While most chefs take inspiration from their heritage, there are probably few whose influences are as diverse as those of chef Ramael Scully. Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and brought up in Sydney, with a mother of Chinese and Indian descent and an Irish Balinese father, he has, in his own words, a ‘truly eclectic palette’. ‘I have been lucky,’ he smiles. ‘Mum had lived in the UK so when I was growing up she would cook Western-style food as well as Malay, and my aunties would cook Indian and Chinese.’ The family relocated to Sydney when Scully, as he is best-known, was a child, exposing him to the country’s vibrant culinary cultures. Though he always loved food, it wasn’t until his teenage years that he really started cooking (the original career plan was, he says, marine biology), preparing dinner for his sister while his mum, a nurse, was working, picking up kitchen porter shifts at an Italian restaurant and, at seventeen, starting catering college. ‘I started thinking ‘I could really do this’,’ he says. ‘I wanted to see the world and thought maybe it was the best way to do it.’

Scully says he owes a lot to Australia’s four-year apprenticeship system. By the time he was twnty-one, he was already firmly embedded in the industry; roles cooking aboard showboats in Sydney, at a casino restaurant, another at Fox Studios, a French-Asian fusion spot (where he turned his hand to baking and pastry) and the beachside Bathers Pavilion had exposed him to different team cultures, cuisines and dining styles. There were, he says, plenty of lessons learned along the way, some general (time management and the competitive nature of professional kitchens), and others more specific (the importance writing down recipe notes carefully and responding to head chefs quickly). ‘I was potty trained young,’ he laughs, ‘and was mature by the time I turned 21.’ With the foundations built, it was in his mid-twenties that Scully first started exploring the ingredients which would become pillars of his cooking style. ‘I had worked in the game for six years, but had never really worked with Asian flavours,’ he says. ‘I started thinking ‘if I did this with mum’s cooking that would really work’ or ‘if you used tamarind instead of this ingredient, it would be great’.’

In 2005, Scully packed his bags and moved to London, spending the first year finding his feet (and learning, he laughs, to never arrive in the capital ‘with empty pockets’) until he landed at job at Ottolenghi Upper Street. At the time, the Yotam Ottolenghi empire was in its early years, and Scully had little idea of how influential its growth would be on his career. A few days into the job, he had the opportunity to impress his new boss, serving him portobello mushrooms braised in white wine, and what Yotam has since described as the ‘crispiest pork belly to ever enter my mouth’, with a plum, rhubarb, chilli, ginger and star anise compote. Scully had made a good impression. Over the coming months, his style and beloved Asian flavours were increasingly blended with Ottolenghi's Middle Eastern taste, and it wasn’t long before the chef had become a crucial part of the business. Yotam, writing in The Guardian, once said: ‘In short, Scully showed us how to do ‘restaurant’, we taught him how to do ‘Ottolenghi’, and the result is this hybrid set of dishes that are now ‘Ottolenghi haute cuisine’.