Kurt Sampson, one of Australia’s most accomplished chefs, passes away aged 57

3 months ago 15

Kurt Sampson – a former Greg Malouf protégé whose interpretations of Moorish and
Levantine flavours thrilled eaters across Australia – passed away on Thursday New Zealand after a two-year battle with Motor Neurone Disease.

While Sampson, 57, spent his final years reconnecting with his birth-country, much of his
life was spent as an intermediary between Australian diners and the myriad
pleasures of Middle Eastern cuisine.

Chef Kurt Sampson has passed away after battling Motor Neurone Disease.

Pleasures such as the garlicky sting of weapons-grade toum: Lebanon’s answer to the aioli of Provence … of manoushe, fatayers, pides and other (once little-known) flatbreads … of the countless ways that preserved lemon, filo and pomegranate molasses could enrich our lives.

Notably, Sampson racked up time at key Middle Eastern-influenced restaurants on both the eastern and western seaboards with landmark addresses such as Propeller (Perth) and O’Connell’s (Melbourne) featuring on his CV.

Impressive for a chef who was first exposed to Middle Eastern cooking in the late 80s by a former truck driver at Auckland’s longstanding Turkish cafe, Caravanserai.

“I was being taught classic French techniques [at catering college] yet here was this guy cooking this amazing stew by boiling everything together, using red pepper paste for flavouring and then throwing in handfuls of runner beans,” Sampson said when I interviewed him in 2010.

“It went against everything I was being taught. Then I thought if this truck driver could produce this wonderful stew, surely as a trained cook I could make it even better. But it doesn’t work like that. You’ve got to do it how they do it.”

In a bid to understand how “they” did it, Sampson relocated to London where, among other things, he worked for prominent British chef and restaurateur Antony Worrall Thompson and met his future wife Evette at Snows on The Green in Shepherd’s Bush.

In 1992 he moved to Perth and became sous chef at 44 King Street where he worked alongside a pre-Star Anise David Coomer and underneath head chef Russell Blaikie.

Next came Melbourne and our man’s Malouf era. First it was a stint at forward-thinking pub O’Connells Hotel, then being tapped to run MoMo: Malouf’s fine diner at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt.

Kurt Sampson was a renowned chef in Australia.

Somewhere along the way, Sampson also found time to help his mentor produce cookbooks, something I discovered in 2023 when I stumbled on a second-hand copy of Greg and Lucy Malouf’s Moorish (Hardie Grant, 2001) in which Sampson gets a shout-out in the book’s thank you notes.

Perth came calling a second time and Sampson returned west in 2009 to reunite with Coomer and, together with a pre-Greenhouse Matt Stone, opened Pata Negra: a spirited tapas bar with a strong North African influence. After leaving Pata Negra, Sampson teamed up with Bread & Circuses duo Siobhan Blumann and Hamish Fleming where, between 2014 and 2023, he oversaw the food at yesteryear watering hole The Dominion League, Middle Eastern stronghold Propeller and neighbourhood small bar Saint Brigid.

While Dominion League’s fried chicken ribs and Saint Brigid’s potato scallops had their fans, it was Sampson’s menu at Propeller that confirmed his status as one of Perth’s most singular cooking talents. Offal and unglamorous ingredients were a strength, from the liver and toast on the breakfast menu to dainty quail’s eggs sharpened with harissa. An all-offal long table dinner held in 2016 that started with minted lamb’s brain omelette and finished with langues de chat (“cat’s tongue biscuits” in French) remains a fond memory.

Yet despite a tireless work ethic and knack for wrangling max flavour from unlikely sources, Sampson’s legacy is defined as much by the way he treated people as the way he handled ingredients. Having had the pleasure of getting to know Sampson proteges over the years, similar stories keep resurfacing.

Chef Kurt Sampson passed away this week in New Zealand.

Stories of a teacher who took joy in passing on knowledge. Stories of a leader that had the back of all his charges. (Albeit a leader that possessed an X-Men-esque superpower of being able to strike you down with a perfectly timed one-liner.) Stories of a committed father that pushed constantly to support his family. Stories of a chef that his peers all hailed as a chef’s chef: the ultimate peer-given accolade in cooking circles.

But as is often the case with chef’s chefs, the glow of the spotlight made Sampson uncomfortable: a shame, I think, as his input was always thoughtful and smart.

When it came to receiving praise, Sampson would typically deflect and direct
people’s attention elsewhere. To the farmer, to the rest of the kitchen crew, to the
front-of-house. While I’m not convinced that he necessarily hated having all eyes on
him – although he probably did – I suspect that he felt more comfortable getting on
with things behind the scenes. He was, after all, someone that didn’t do shortcuts
and thought nothing of changing menus last minute to make the most of produce that
he was excited about. A minute spent answering a journalist’s questions was a
minute fewer he could put towards butterflying boxes of garfish.

As mentioned previously, while food was central to Sampson’s identity, his dream
post-MND diagnosis was to reconnect with New Zealand and share his homeland
with his family. A 2023 fundraiser made this possible and the Sampsons have spent
the better part of two years exploring the many forests, beaches and mountains of
Aotearoa.

Relocating to New Zealand, naturally, also allowed Sampson to (re)immerse himself
in rugby culture, from cheering on The Highlanders of Otago.

Kurt Sampson was born on April 29 1968 in Napier, New Zealand but spent most of
his childhood in Gisborne, a major city three hours north of his birthplace.

Sampson is survived by his wife Evette Sampson and three children, Harvey, Oscar
and Amelie.