Jo

The Owner - Jo Corrigan's Bio

"I grew up in remote NSW on a sheep and wheat farm. Being one of nine children in a tough climate with little of today’s usual child monitors (TV, video games etc.) meant that the emphasis was on other things.
Food was always the present topic , welcome punctuation on hard work days, welcome reward at the end. The dinner table also provided the forum one needed to be heard as one of a large bunch so I was in no doubt of it's importance to me from an early age.

We grew a lot of food , our neighbours grew food. We milked our own cow, collected cream to mix with the honey from the farm next door. There were warm afternoons spent with the salt shaker eating tomatoes in the garden with my mum…food was always there.

I went to boarding school in 1982 at Loreto in Sydney. This was a necessary move but a difficult one. This was a dark time for food and I quickly realized that it was an industry I should head for.

Between 1985 and 1989 I did my apprenticeship as a chef. I started with 'Butlers' in Potts Point with Mogens Bay Esbensen and Joyce Johnston. Then went onto 'Bilsons' at Circular Quay, 'The Cricketer’s Arms' with Steven Nichols and Grant Lawrence, then to 'Fine Bouche' (another Tony Bilson place).
I went from there to 'The Botanic Gardens' as second chef in my last year. It was a great four years with the help of so many tough but talented individuals. After that I worked at 'Ravesis' on Bondi Beach for about 18 months saving to go overseas.

I headed straight to London and never looked back.

The first year was more about settling in. I started work at 'The Groucho Club’ and began what was to be an eye-opener of a year. I met Tessa Kiros there and the two of us became firm friends, both of us broke and far from home. We often dreamed about our own restaurants then and spent what little money we had cooking, eating and drinking.

By the time I reached my second year there my awareness was far greater. I knew my way around and had heard great things about a little rest' in Hammersmith called 'The Brackenbury'. An owner-operated wine bar with really special food. All the chefs I knew loved eating there and wanted to work there. I had just come back from a trip to New York and Mexico and went there for lunch. Delicious.

I went on to work at The Brackenbury for three years.
Kate and Adam Robinson were and are the single biggest influences in my career. Not only are they fantastic business operators but the heart they put into their work and staff has been a constant inspiration to me.

I met my husband David in those three years and we married. Adam encouraged me to go into business for myself by giving me the money to do so. I was by no means the most talented in the kitchen - not even by half (our crew consisted of Jonathon Jones - now of the Anchor and Hope, Trish Hilferty, Barney Desmazery, Toby Gush , Mark Broadbent, Ed Lewis, Juliet Peston ....lots of really wonderful cooks). What made it special was the fact that Adam wanted to make great produce and cooking available and affordable to many not just a few. It was true British food. A beautiful mixture of cultures - French, Spanish, Portuguese, Middle-eastern ...That was it for me, I was hooked.

A friend, Caroline, and I opened 'Grove Park Deli' in Chiswick in 1997. During the planning stages I was lucky to work for Alastair Little in Soho, another great cook and former teacher of my mentor Adam.
The deli was special. We catered for a fantastic local community, did a lot of weddings, christenings, parties etc. We baked overnight, made delicious meals to take home, sold incredibly wonderful raw cheeses and so on. It was a wonderful period of travel and life. It is still there, still flourishing.

After moving to Melbourne I tried to have as many different work experiences as I could to get to know the city and the food direction here. I worked at' Sarti', then 'Coffea' (to get close to the market), 'Squisito' in the QV (to get the experience of opening a business here in Melbourne from scratch), then made coffee for four months at 'Big Harvest' to learn the process. It was all about opening 'The Commoner', all about the big picture.

The Commoner is a summation of all of the above. It has elements of my childhood in the outback, it has that feeling of home. It is an ode to travel, my trips to Turkey, Spain, Portugal and France are happily there with the Brit influence and meld well together. It is determinedly produce driven and aware and very definitely very special to me."