From quarantine to life in the garden: Pialligo's new chef ready to go

After obtaining a permit to leave Victoria, Glenn arrived in Canberra only to be surprised by the lack of screening at Canberra Airport as well as the haphazard follow up from ACT Health. The ACT Government put the incident down to human error during the transferring of information into its contact tracing system.

Ever the pragmatist, Glenn said quarantine was a good opportunity to get his head around the new role at Pialligo. There were regular produce deliveries to his hotel room and he spent a lot of time developing recipes and writing menus and familiarising himself with all the different portfolios he'll manage.

He was formerly head chef of Cumulus Inc restaurant in Melbourne, working with the Andrew McConnell Group, and he admits he's never been to Canberra before.

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He's excited by the idea that from the gardens at Pialligo he can look across to Parliament House, such bountiful gardens just kilometres away from the city centre.

"I'm hoping to develop something of a symbiotic relationship between all of the offerings we have here," he says.

"We have 55 acres our disposal and it's about really trying to incorporate all of that into all of the menus here and really raising the bar as far as the food offerings go."

He says his cooking ethos is all about sourcing good produce and not messing with it too much. And that starts by working on his relationship with the gardening team.

"It's nice to get out into the gardens and see what's looking good, just yesterday we wandered out to the broccoli site and they're bolting and going to flower so I'm think of ways to utilise that."

With six distinct dining spaces, as well as an eye on the smokehouse, vineyard, academy, cafe and market grocer, Glenn is looking forward to the challenge of taking Pialligo forward. "We need to offer the best food, made from our quality produce, supporting the area and really putting Pialligo on the map."

A stone's throw from the estate, the Gourmet Grocer has opened at The Plot, at 12 Beltana Road.

After the successful pivot during COVID, where Pialligo set up an online grocery store featuring their own branded goods as well as staples and quality produce from the local region, the estate has opened a permanent shopfront not far from the Farm Shop Cafe.

There'll be an opportunity to meet the team, and some local producers at a launch event on November 1 from 10am to 3pm.