Third time’s the charm for Viveik Vinoharan, who has won the coveted 2026 Good Food Guide Young Chef of the Year award after three consecutive years as a finalist.
“I’m persistent – like, if I want something, I’m just going to be on the ball for it,” he says.
The 29-year-old Melbourne-based chef says the recognition is a huge pinch-me moment.
“It’s such a fulfilling thing – the people on the judging panel are industry icons, people who I have looked up to for years, who think that I am the chef of the year,” Vinoharan says.
“It’s a lot, but in the best way.”
Growing up in Sydney, Viveik Vinoharan’s vocation was a happy accident, arising from a six-month break from his Bachelor of Forensic Science degree where he undertook an apprenticeship with the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW, a place he credits for his love of fresh produce.
“I always want to work somewhere I get to use the best things you can get – things that you don’t need to fly on a ship and then a boat and then the plane just to get there,” he says.
In 2019, he took up a demanding position in the small Japanese town of Hakuba, surrounded by the Japanese Alps.
“You would need to plan out your menus quite smartly because you couldn’t guarantee the deliveries every single day – if there’s a big snowstorm, you’re done, you don’t get any produce,” Vinoharan remembers.
COVID brought him to the newly opened Lilac Wine in Cremorne, Melbourne where he found a kindred spirit in head chef Kyle Nicol.
“When we first opened up it was balls to the wall. It was so busy for a solid year. It was so much fun, and we had such a good team,” he says.
“[Lilac Wine] was my first foray into woodfire work – it was an absolute beast to learn but I’m so glad that I did. Now I’m obsessed with smoke and woodfire.”
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He has since left Lilac Wine to find his culinary identity in a series of pop-up restaurants, where he applies all the experience he has accumulated to date.
“[My style’s] not traditional Sri Lankan – I’m not even going to attempt that, I have a family, and they’ve got it down pat. My cooking is Lankan influenced but cooked the way that I’ve grown up in the industry – Australian Produce, French techniques, Japanese techniques. It’s a weird combo, but so far so good!” Vinoharan says.
“I think the best way to describe it is ‘Lankan leaning’.”
Though taking a different approach to Sri Lankan cuisine, he still fondly remembers the food of his family home growing up.
“One of my earliest food memories is helping my mum deep fry chillies – I would be standing on this small booster seat because the stove top was way too high,” Vinoharan laughs.
“Mum was like ‘make sure you put it in carefully; it’s going to spit’…I literally just threw the chillies into the pot and then the oil splashed on me! I’ve still got a scar.”
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He says the secret to a good dish is honouring the ingredients and the process, advice which he has certainly followed for his signature pumpkin juice mochi stuffed with Seeni sambol, a savoury take on the classic Japanese rice cake balancing earthy flavours with a tangy kick.
“It was an absolute pain to prep 60 of those, oh my God, my back was in so much pain afterwards!” Vinoharan says of the recipe. “But I feel like that has been one of the things in recent memory that I’m very proud of.”
He looks forward to opening his own restaurant sometime soon and honing a singular vision.
“I think the next move for me would definitely be running a spot. I miss sinking my teeth into somewhere I can be every day and further developing my identity,” Viveik Vinoharan says.
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