FROM a mansion in London, luxury yachts in the Bahamas and on the Mediterranean, to the Hat Head Bowling Club, Grant Pearson’s culinary career has taken more twists than fusilli pasta.

The Brisbane-raised chef and his family have made the coastal village of Hat Head their family home, and Grant is cooking in Beaches Restaurant at the club.

Since just before Easter, Grant has taken charge of the kitchen, while his wife Ali Mackenzie looks after the front of house.

“We bought a house here four years ago,” he said.

“My brother has a place here and he’s into fishing.

“We wanted to move home and settle down.”

For Grant, Ali and three-year-old Elsie, family life could not contrast more from that they shared in the UK.

“I worked as a private chef for a very wealthy client,” he Grant said.

“He had a mansion in Chelsea, behind Earls Court, which cost $9 million to buy and he spent $35 million to do it up.”

Grant took the job in 2006, following three years of working on “small 50m-long motor yachts”, catering for eight to 12 guests and six crew while the vessels spent the summer cruising the Mediterranean.

Before that, he had earned his kitchen stripes in Brisbane, but grew sick of 80 to 90-hour working weeks, and accepted an invitation from a friend to work on yachts.

The four-month cruises would be followed by seven months of charters, with no time off.

“It was the opposite of the pressure I was used to back home,” Grant said.

“There wasn’t the same volume of people to feed, but the expectations were much higher.”

The couple saw little of each other and the decision to move to London was fuelled by a desire to stop living out of their suitcases.

In the Chelsea home of their new client, Grant was on call 24 hours a day and prepared food for the employer and his VIP guests.

“He had an office at Hyde Park Corner and one engagement involved me preparing breakfast for (Prime Minister) David Cameron and (deputy PM) Nick Clegg,” Grant said.

“This guy had a private jet and I would fly with the family around the world to cook for them. The three kids had their own chef.

“He also had a home in Ibiza (Spain) and we’d do a seven-week summer trip at a villa that slept 20.

“I’d often be asked to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for up to 35 people.”

Grant even catered a dinner party on a yacht in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean at 2am.

He also spent five weeks on another boat his client had in the Bahamas.

While the job was well paid, the hours were long and working to the whims of someone for whom money was no object began to wear down the chef.

Grant said it had been not uncommon to prepare an elaborate and lavish meal for nine hours, only to be told, 10 minutes before it was due to be served, the client had decided to eat out instead.

With the arrival of their daughter Elsie, the couple felt their priorities needed re-ordering, and the desire to settle down to family life back in Australia brought them to the Macleay in October last year.

Grant’s food philosophy at Beaches is straightforward … keep it simple.

When it came to ingredients for the Chelsea kitchen, the world was his oyster. His client even flew in caviar by private jet on occasion.

Here in the Macleay, Grant wants to make the most of his locality.

“I’m over fancy stuff. There are no foams or jellies in this kitchen,” he said.