Opel Khan

For this world-renowned chef, life has been quite the adventure, with food and cooking at its heart and soul. Born in Bangladesh to a family in the fashion business, creativity was destined to flow through Opel’s veins, but it was the smells of the kitchen that set the musical notes into play.

“I was a very, very chubby boy,” laughs Opel with his still boyish grin, who from a very young age, would sneak into the kitchen to learn the secrets of his favourite foods from one of the family’s cooks. Mafia, a devoted cook to the family for over 50 years and Opel’s favourite, nutured the young boy’s passion for food and encouraged its expression. It was a formative experience and one that would sew into place his enduring love and respect for traditional Indian cooking. Indeed, many of Opel’s signature dishes today, like his unique Tomato Water, are inspired by the secrets he learnt in the kitchen of his family home many years ago.

In his teens, Opel and his family migrated to Australia, but despite his family’s return to Bangladesh, and his own love for his home country, Australia, it seems, was life’s next big calling. With a passion for cooking firmly strapped to his bag, Opel first spent time overseas before returning to Sydney. When he did, he opened his first restaurant, Kirk on Crown.

He was just 19.

By 22, Opel was running five wildly successful restaurants.

17 years on, Opel’s enthusiasm for food and ceaseless energy has only strengthened.
Today, Opel has owned more than 11 restaurants around Australia and is the recipient of the prestigious Gourmand World Cookbook Award for ‘Best Photography’ and ‘Cover Design’ for his 2004 book Sex in the Kitchen. A favourite internationally, Sex in the Kitchen is sold in more than eight countries worldwide. Opel’s international following is further evident in his work as restaurant consultant to hotel giant Le Meridien, where he develops concepts and menus for their flagship resorts throughout Asia and India. He also continues to work as a food stylist to many of the world’s most well-respected food magazines and global advertisers, including Australian Gourmet Traveler, Australian Table Magazine, Coca-Cola and Nestle.

Opel is currently working on his second cookbook, Beautiful Food.