What do you need to cook something uniquely delicious? You need the right ingredients, the cooking skills, patience and a little bit of love. That’s also what it takes to become a talented chef, something that Angelo Velante knows all too well.

Velante is a Filipino chef who has been quietly making his mark in the Australian culinary scene. Until he opened his own restaurant in August 2013, Peel St. Kitchen, he was the head chef at Eatons Hill Hotel in Queensland, considered the largest pub in Australia, whose function rooms, nine bars and main restaurant can easily seat 7,000 people.

The Velantes migrated to Australia in June 1989 to join relatives who had settled earlier Down Under. Velante was only 9 at that time. “I remember how cold it was because we had never experienced winter (in the Philippines) before.”

Their early years in Australia were a difficult time for the family. His parents had to work day and night jobs so the Velante children—Angelo and his sisters—were left to cook and fend for themselves. The experience turned out to be a positive one, the chef recalls. “That’s how we grew up independent and strong-willed,” he says.

Food has always been central to the Velantes’ family life.

“We used to live in Marimar Village in Parañaque where life was simple and preparing Filipino food was always the vehicle for social gatherings among family, friends or neighbors,” he recounts.

Like most Filipino chefs, the young Velante grew up watching and helping his mom and grandmother cook. In fact, he considers his mother as the biggest influence in his love for cooking.

“What can I say? My mother taught me how to cook my very first dish which was, of course, adobo. But until now, my adobo is still not quite up to my mom’s (standard). She also taught me values and the connection between family and food.”

When he was 14, Velante had his first restaurant job as a part-time kitchen hand and prep cook. “I’d look at the chefs cooking and dream that I would get there someday,” he recalls.

But success didn’t come easy. To make his dream a reality, the young chef realized that he had to leave the comfort of his home in Australia and explore opportunities abroad.

“When I was 17, I read a cookbook called ‘White Heat’ by a British chef named Marco Pierre White. I was so inspired that I knew right then and there that I was going to London and work for this man,” says Velante.

After honing his skills as apprentice chef at various restaurants in Australia, the young chef decided that he was ready for his dream and left for work in the UK. “When I set foot in London, I knew I wanted to train with the best (and that) it did not matter how long it took.”

Though his plan to work for White did not materialize, Velante was able to train under chefs whom he considers as among the best in the business. “I ended up working for the Gordon Ramsay Company instead,” he says of one of the world’s most respected and multi-awarded chefs who is also notorious for his volatile temper in the reality cooking shows “Kitchen Nightmares,” “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Masterchef.”

Explains Velante: “I trained under Josh Emmett, Gordon’s head chef at Savoy Hotel, then under Marcus Wareing in Petrus. Finally, I finished with an Irish chef named Richard Corrigan. These are Michelin-starred chefs, they’re like rock stars in the culinary world.”

His experience and training in Europe taught him some important lessons in becoming a chef, he says. “(They) showed me the good and bad (side) of the industry. You were toughened mentally and physically doing 18-hour days with no breaks, while still expected to remain focused during service. If a normal kitchen were like the army, then these kitchens would be its special forces.”

But his training in Europe also provided Velante with some of his most memorable experiences as a chef and allowed him the opportunity to prepare meals for United Nations ambassadors, the European Art Ballet and also a family christening at Buckingham Palace.

He explains, “I worked for Richard Corrigan who had a catering company called Searcys, thatsends highly qualified chefs up and down the UK for private functions like fundraisers and private events that had 50 to 100, sometimes 1,000, guests. In this case I went to Buckingham Palace.”

Velante recalls that he personally prepared a special dish for Prince Charles, but disappointingly, it was nothing fancy, probably just weird. “Everybody else was eating truffle risotto for entrée and he just wanted toast. It was bizarre, how it was prepared. His personal assistant went to the kitchen and told me how this royal liked his toast.”

According to Velante, the personal assistant told him: “When you think the bread is burning in the toaster, count another 10 seconds and take it out. Crust off and cut in half diagonally.”

“It was just burnt black,” the chef recalls of Prince Charles’ special dish.

But Velante is setting his sights higher than just serving meals to royalty. His one big vision is to make Filipino food matter Down Under.

“I will introduce Filipino food under the umbrella of modern Australia, using beautiful local and seasonal produce that are readily available here. The dishes won’t be pretentious, are accessible and would have a quirky fun feeling.”

He adds: “I would like the world to say that Filipino food has integrity and substance. There is a lot of history in our cuisine and each dish has its own story to tell.”

Velante believes that it is important to make Filipino food more accessible to an international market. “We call kare-kare ‘Wagyu Oxtail braised in peanut sauce with tripe and rice puffs.’ I make the menu description easy to understand so everyone can relate.”

At the end of the day, he says, the flavors of the food and the whole dining experience should speak for themselves. “To me, it’s not only the food that has to deliver; it’s the whole experience. The service has to be brilliant, the surrounding has to match, and most of all, I would use Filipino flavors (and make them) the point of difference.”

Along with his wife, Angela, also a trained chef and was one of the sous chefs in Eatons Hill, Velante opened Peel St. Kitchen in August this year to rave reviews.

Among those reviews is this one posted on www.mustdobrisbane.com, “South Brisbane’s hottest foodie destination, Peel St. Kitchen is a funky tropical-themed restaurant and cocktail bar whose signature is fine dining at café prices and homemade fusion cocktails with quirky titles. And while it may be a bit off the beaten track it’s a detour well worth-taking.”

The Weekend Edition reports, “Owners Angelo and Angela Velante have spent the past 15 years perfecting their art in restaurants across Europe and Australia, and now they’ve poured their time and talents into the new project on Peel Street. The Velantes have taken fragments of inspiration from their combined heritage and world travels, and merged them effortlessly to create a quirky all-day dining destination.”

Velante says that opening a restaurant is not without its complications but with the right ingredients—good food, good service and a lot of passion, it can only translate to success. “This is the seventh restaurant that I’m about to open, and it’s a special one because it’s ours. Setting the culture and proper procedures of the establishment is definitely the most important aspect in running a business.”

The road to success is never easy, but Velante’s advice to other chefs is simple: “Never lose focus of the goal, no matter how hard (and long) it takes. Work smarter, not harder. And remember, everyone makes mistakes; you just have to learn from it and keep going.” •