Cairns executive chef Mark Carrette's curriculum vitae reads like a dream.

Steering the Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort’s restaurants and bars into a new direction seems like hard work. But passionate chef Mark Carrette says the long hours at one of Cairns city’s largest resorts are somewhat restorative compared with the past decade.

The 35-year-old has travelled the globe, working with some of the world’s best-known chefs in some remarkable locations, learning about different cuisines and cultures. He has cooked for members of the British and Saudi Arabian royal families, worked in some of the most seriously extravagant hotels in the world and directed service of meals created by Michelin-star chefs Gordon Ramsay, Alain Ducasse and Marcus Wareing. 

Mark was born in England and moved with his family to Cairns when he was a toddler. He was educated at Woree State School and Cairns State High School.

Mark started a mechanical engineering course at Rockhampton University but deferred after a year, taking a job delivering pizzas at Picco’s Pizza at Woree.

“I started to do some extra work in the pizza kitchen and I was wooed into signing up to be a chef after I found I enjoyed the creativity,” he says.

Mark embarked on a four-year apprenticeship working in various Cairns restaurants and hotels including the Hilton Cairns. In 1995 he returned to London to work at the People’s Palace restaurant under the guidance of British celebrity chef Gary Rhodes. It was there Mark had his first brush with royalty – none other than Princess Diana.

“Diana attended a royal function at the palace and I was doing pastry at the time. It was a crazy night. There were sniffer dogs in the kitchen and security everywhere. I took a walk out into the dining room and lo and behold, Diana stood up right in front of me.

“I remember thinking how tall she was. She smiled right at me. My smile must have been huge.”

After a brief return to Cairns, Mark moved to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and took up a position as chef de cuisine for the opening of the six-star, $600 million Al Faisaliyah Tower in the capital, Riyadh. This time the opening was attended by Prince Charles.

While in Saudi Arabia Mark says it was not
uncommon to cook for the Royal Family as well as high-level government officials, military and Osama Bin Laden’s parents. But working in the Muslim country meant indulging in alcohol was prohibited.  However, this was no barrier to Mark, who along with other chefs soon discovered a way of making cider from apple juice in makeshift stills hidden away in cupboards.

“One chef made some sort of a shiraz but that was pretty rough,” Mark laughs.

Mark’s next move was to New York where he worked at the famous Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan for four months. He rode in the service elevator that Marilyn Munroe once used and cooked for celebrities including Nicole Kidman and Naomi Campbell and listened to Woody Allen who played there on Monday nights with his New Orleans Jazz Band. His next stint was to work on the opening of a new resort in Puerto Rico and he flew out of New York on September 10, 2001. The next day, of course, terror reigned on New York, allegedly at the hands of Osama Bin Laden, the parents of whom Mark had served only a year before in Saudi Arabia.

“I went through so many emotions after that day (September 11),” Mark says. “I felt I had abandoned the friends I had made at the Carlyle and here I was safe and sound in Puerto Rico.”

However, the Puerto Rico restaurant failed to open due to the economic aftershock of the September 11 attacks. Mark was given a choice of either returning to London, a place he had already experienced, or to try something different in the form of
Dallas, Texas. “The last thing I wanted was to go back to London for winter, so I chose Dallas. I bought a Porsche, an old Porsche but still it was a Porsche, and had a whale of a time,” Mark laughs. “I cooked for Michael Jordon and Lenny Kravitz.”

His time in Dallas followed a return to Australia. “I was homesick by then and it was post September 11 and I got thinking how far away I was from home,” Mark says.

But within a week of returning to Cairns he was offered the chance to assist with the reopening of the Le Touessrok Hotel in Mauritius. The reopening event attracted celebrity Michelin-star chefs Gordon Ramsay (and yes, he does swear like a trooper), Alain Ducasse and Marcus Wareing. 

“The executive chef let me take over the organising of the reopening. Here I was briefing three Michelin-star chefs on the service of their meals. It was definitely the highlight of my career.”

While high-profile chefs certainly have their fair share of ego, Mark says they were wonderful to work with and they thanked him for his assistance.

Mark finally returned to Cairns in 2004 and served as executive sous chef at Hilton Cairns for three years before he felt the need to find his own project. The Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort was going through a major upgrade, from room décor to restaurant branding. Mark joined the resort three months ago and has recently opened the Mizuna Restaurant. 

“Mizuna is a cross between fine dining and a modern buffet but it’s not the sort of buffet where you take a pile of prawns from a huge bowl,” Mark says. “Instead, we serve little plates with peeled prawns and accompaniments.  You can still take as many plates as you want but you won’t be the 16th person to take some from the pile.”

An interactive chef’s table sits in the middle of the restaurant.  Here the chefs will toss salads, perform a flambé and create
a soufflé. “The chefs love the chef’s table as it gives them a chance to step out among the diners and show their talents, rather than always being stuck behind doors in the kitchen.”

His return to Cairns also means Mark can renew his passion for flying ultra light aircraft, a pastime he has enjoyed with his father Mike for many years.

“Dad and I have a two-seater single engine aluminium ultra light that’s housed in a hanger in Babinda. On Sunday mornings we open the doors, wheel it out and fly over places like Mt Bellenden Ker, Josephine Falls and along the Bramston Beach coastline.”

Mark says the views are very soothing, reminding him why he loves the Far North.

“I’ve been to some amazing countries but this place is the best.”

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