Five Minutes With Lauren McKenna: The Log Cabin Head Chef on Precise Plating and Cooking With Heart

“You don't need to wear a chef’s jacket and use tweezers in order to produce nice food,” Lauren McKenna tells Broadsheet. “The only thing you need to do is create something simple with great flavours. People will notice that.”

McKenna is the head chef at Penrith pub The Log Cabin , where she captains a kitchen that pumps out hearty classics – sometimes for over 1000 covers. The gig is a shake up after her previous roles: pastry chef at Otto , whipping up degustation menus at Est , and doing fine dining at the now-closed Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay , before a six-year stint as head chef at Three Blue Ducks.

“Throughout my apprenticeship, I didn’t know where I fit in the hospitality world. My aim was to work in one-hat, two-hat, three-hat restaurants. But I found there was a lot of pressure to keep things perfect – and to work long, hard hours.”

This realisation spurred the leap to her current role. Here we chat to the head chef about her career, family and what keeps her in the industry.

Lauren, what drew you into a career in the culinary world?
I’m Italian-Australian, so I grew up cooking with my nonna and my mum. It’s just a part of our life – I was always in the kitchen with my family. My first high-school job was working at the pizza shop, and I just enjoyed it – it was easy, very structured. You had a recipe, then you were onto the next thing.

When do you get the most enjoyment in the kitchen?
Cooking with family, cooking with my son. I guess it’s less about the cooking and more about creating memories. When we cook, he cuts the tomatoes and cucumber for the salad. Mum has taught her grandchildren how to make polpette (meatballs) – they crack the eggs and roll them, and crumb the chicken schnitzels. When I’m at work, cooking from the heart is just cooking something really nice, that you’re proud of.

How do you run The Log Cabin kitchen?
I like to special the dishes before I put them on the menu. I want feedback from the customers: what they think, if they like it or not. Also, I like to [run it past the staff]: if they have it for lunch, they’re learning about the menu before I’ve even put it out. When I was in training, the head chef and the sous-chef looked after the menu. I didn't really learn what it was like to plate, create and present and work on flavour pairings till I was a junior sous. At Ducks, [chef and co-owner] Darren [Robertson] was like, “Okay Lauren, you can put on a special”, and I was like, “I’ve never really done one” – he was shocked.

It's important for me to interact with my chefs. So, one, they’re learning – we all have a bite and I’m like “What do you like about it? What don’t you like about it? What could it use? What is it missing?” – and, two, it gives them a sense of having an input. So later, when it’s on the menu, they are proud and feel responsible to look after it and nurture it – cos that’s their dish.

Do you bring this collaborative spirit to other areas of the job?
Personally, I’m a little bit over [the idea you need to] work 50 to 70 hours a week. It takes a toll on your body – I’m not 20 anymore. I roster everyone on around the 40-hour mark, and I find that when times come, like Christmas, when I need to roster them on a little bit more, they’re happy to do it. [Chefs] don’t want to miss family get-togethers, weddings, christenings – all those things that we normally say no to because we’re working on the weekend. It shouldn’t be that way. I’ve had the same staff since day one. That was two years ago. When they’re working long hours and they’re stressed and pressured, you get a really quick turnover. What I’m doing is working.

You’ve worked at a bunch of impressive venues, like Otto, Est and Three Blue Ducks. What do you bring to The Log Cabin from your experience in those kitchens?
When I worked at Otto I did pastry, so I learned how to be delicate, how to read recipes precisely. You can’t have one thing wrong in a dessert recipe, otherwise nothing works. At Est, I learned consistency – everything had to be plated the same. I still have some of my books that I used to write recipes in, and even with a garnish it’s like, “You need three mushrooms, you need two asparagus”. I show chefs at work: this is how consistent we have to be. And working at the Ducks – which I loved – showed me sustainability, which is a big passion project [for me]. Here, in such a high-volume restaurant, we use a lot of everything. Last year I phased out the plastic container we used for portioning.

Would you encourage others to pursue a career in the cheffing world?
I always say to people: if it’s what you want to do. But you have to love cooking, you have to have a passion. We don’t do it for the money – it’s a lifestyle.

Head to The Log Cabin on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2024, for the Ladies Lunch. There will be a panel discussion focused on women in business and sports, and a one-off menu from Lauren McKenna. Tickets available now.