In this episode, Tawnya Bahr talks with Amber Doig, an impressive chef and quiet achiever about ego, culinary instinct, seaweed, and why attitude will always beat talent. 

Amber Doig left Christchurch at 17 for Australia. Twenty-something years later, she's worked alongside Alex Stupack, Chef and Co-Owner of the Empellón restaurant group based in New York City, and is now quietly reshaping how Sydney eats Mexican food.

This isn't a rags-to-riches story. It's a story about showing up, getting humbled in a New York kitchen, and realising that where you're from: your mum's single-parent cooking, your Māori heritage, your Pacific roots, is exactly what makes your food worth eating. 

What You'll Hear in This Episode

• Food as family Amber grew up surrounded by professional cooking: her mother trained as a chef as a teenager, cooked through her pregnancy, and had Amber in restaurant kitchens by the age of 10, what she calls "young work experience, AKA free labour"
• Rejected but undeterred When Christchurch's hospitality school turned her away over English and Maths requirements, Amber packed up and moved to Sydney at 17 to start her apprenticeship on her own terms
• Learning the trade in Sydney From a Rozelle  cafe under head chef Christopher Mitchell via the Hospitality Training Network, to six-plus years with mentor Vanessa Martin at Il Piave, Rozelle, the years that built her foundation
• The New York epiphany A New Year's Eve ball drop in 2010 became a life-changing encounter with Mexican cuisine at Empellón. Five years later, she went back, this time to work
• Training under Alex Stupak Two years cooking across multiple Empellón concepts, including a James Beard event for the launch of Stupak's taco cookbook and ringside seats as Albert Adrià's team cooked at the Push Project dinner collaboration
• A lesson in humility Why New York was a wake-up call for her ego, and how working alongside elite chefs from around the world completely redefined her understanding of speed, precision, and culinary knowledge
• Returning to Sydney with purpose Coming home armed with new techniques, bold flavours, and a fire to show Sydneysiders the real depth and complexity of Mexican cuisine
• Mexican food beyond Old El Paso Why Amber sees her role as partly educational: the origin story of tacos, mole, Oaxaca cheese, tomatillos, and the fact that Mexico gave the world tomatoes, chillies, and corn
• Sourcing the unsourceable The challenge of tracking down Mexican ingredients in Sydney's early days, and how the scene has since transformed with local growers and specialist importers now meeting the demand
• Seaweed as the next frontier Her current obsession: sea lettuce from Rocky Point Aquaculture, dehydrated for salads, blitzed into powders, and made into furikake-style seasonings
• Pacific roots on the plate A ceviche-inspired ikamata dish drawing on Māori and Pacific culinary traditions, snapper, coconut, and sumac in equal parts nostalgia and innovation
• Almost a decade at Applejack Her role at Butler, her involvement across new openings, and working with Director of Culinary Patrick Friesen on menu development across 13 venues
• The Opera Bar, reimagined How Applejack Hospitality is bringing locals back alongside tourists: Basa Falafel, Vietnamese banh mi, broken rice, Sydney Rock oysters with Fermentalist Habanero Hot Sauce, and a genuine commitment to local producers

Follow Amber Doig

• Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/amber_doig_/ 

About Straight to the Source

Straight To The Source brings you closer to the chefs, producers, growers and makers across the entire food chain, the people shaping where food is headed and why it matters. Hosted by food experts Tawnya Bahr and Lucy Allon. 

Reach out, leave a review, and share this episode with someone in the industry who needs to hear it.

You can find us: 

• Straight To The Source Food Podcast: https://lnk.to/jBCTBE
• Straight To The Source Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/straight_to_the_source/ 
• Straight To The Source Website: http://straighttothesource.com.au

Tawnya Bahr: 

• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/tawnyabahr/ 
• Instagram: @tawnyabahr  
• Email: tbahr@straighttothesource.com.au

Lucy Allon:

• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucyallon/ 
• Instagram: @lucy_allon 
• Email: lucy@straighttothesource.com.au

Keywords: Women in Food, Straight To The Source podcast, Australian chef, Applejack Hospitality Group, hospitality industry, kitchen culture, Sydney, foodpodcast,  Australian food producers, chef career advice, Mexican food, Alex Stupak, Empellón  

Resources & Links

• James Beard Foundation,  https://www.jamesbeard.org/events-overview
• Applejack Hospitality Group,  applejackhospitality.com.au
• Opera Bar, Sydney,  operabar.com.au
• Empellón: https://www.empellon.com/alex-stupak/ 
• Rocky Point Aquaculture, sea lettuce and sustainable Australian seafood
• Carriageworks Farmers Market, Sydney's celebrated producer market, home to local artisans, including Marrickville cheese makers

Have a story to share or a topic we should dive into? Drop us a line — we always love hearing from you.

Straight To The Source is hosted by Tawnya Bahr and Lucy Allon.