Bar & Bites: Top chef Guy Jeffreys sets sail to the Abrolhos and Cygnet Bay for Pearls and Plates 2025

Former Millbrook Winery chef and sustainability guru Guy Jeffreys swaps his toque blanche for a sailor’s cap to steer a series of long lunches and dinners in incredible regional locations as part of Pearls and Plates 2025. Two pearling families, the Liddons from the Abrolhos Islands and the Browns of Cygnet Bay and Broken Bay, are behind the culinary and cultural events, which kick off with three long-table lunches in Post Office Island’s stunning blue lagoon in the Abrolhos from April 19-21. Jeffreys will showcase the region’s peerless seafood paired with Margaret River wines. The journey continues in the Kimberley, specifically Cygnet Bay with long-table dinners under the stars on May 30 and June 1. The outback experience will feature pearl meat, local produce and paired WA wines. Pearls and Plates culminates in a two more long-table lunches in Broken Bay on New South Wales’ Hawkesbury River, starring locally grown oysters, on November 1 and 2. Tickets for the two WA events are available now via pearlsandplates.com. Details of the Broken Bay lunches will be unveiled in early 2025. BRAND NEW 6HEAD CHEF From his first gig in the west of Scotland to cheffing in Western Australia, Calum MacKechnie has enjoyed a steady rise in the past eight years. After dishing up soul food at Max’s Bar and Grill in Glasgow as a 22-year-old, the Scot went travelling and relocated to Perth in 2017. Here he landed the chef de partie role at city Italian mainstay Lalla Rookh under Alexandra Haynes. “She taught me a lot about Italian cuisine,” MacKechnie tells B&B. He was promoted to sous chef and in 2021, when Haynes left, he took over as head chef, specialising in using cuts many other chefs wouldn’t touch in dishes such as his pig’s head bruschetta. With Shane Middleton leaving 6HEAD to join the Sesh Mafia hospitality team, MacKechnie has come on board as the new head chef at the high-end steakhouse in Elizabeth Quay. The young chef is “looking forward to using amazing produce and leading a strong team in this premium venue”. GABBA GABBA HEY! Voting for the GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers, now in its 17th year and one of the biggest public polls of its type in the world, has opened. Last year, close to 60,000 beer lovers voted for their favourite frothies, casting almost 300,000 votes for beers made by 436 breweries. Status Quo Pale Ale from Aussie cricket captain Pat Cummins’ favourite brewery, Katoomba craft kings Mountain Culture, took top spot for the second year in a row with previous champions Balter Brewing’s XPA and BentSpoke’s Crankshaft IPA filling the podium. Will Status Quo prevail and make it a hat-trick, repeating the feat achieved by WA brewer Feral’s Hop Hog a decade ago? Can Balter or BentSpoke rise again? Or will there be a new champion brew? All will be revealed on January 25, when the Hottest 100 counts down along with the Hottest Indie Beers, Hottest New Beers and the brews that came in from 101st to 200th. Hop to it and have your say via gabshottest100.com before voting closes at 8.59am Perth time on January 12.