Michael thrived on leadership and motivation, and saw as his next move the challenging role of Executive Chef of the Hotel Nikko Darling Harbour. At the time, this was the largest 5 Star Hotel to be built in Australia and at just 26 years old, Michael was the youngest hotel Executive Chef.  The Nikko's Corn Exchange Brasserie became highly regarded and featured in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide.

Four and half years later, during a trip to the UK to get married, Michael was introduced to Sir Terence Conran, design visionary and founder of one of Britain’s most dynamic and successful restaurant groups. As a result, he found he was itching for another challenge.

Sir Terence instantly recognized the passion and dynamism in Michael and offered him the job of Executive Chef on one of his largest projects to date, The Bluebird “Gastrodome’ in London’s Chelsea.

“It was the early 80's and London was a vibrant and exciting place for a young chef. Nouvelle Cuisine was in full swing.” 

 Michael and his wife Angela jumped at this opportunity and they headed back to London.

With responsibility for a restaurant, private club, production kitchen, food store and café, and a team of 120 chefs, Michael faced his biggest challenge to date. He was involved in the ground up design and build of the kitchens and dining space through to operation of this $30m project. In the course of a year, pre-opening, Michael travelled around the UK and Europe, selecting his team as well as testing and tasting the entire range of Bluebird’s 25,000 products for The Food Store.

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