Australian Chefs Abroad: Brett Graham’s journey from Newcastle to three Michelin stars

Brett Graham left school at 15 to start cooking in a Newcastle seafood restaurant. More than three decades later, the Australian chef is behind one of London’s most acclaimed restaurants, with The Ledbury holding three Michelin stars.

Brett Graham’s route to the top of British dining started a long way from London.

Growing up in Newcastle, New South Wales, Brett had no grand plan to become a chef. His introduction to professional kitchens came through a week’s work experience at Scratchleys on the Wharf when he was 15.

The experience became an apprenticeship, Brett left school and began learning his trade while studying at TAFE NSW.

It was a simple beginning, but one that gave him the foundation for a career that would eventually take him from Newcastle to Sydney and then London.

Today, Brett is chef-patron and co-owner of The Ledbury in Notting Hill, one of only six London restaurants holding three Michelin stars in the 2026 Michelin Guide.

From Newcastle to Sydney

At 18, Brett moved to Sydney to join Banc.

The shift exposed him to a completely different level of cooking. He has previously described the attention to detail, quality of ingredients and demanding hours at Banc as the period that hooked him on fine dining.

Brett spent three years at the restaurant, with Liam Tomlin becoming one of the most important mentors of his early career.

It was also at Banc that an opportunity arrived that would change his trajectory.

Brett won the Josephine Pignolet Award, with the prize helping take him to the UK.

When he spoke to The Staff Canteen in 2010, Brett recalled arriving in London without a job arranged. A recommendation from a friend secured him a trial at The Square and he started there a week later.

What might have been a short overseas experience became the beginning of a new career.

Learning at The Square

The Square was already one of London’s leading restaurants when Brett joined the kitchen under chef-patron Phil Howard.

He stayed for three-and-a-half years, progressing through the brigade and developing under a chef who would become a major influence on both his cooking and leadership.

The relationship eventually developed into a business partnership.

In 2005, Howard and restaurateur Nigel Platts-Martin gave Brett the opportunity to open The Ledbury in Notting Hill.

At 26, and having never previously been a head chef, Brett was suddenly responsible for his own kitchen.

Building The Ledbury

The Ledbury earned its first Michelin star in 2006, less than a year after opening.

A second followed in 2010.

Over time, the restaurant established itself as one of the defining restaurants of its generation in London, with Brett’s cooking increasingly centred on produce, seasonality and a close relationship with the ingredients entering the kitchen.

That interest has extended well beyond sourcing.

Through Capability Graham, Brett works with farmers and producers across the UK on venison, Jersey beef, Iberian pork and other produce, bringing him much closer to the ingredients used at The Ledbury.

Closing and starting again

By 2020, The Ledbury had spent a decade holding two Michelin stars and was firmly established among the UK’s leading restaurants.

Then the pandemic hit.

Brett concluded that the restaurant could not operate safely or viably with social distancing in place, with the disappearance of international visitors adding to the challenge.

The Ledbury closed and there was no certainty it would return.

Almost two years later, it did.

The restaurant reopened in February 2022 with a redesigned dining room, fewer covers and a tasting-menu format.

The comeback was rapid.

The Ledbury returned to the Michelin Guide with two stars in 2023.

In February 2024, almost two decades after the restaurant first opened, Brett and his team were awarded a third Michelin star.

Four months later, The Ledbury was named the UK’s Best Restaurant at the National Restaurant Awards, reclaiming a title it had previously held between 2010 and 2012.

The restaurant continues to hold three Michelin stars in the 2026 Michelin Guide.

Giving the opportunity back

Despite building most of his professional career in Britain, Brett has maintained an important connection to where it began.

The Brett Graham Scholarship gives young cooks from the Hunter and Central Coast the opportunity to gain experience in London with Brett at The Ledbury.

Supported through TAFE NSW and the Hunter Culinary Association, the scholarship is currently valued at $10,000.

There is a neat symmetry to it.

An Australian young-chef award helped Brett leave Sydney and experience a world he had not previously known.

More than two decades later, he is helping another generation of Australian cooks do something similar.

From Newcastle to London

There was nothing inevitable about Brett’s path.

He began at 15 in a Newcastle seafood restaurant, moved to Sydney at 18 and took the opportunity to travel overseas after winning an award.

The Australian apprenticeship gave him his foundations. Banc raised his expectations. The Square developed him further and introduced him to the people who would eventually back his first restaurant.

What followed was built in London.

Brett did not simply become an Australian chef working overseas. He built a restaurant that has been part of London’s dining landscape for more than 20 years, survived its biggest disruption and returned at an even higher level.

Three Michelin stars are the clearest measure of where that journey has taken him.

But the stronger connection to his Australian beginnings may be what has happened since.

The opportunity that once took a young chef from Newcastle to London is now one Brett is helping provide for the Australian chefs coming behind him.