Chef Guru: Focusing on Making a Difference

If not for an advertisement for Australian student visas, Guru Bhathal would probably be working as an accountant in India rather than as Head Chef at CSI Club Southport on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

‘That's how the journey started. That's how Australia came into my head,’ Guru says.

With his parent’s blessing, Guru arrived in Queensland at the age of 20 with his younger sister in tow.

‘We came together because my Dad said, “If you are going, take your sister so you have two family members and you can look after each other”.’

The siblings enrolled in cooking classes and Guru took a job as a kitchen hand at a busy club restaurant to learn the business from the bottom up. Then he began working at a burger joint. ‘I started working as a burger maker and then, for three years, I ran that shop — managing the ordering, prepping, and trying out new ideas.’

When he felt it was time for a change, Guru applied for a job at the Palazzo Versace Gold Coast.

‘I started learning a bit more about the fine dining restaurant scene and food up there. So, I did pretty much everything. I worked the breakfast shift, as the buffet guy, and in the production kitchen.’

The luxury hotel upheld high fine dining standards and saw him cook for global celebrities and politicians.

‘It was a great experience for me to go from basic street food to restaurant food and fine dining,’

Guru says.

‘Being a chef, you work in different places to gain different experience.’

That ethos led him to work as a sous-chef at a surf club for three and a half years.

‘Because it is close to the ocean, you learn a bit more about seafood because that’s what people prefer. Nowadays surf clubs are trendy restaurants to eat at and that keeps you on your toes. You’ve got to be a bit more creative and that's where I learned how to basically run the show.

‘I did my time there, then it was time for me to move and I saw a bigger opportunity, at CSI Club Southport.’

The club is a large and lively family venue that offers global bistro fare such as burgers and garlic prawns, alongside live music and a gaming room.

Fish is still a major part of the menu, and Guru is a big fan of I&J Crispy Battered Hoki.

‘We go through a lot. I use it in at least two items.

It's quite popular in our seniors’ meal, and in my main meals as well. I use it in my fish burgers as well because it's a great fillet to put on the burger and it's nice and light.

In some places, when you eat fish and chips it fills you up too quickly because of the oil base but this product maintains that crispiness. Sometimes I cut a 140g fillet in half, and put it into a taco as well, so that's why I like the I&J Crispy Battered Hoki fillet so much.’