After two years of pop-ups and international collaborations, Cam Tay-Yap and Trish Pham are preparing to establish a permanent home for Pebble in West Melbourne
Cam Tay-Yap is preparing to open a permanent restaurant in Melbourne, two years after launching Pebble in the car park of a suburban climbing gym.
The former Amaru head chef and his wife and co-founder, Trish Pham, will open Pebble at the former Benchwarmers site on Victoria Street in West Melbourne in December.
The restaurant will bring together Cam's fine-dining experience, Malaysian heritage and the culinary influences he has explored since leaving Amaru.
For Cam, the opening marks the next step in a career that has gradually shifted from working in established fine-dining restaurants to developing a business of his own.
Building experience in fine dining
Cam began his fine-dining career at Ben Shewry's Attica, where he progressed from work experience to a position as junior sous chef.
He later gained international experience through a placement at Core by Clare Smyth in London, before returning to Melbourne and working at Omnia.
At Amaru, Cam progressed from sous chef to head chef, working alongside executive chef and owner Clinton McIver.
In October 2023, he shared The Age Good Food Guide's 2024 Young Chef of the Year award with MoVida's Lily McGrath. At the same awards, Amaru received its third Good Food Guide hat for the first time.
After leaving Amaru, Cam chose a different environment in which to develop his cooking.
Experimenting beyond the restaurant kitchen
Pebble began in November 2024 at La Roca Boulders in Oakleigh South, where Cam combined his interests in rock climbing and cooking.
Operating with a grill and limited kitchen facilities, he developed a rotating menu that changed every fortnight.
Guest chef collaborations became a regular feature, bringing together chefs including Mika Chae of Doju and former Vue de Monde head pastry chef John Demetrios.
The original residency also gave Cam experience in areas of hospitality beyond cooking, including managing the financial and operational responsibilities of running an independent business.
Speaking to Conversation with a Chef in March 2025, Cam explained that his ambition was always to establish a restaurant of his own.
“The goal is to get to a position where I can open up my own place,” he said.
He also discussed the importance of understanding changing dining habits and balancing his culinary ambitions with what customers want from a restaurant.
Developing Pebble through travel
Following the conclusion of the La Roca residency in May 2025, Cam and Trish spent six months travelling through Asia.
Their collaborations took them to hospitality venues across Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan and other destinations, introducing new influences to Pebble's cooking.
On returning to Melbourne, the couple established a temporary restaurant at the former Earth Angels site in West Melbourne in December 2025.
Dishes served during that residency included mushroom rendang pies, Korean-inspired marinated flank steak and Vietnamese-style chicken wings.
Cam also explored familiar Malaysian flavours through desserts, including a Milo tart incorporating several different preparations of the chocolate malt powder.
The temporary restaurant closed in May 2026, with further collaborations announced during the winter, including a July dinner with Mika at Doju.
Bringing fine-dining practices into a neighbourhood restaurant
While the permanent Pebble will offer a different dining experience to Amaru, several practices from Cam's former kitchen will remain important.
In an interview with Broadsheet on 13 November, Cam identified pickling, preservation and finding uses for kitchen by-products as priorities for the new restaurant.
The menu will draw on his Malaysian heritage alongside influences from elsewhere in Asia and Europe.
Trish will continue to oversee the restaurant's creative direction, with members of Cam's family also contributing to the design and construction.
For Cam, the move into a permanent venue brings together the cooking, collaborations and business experience he has developed over the past two years.
Pebble is scheduled to open in December 2026 at 345 Victoria Street, West Melbourne. An exact opening date and the restaurant's new menu are yet to be announced.
