Kylie Millar – Pei Modern, Burch and Purchese

Kylie Millar has a masters of physiotherapy – and has even worked with the Sydney Swans AFL team! – but that’s probably not why you’ve heard of her. She’s done time at Mugaritz in Spain, which is ranked no. 6 on the World’s Best Restaurants list, and also has worked as a pastry chef at the sugar-laced wonderland that is Burch and Purchese in Melbourne and is currently turning out desserts at the acclaimed new Sydney outpost of Pei Modern. In 2012, she also was a contestant on a TV show you may have heard of called Masterchef.

In this podcast, she talks about both the pressures and highlights of being on Masterchef, from feeding guts to Massimo Bottura to meeting her idol, Jamie Oliver (Kylie admits she lost her cool when this happened – “I was worse than the screaming teenage girls at a Justin Bieber concert”).

Your sweet tooth will also get a workout while listening to this episode, whether it’s hearing about her nougatine parfait “D-day” moment with Guillaume Brahimi, or when she recreates the atmosphere of working at Burch and Purchese (where you could smell the sugar in the air as soon as you walked into the patisserie; or enjoy a cheese and crumble dish with smoked vanilla ice-cream, as part of the dessert degustations). Kylie also talks about experiencing and making next-level sweets in Spain (drawing on a convention-stretching ingredients list that ranges from lemon pith to foie gras!), and her current role at Pei Modern, where the menu includes unique creations such as a sorrel sorbet with honeycomb and a not-so-typical chocolate tart with eucalyptus and cultured cream.

And somehow Kylie also has time to experiment with her own line of sweets! She is currently working on a range of salted honeycomb, a one-of-a-kind salted caramel with cultured cream, and even bespoke cakes. If you’re keen on ordering any of these, you can contact Kylie directly on millar.kylie@gmail.com. The salted caramel is especially amazing! It’s definitely up there with the best I’ve ever had.

Despite the high sugar content of the podcast, I can guarantee you that there's no post-consumption crash after sampling this episode. In fact, it was a total delight to talk to Kylie – her enthusiasm, charm and dedication frosts the conversation in the best way possible.