Chef Reese Inkpen hosts pop-up at Paranormal Wines after stint in London

You take in everything that this cultural epicentre of the world has to offer. For any foodie, a large part of this will be the culinary culture. But for a chef - one who is working in a highly regarded wine bar in east London - this is turned up a few notches.

The question is, however, what happens when you come back? And how does your approach to Australian food change?

This is what Reese Inkpen is in the process of finding out.

Most recently, Inkpen was part of the team at Planque, a restaurant/wine bar run by fellow Australian Seb Myers in east London.

And although his London stint is not officially over yet - the born-and-bread Canberran has plans to head back to the land of crumpets and mushy peas - his extended time back in his hometown is a chance for him to rediscover what the capital has to offer. Something that is also set to benefit Canberra's food lovers.

And, for that matter, to the team at Paranormal Wines.

With the Campbell venue's head chef Aidan Kidson and partner welcoming their first child, Inkpen is stepping in as Paranormal Wines chef in residence, bringing with him a brand new menu to mix things up for spring.

"We first met Reece when he popped into the store in 2021 to buy some fancy French wine and got chatting," Paranormal Wines' Max Walker says.

"With both Planque and Paranormal focusing on natural wine, and the food that goes with it, we felt Reece was the perfect fit for our residency."

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Described as the wine lover's clubhouse (and named after the French word for "hideaway" as well as sounding like the word "plonk") Planque is known for placing just as much emphasis on the wine, as it does the French-inspired menu.

Which, for anyone on the ball, sounds like a certain Campbell wine bar.

"It was as much of a focus around natural wine as it was about the food which was cool," Inkpen says.

"And for me, that's definitely the style of cooking that I was looking for and wanted to do that being a wine bar, smaller snacky bits and pieces."

This makes Inkwell a perfect match for Paranormal Wines - a venue that focuses on natural wines. As well as wines from places such as Italy, Germany, New Zealand, and of course, Australia (of which, it makes up about a third of what's on offer), Paranormal Wines is a place where people can explore without judgment and a menu filled with food designed to be eaten with good wine.

"Coming back to Canberra, it was nice, knowing that Paranormal was around and there's a lot more wine bars and wine-focused venues opening up," Inkpen says.

"Bar Rochford is doing so well, Onzieme is absolutely crushing it and of course Pilot, Such and Such - all of those are definitely leading the Canberra food scene in my eyes with being wine-focused venues that do great food.

"London is like the melting point of food and culture and that's very much established in its own way. As much as I feel like it is like that in Sydney and Melbourne, I think Canberra, when I left, didn't really have that many things in my eyes that were really exciting or really new or anything like that. So it's really cool seeing that over the years that I've been gone, all of these really cool and new places open up."

When it comes to the menu itself, Inkpen is looking towards local producers to create stand-out snack-type food.

Things like Murrumbidgee oyster mushrooms on toast with pepper butter, raw beef with celeriac and mustard greens, crumbed pork neck and green olive tapenade, and apple tarte tatin and bay leaf cream.

It's food that gets you excited to head out for dinner. But it's also giving the wine a moment to shine, and creating that moment for the not-so-knowledgeable wine lovers to learn a little something about what they're drinking, with a side of amazing food.

"The style of my menu is going off a similar format to what Paranormal was already doing. It's very small snacky stuff - a couple of things on toast being the main focus, and then smaller sharing type things," Inkpen says.

"It comes from all of the previous places I've worked as well as being, ever-changing, pretty seasonally focused as well. And changing things as I go along. So it is nice to see what works, and what doesn't work. And what I think is really delicious. And hopefully what other people think is really delicious.

"Sometimes I'll probably get bored of a dish after a while and then want to change it but that's kind of the idea behind the menu as well - it changes. But it is also really cool being back in Australia and then using Australian ingredients. A good example is Matt from Murrumbidgee Mushrooms - I'll be using him for one of the dishes. And then probably for the whole eight weeks, there'll be something with mushrooms. But it's just really cool seeing what's available in Canberra now."

But for Inkpen, himself, the few weeks that he sets up shop at Paranormal Wines, it's also a chance to get reacquainted with what produce is available in Canberra.

"It's hard to say because I haven't worked here in such a long time but it was like Sydney was the big dog here," he says.

"So it was like there was nice stuff going on in Sydney and staying in Sydney and not so much is like coming to Canberra. But it's been nice seeing that kind of shift."

Inkpen's will be at Paranormal Wines until November 19.

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