Q&A: restaurateur Davis Yu

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This was published 10 years ago

Q&A: restaurateur Davis Yu

By Natasha Hughes

At 23, Davis Yu has already made his name as a restaurateur (three Melbourne eateries and counting) and as a prodigious online diarist with 12,000 followers hanging on his every tweet.

A wealthy family and privileged Toorak backdrop may be a given: a honed sensitivity and innate decency are at the fore. But it hasn't all been smooth sailing. In 2011, the head chef of the Millswyn in South Yarra - a Melbourne fixture Yu was trying to reposition - quit after a few months, triggering an exodus of six other chefs and unwanted media attention.

Davis Yu: owner of three successful Melbourne restaurants at age 23.

Davis Yu: owner of three successful Melbourne restaurants at age 23.Credit: Darren James

Davis Yu, you're busy, busy from all accounts. How do you juggle the restaurants, the overseas travel and the other stuff - such as the food and style observations you consistently post?

Walking through day-to-day life, things pop out at me. Straight away I take photos to feed into a documentation [online]; otherwise I keep forgetting constantly. I try to stay fit and healthy - try to go the gym every day. I need to: I eat lots of food and drink lots of cocktails. Balance is important to me. Sometimes I'll go to bed at nine, sleep till 3am and then do two hours' work and take a nap. It's a scattered timeframe.

Surely something has to give with this 24-hour lifestyle?

Health is a main priority… (as) I'm quite hard on myself. If I'm not leading the team or getting things done, I feel really bad. Work and life have merged. Even on holiday I'm working, constantly connected.

But life could surely be one long holiday? [David Yu, Yu's father and backer, is a major property developer].

I was a professional [Victorian state] skier from 14 to 19 then I blew my shoulder and was in a sling for seven months. I still want to compete. My friends made it to the Olympics and it was my life. I became obsessed with food when I was training overseas.

Are you a little obsessional then?

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I love experience - I'm fascinated by experience; how others feel. It's emotional intelligence. In hospitality and life it's super, super important. It's not really taught at university and school nowadays but it's coming through more and more on social media. There's "hipster" quotes on Twitter and Instagram, health quotes that are inspiring people and they're passing them on. A stream of things keep occurring. Details - a picture of a raw brownie, a girl full of attitude from history, from the Sixties: that's what fascinates me. I'll post them and they're reposted. It's trend forecasting.

You feel like you've got a message to get across?

I used to write a lot of stories when I was younger and it got to the stage with my writing, I'd take tons of time on a phrase and it'd drive me nuts. Then I thought, 'you know what, a simple photograph speaks a thousand words'. It portrays the message in the simplest manner and stops my mind going crazy.

You were very young - 19 - when you opened your first restaurant.

Being younger, right from the beginning, people took the mickey. I now employ people who want to take it to the next level. If you're sh*t, "goodbye". They took me for a ride at one stage and I won't take it any more. I'm not going to let some idiot screw me. It's not [being] harder. You just need that balance where you inspire the people who work for you but you also need an iron fist - yeah [laughs] - an iron fist who inspires.

Do you get advice from your dad?

Dad's got a laidback approach: to learn from your mistakes. When you've got no one to tell you what to do, it forces you to grow up. It's an interesting way to grow up. My dad's quite shy and reserved; my family are all soft spoken and don't want to get involved. If you ask for help, they help you. He doesn't want to step in your way. The guidance is almost like genetics. Mum [Dominique] is very visual; Dad's analytical and structured.

So you take after both your parents?

I have a special gift with floorplans. I'm analytical in a visual way. I'll probably get into property development like Dad. With his projects overseas, he welcomes input.

How hands-on are you at your restaurants?

I'm not physically in the restaurants. If I want to grow the business I have to have the people who share the same vision and same notion. Almost like an extension of self. It takes a while.

So you've gained wisdom?

It was tough [the Millswyn walkout]. It's a tough industry. Wages are high and chefs are hard people to deal with. They want fame, they want recognition, they want money.

Sounds a nightmare?

At 18, 19, I knew nothing. I was a bit ambitious and a bit stupid. It was pure instinct and blind confidence; it wasn't any knowledge or any experience. But now if the whole team walks out on me, I'd have a new team, a new concept - bang! It doesn't worry me any more. It's been a hard learning curve - so busy, so insane, so crazy.

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