Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/52531
FOOD rocking the west Australian superchef Neil Perry has not only inspired a generation of diners. Behind the stoves at his brand new Rockpool Bar & Grill in Perth is Chef Dan Masters, an enthusiastic protégé who runs his kitchen very much in the Perry mould. STORY SALLY HAMMOND CHEF NEIL PERRY must have sensed that second-year apprentice Dan Masters would be a 'keeper' when he invited him to join the Rockpool Group at Sydney's Bistro Mars in 1998. Even then Masters' enthusiasm was high. Fast forward 13 years and Chef Masters now heads up the very new Rockpool Bar & Grill at Perth's iconic Burswood Entertainment Complex overlooking the Swan River. Masters' career has spanned the globe with 10 years overseas. His CV is spiked with famous restaurants such as French Laundry in the Napa Valley and La Gavroche in London. Yet such is the pull of Perry's team that Masters recently returned to Rockpool in Sydney and spent six months calibrating himself to 26 www.travelandliving.com.au the style and pace. What brought him back? "Neil Perry is just incredible to work for," he says. "He is just so approachable. It's a really cool place to work." So, of course, when he was offered the role of establishing yet another Rockpool Bar & Grill on the far side of the country, he jumped at it. "WA is very different," he says. "I moved here solely for the job. After 10 years overseas, I came back to Rockpool and started talking to Neil and he asked if I would be interested. This place has been about 18 months in the making. Now I love this beautiful restaurant." And it is truly lovely. In an eerie echo of the two other Rockpool Bar & Grills in Melbourne and Sydney, the