Auckland-born Daniel Wilson has always been a fan of food. At 12, he had already decided to become a chef and hasn’t stopped since. Wilson bucked the trend to head to Europe and chose to hone his craft in the USA, staging under chefs like Daniel Boulud in New York.

Moving to Melbourne a few years later, he worked with Andrew Blake in his eponymous Southgate restaurant. More international experience and hard work gained Daniel The Age Good Food Guide Young Chef of the Year 2003, alongside Blake’s Cafeteria colleague Emma Mackay.

He’s done time at Jacques Reymond’s Arintji, as well as The Graham restaurant, and started the successful Huxtable in Melbourne’s Fitzroy, which opened in August 2010. These days he can be found creating delicious burgers behind the grill at one of his five Huxtaburger restaurants.