Michelin-Awarded Open-Flame Dining Is Coming to Margaret River for Pair’d Festival 2026

Dave Pynt has been everywhere, man. The Burnt Ends chef’s fire-driven cooking has taken him all over the world, sharing kitchens with culinary heavyweights such as Fergus Henderson at St John in London and Victor Arguinzoniz at Asador Etxebarri in Spain. These days Pynt calls Singapore home. But he’ll always have a soft spot for “Margs”.

“I’m a Perth boy originally and spent a lot of time down in Margaret River as a kid,” he says. “I just really, really love the area. Watching it grow over the years from both a wine and a culinary perspective has been really inspiring.”

Pynt will return to the South West to cook alongside mates from around the world at the annual Pair’d Margaret River Region food and wine festival. Spanning one weekend from November 19 to 22, the event celebrates Western Australia’s famous wine region with four days of exclusive tastings, decadent long-table lunches, Q&As with world-class sommeliers, as well as music performances.

Last year for Burnt Ends and Friends, Pynt threw down the flames with Argentinian chef Francis Mallmann, a global authority on fire-based cooking, and online cooking phenomenon Andy Hearnden (aka Andy Cooks). This year, Pynt will once again take over Wills Domain alongside Sergio Labbe and Jed Gerrard, but they’re raising the bar.

On November 20 at Wills Domain, the trio will be joined by renowned American pitmaster Rodney Scott, whose mastery of whole-hog barbeque scored him a Michelin Bib Gourmand and sparked multiple locations for his eponymous eatery, Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ. In 2018, Scott was named Best Chef: Southeast at the James Beard Awards, becoming just the second pitmaster in history to earn the accolade – and he’s since brought his low-and-slow craft to a wider audience with an episode of Netflix’s Chef’s Table.

“I’m guessing the whole hog’s going to be cooking for about 14 to 16 hours and weigh 60 to 70 kilos,” says Pynt. “The technique that goes into it, the management of the fire and the produce is just insane.”

Also flying in for Pair’d is Matt Abergel, co-owner of Yardbird in Hong Kong and, as Pynt describes him, “a guy who’s been specialising in chicken for 15 years”. The restaurant is celebrated for its modern take on yakitori and earned its first Michelin star in 2021. Elsewhere, Larissa Gonçalves, head chef at Fremantle's Si Paradiso, is also joining the line-up. Born in Brazil, the 28-year-old cooks generous, vibrant food shaped by her heritage and a focus on seasonal produce, weaving Brazilian touches through Italian influences. “We’ve got some pretty big guns coming in,” says Pynt. “They are cooking and serving in very different formats. It should be a whole lot of fun.”

Pynt says The Grand Tasting is not to be missed. “They bring all the vineyards from the region together and you get to go around and taste the best of the best. You get to meet all the winemakers and producers and get excited about what’s coming up in the season.”

The Margaret River region is Australia’s most awarded wine region, known best for cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay, while also embracing a growing wave of emerging styles. All will be on show at Pair’d this year. Pynt is fired up. “Any excuse to go down there and cook, and to show it off to people and friends I’ve met from all around the world. There really couldn’t be a better reason to go, right?”

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Tourism Western Australia. The full Pair'd Margaret River Region 2026 program is live now at pairdmargaretriver.com. Subscribers get early access to tickets before they go on sale to the public on July 1.