Simon Bryant has been Executive Chef at Hilton Adelaide since 2001.
Working in the university kitchen to earn some extra cash while studying Economics at Melbourne University, Simon realised he’d rather wear a chef’s hat than a business suit. He began his career in several Thai & Indian Restaurants in Melbourne, before moving to Adelaide in 1995.
Simon has been with Hilton Adelaide for ten years, commencing as a Commis Chef, followed by 18 months as a Chef de Partie in The Grange with Cheong Liew and rapidly working his way up to Senior Sous Chef of The Brasserie. It is in The Brasserie where Simon has emerged as one of Adelaide’s hottest young chefs.
Simon brings a fresh, down-to-earth approach to cooking and has a great appreciation for simple food cooked properly, which is demonstrated by the innovative style of the restaurant and catering menus in the Hilton Adelaide. His passion for fresh local produce has resulted in an innovative concept, Seriously South Australian cuisine, which promotes the State’s finest produce to hotel guests and members of the public alike.
Simon’s passion for cooking is evident in his cooking classes in Hilton Adelaide’s main kitchen, guest appearances at the Adelaide Central Market and regional farmers markets and his national series, The Cook and The Chef (ABC, 6.30pm Wednesdays).

As chef de partie at the Brasserie Restaurant in the Hilton Adelaide, Michael is responsible for bringing the hotel's ambitious Seriously South Australian food promotion to life. This means that he is working his way around the state- region by region- to source specialised produce and prepare dishes for the Brasserie menu that present each locale in the most complimentary light.

To succeed, Michael's task is to intimately understand the differences between foods from the various regions. And to do this Michael encourages his kitchen crew to go out and get in touch with the land.

Creating the Seriously South Australian core menu of 17 dishes from across the State took about three months of planning, tests cooking and comparing. Michael must also include a list of specials every two months from a specific region, and the pressure of presenting worthy regional signature dishes has built his accumulated knowledge and contacts with food suppliers.

Its a busy schedule for the young chef to maintain, with a lot of challenges ahead to keep sourcing superior produce and maintain the high standards that the regional menus have established, but Michael feels equal to the task!

Our staff are extensively trained in each aspect of our menu and encouraged to offer suggestions and personal recommendations. Our chefs and restaurant staff take a field trip each month to visit our suppliers, ensuring they are well-informed on the finer details of the ingredients and produce we use.

Our suppliers are strongly encouraged to attend our pre service briefing, which occurs daily, to provide product knowledge training to our staff. This style of training ensures our staff are confidently talking to our customers about the product, which they have learned about directly from the supplier themselves.