about three hours and a couple more on the barbecue so it was very tender and the citrus was beautiful.
What’s a food that reminds you of your childhood?
All the different ragu like mushroom ragu, bolognese ragu … I was very close with my maternal grandmother and she would wake at 5 o’clock in the morning and start to cook lunch so when I woke up there was always a sauce bubbling.
In Italy we don’t really do a big breakfast, just a cup of milk coffee and sometimes some bread toasted and dipped into the milk. But mid morning when I started to get hungry my grandmother would make me a slice of bread and a spoon of the sauce that was bubbling on the stove. It was the best thing ever.
Davide had his first burger at Niagara Falls, and now they’re on the menu at Trevino’s! Photo: Michelle Kroll.
When you can’t be bothered to cook for yourself, where do you go and what do you eat?
When we go to the club, I always have a burger; I love burgers. We don’t really have them in Italy, so I still remember my first real burger which was from the Hard Rock Cafe at Niagara Falls!
Where are you travelling next?
I’d like to go back to Italy for Christmas because we haven’t been back for nearly 10 years, since my daughter was a baby. And I also want to go to Thailand. I spent about three or four months there many years ago. It was a wonderful trip. I really enjoyed the culture and the food was so beautiful. I’d planned to go back but my friend said, “Come surfing with me in Australia” and then I met my wife. And now here we are!
Tell me something you love about living in Canberra?
I love the green spaces, and the family activities you can do. My Dad is visiting from Italy and we’ve been going to the War Memorial, the Arboretum and even just to the golf club – sometimes you forget how beautiful it is here until you show someone else.
What book have you been reading?
I’ve been introducing my daughter to Harry Potter. I actually used those books to learn different languages. When I moved to Spain I bought all the books in Italian and in Spanish and that’s the way I learned the language. And it works because the language starts out simple in the first book when the kids are 10 and then as the kids grow in each book it gets more challenging. I did the same when I moved to Canada with the books in English and it was very quick to learn the language that way.
Now I’m introducing my love of those books to my kids.
An easy one to finish – what’s your go-to coffee order?
I like the coffee I make every morning in my mocha pot. And my favourite coffee is the cheapest bag you can buy from the supermarket! I just have it black with a bit of sugar.
Trevino’s Clubhouse is located at Gold Creek Country Club.
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