About Emma

For the last two decades, acclaimed Chef Emma McCaskill’s has forged a hugely successful international career at restaurants including Narisawa (Tokyo), Sat Bains (Nottingham), Tetsuya’s (Sydney), Ezard (Melbourne), Penfolds Magill Estate (Adelaide), The Pot by Emma McCaskill (Adelaide) and Sparkke at the Whitmore (Adelaide).

Born and raised in South Australia, Emma moved to Melbourne in 2005 to commence and complete her apprenticeship under renowned chef Teage Ezard at the two-hatted Ezard Restaurant. During this time, Tetsuya’s was awarded 3 Chefs Hats and ranked number 9 on the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Whilst at Tetsuya’s, Emma was also named the state’s top 5 finalist in the 2010 Electrolux Young Chef of the Year competition.  

In 2011 Emma took on the role of Development Chef for the two-Michelin-starred Sat Bains, working closely with Sat on the highly innovative and constantly changing menus.

Emma then traveled to Japan and worked alongside Yoshihiro Narisawa in the kitchen at Narisawa, where she was the first non-Japanese female chef ever to be appointed. Narisawa is a highly regarded two-Michelin-starred restaurant that ranked number 1 on San Pellegrino’s Best Restaurant in Asia and ranked number 20 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list (2013).

In July 2014 Emma became Co-Executive Chef at Penfold’s Magill Estate. During her tenure, she was named Gourmet Traveller’s Best New Talent (2014) and joint Advertiser Chef of the Year (2016). The restaurant was also awarded Restaurant of the Year at the National Restaurant and Catering Awards(2016) and featured on Gourmet Traveler’s Top 20 Restaurant list (2014, 2015 and 2016) and The Australian’s Hottest 50 Restaurants (2014, 2015 and 2016).

The Pot by Emma McCaskill was Emma’s first solo venture, which was recognised and awarded one star in Gourmet Traveller and one hat in The Advertiser, The Australian and The Australian Good Food Guide. In 2019 Emma joined Sparkke at the Whitmore and in the same year was awarded Best New Restaurant in the Delicious Hottest 100.

In 2020, Emma was recognised in InDaily’s annual “40 under 40 Awards”, which honour the leading entrepreneurs, innovators and future business leaders in South Australia under the age of 40.

This same year, Emma commenced a career in teaching, fulfilling her passion for sharing her knowledge of cookery with the next generation. She is currently working as a Business Development Coordinator in the SACE sector, mentoring students in schools who choose to become a chef as their career path. Emma also appears regularly at various events as a guest chef and works with Australia’s premier food and wine festival, Tasting Australia.