Renowned chef Janni Kyritsis grew up in northern Greece, where he worked as an electrician and in the Greek merchant navy. Arriving in Melbourne in 1970 at the age of 24, he soon found a job as a ‘sparkie’ at the Melbourne Museum, and shortly after met his partner, David Bradshaw. David encouraged him to take up cooking as a way to learn English, and soon Janni became obsessed with all things culinary. The self-taught cook persuaded Stephanie Alexander to take him on at Stephanie’s, where he stayed for 5 years, before moving to Sydney and Gay Bilson’s internationally recognised Berowra Waters Inn in 1982. There the first Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide named Janni 1985 Chef of the Year, and the restaurant retained its three-hat status until it closed in 1995. Janni and Gay then moved to Sydney’s iconic Bennelong in the Opera House.
