Award-winning chef Guy Jeffreys takes over inner-city favourite Wines of While for zero-waste winter feasts

Wines of While’s beloved white beans will make a comeback, but with a twist. Former executive chef at Millbrook Winery, Gourmet Traveller’s 2022 WA restaurant of the year, Guy Jeffreys plans to include a nourishing rainbow chard and white haricot bean soup during his five-week stint as chef in residence at the popular inner-city wine bar. Both the chard and beans are from the garden at the vegetable whisperer’s home in Beaconsfield. Jeffreys, who finished a 13-year run at Millbrook in November last year, will include plenty of winter veggies grown in the rich Jarrahdale soil the acclaimed chef transplanted from the Darling Ranges winery to his new digs near the sandy coast. While Jeffreys has launched his Kitchen Community business hosting cooking classes, private dinners and pop-ups after departing Millbrook — he still consults for owners, Fogarty Wine Group — he couldn’t say no to a guest role at Wines of While. “I love eating bar food,” the in-demand chef said. “I’ve been in a winery for a long time, and I love that as well, but whenever I went out, I would always go out to bars and eat a little bit of this, a little bit of that with a glass of something. It’s my favourite way to eat.” Jeffreys’ zero-waste ethos and use of home-grown produce appealed to owners, Emma Pegrum and Tom Van Beem, who took over the Gourmet Traveller bar of the year winner in December 2023. The couple said that the concept of rotating guest chefs was becoming more common in European food capitals such as Paris and Copenhagen, challenging the rigid hierarchy of top kitchens. “Everyone’s moving around a lot and the new vagabond lifestyle of chefs is increasingly common,” Pegrum explained. “It’s still very much an experiment to see if it’s possible in Perth, but we really liked the idea of working with different people, bringing different ideas through the kitchen and looking at a very creative and collaborative space. And having something new to bring to diners regularly. “For us, it’s a platform for collaborating with people who are doing really interesting things, have a good ethos and are passionate about what they do,” she added. “We came into (owning Wines of While) wanting to inject a lot of energy. We like to feel like things are shifting and changing. We don’t like things to feel stagnant. “We want diners to come and know that they’re going to be looked after, no matter what. They don’t have to know anything, they can just rock up and know that we’ve chosen great people to come into the space.” One of Jeffreys first questions when invited be chef in residence was whether the famed white beans had to be on the menu. “No,” Pegrum told him, “we’re open to you doing what you want.” Highlights of Jeffreys’ winter menu launching Thursday, July 11 include marinated octopus, scallop baked in shallot sauce, raw vegetables with preserved swordfish tonnato, pork rillette with beer mustard, a confit fennel, orange and macadamia salad and flat iron steak with mojo verde and winter leaves. Van Beem suggested diners come as a foursome and order one of everything then “just sit and while away the time”. As part of the five-week run, Jeffreys and the Wines of While team will also offer a special three-course lunch on Sundays for $55 per person. At this stage, the chef’s opening menu on July 14 features spaghetti with clams and speck, Berkshire porchetta with herbed Jerusalem artichokes and a dessert combining “citrus, meringue and ginger nut”. The menus will probably change, Jeffreys admitted, depending on what produce he can get his hands on. “For me, food and menus are just seasonal and what I like to eat. Always has been,” he said. “At Wines, I get to put it into a bar setting as opposed to a winery setting. “Tom and Emma have just taken over this,” Jeffreys continued, “and I see it as something really exciting to be a part of at the beginning and hopefully help them make some changes.” Wines of While, which opened in 2018, has also changed opening hours, closing on Wednesdays to instead cater to the hospitality crowd (and canny foodies) on Mondays. The bar’s new chef in residence program kicked off with locals Blake Ellis and Branden Scott. After Jeffreys finishes on August 5, up-and-coming young Victorian chef Jack Short will take over at the William Street favourite. Short was head chef at Italian restaurant Bar Romantica and sous chef at Mauritian diner Manze, both in Melbourne. His three-week run ends on August 26, then Wines of While will close to revamp the dining room before re-opening with more guest chefs. Serving dinner on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, plus lunch and dinner on Saturdays and lunch on Sundays, Wines of While is located at 458 William Street, Perth.