Nathan Fallowfield

Cooking at:
Marie-Courtin / Piollot Lunch • Friday, October 16 • Mitsuru

Originally from Adelaide, Australia, Nathan started working in hospitality at the age of 14. A job as a pot washer at a local café during high school sparked his interest in cooking, and after travelling to Denmark and London to experience some of the restaurants there, he returned to Adelaide in 2016 to find a restaurant where he could continue to develop his skills and interest.

In 2016, Nathan joined the team at Restaurant Orana in Adelaide, a native Australian restaurant at the forefront of using Australian ingredients in collaboration with Indigenous elders. It was here that his cooking developed into an intense, fire-driven style, cooking 14-course menus that placed Australian produce and technique at the forefront. After Restaurant Orana was named Gourmet Traveller’s Best Restaurant in Australia in 2017, the direction of the restaurant began to change, and so did Nathan.

In 2018, Nathan moved to the Côte des Bar in Champagne to work at the newly opened Le Garde Champêtre. Housed in a converted SNCF train storage hangar, the restaurant was quickly embraced by local vignerons and food lovers looking for a farm-to-table approach in regional France. With a garden attached to the restaurant, produce was at the heart of the kitchen. A large chimney built into the centre of the kitchen meant that much of the menu passed through the fire. In 2023, having established strong roots in the region, Nathan decided to travel and work with the event company We Are ONA.

From 2023 to 2025, he worked on events and pop-ups across Europe, becoming a regular member of the kitchen team at We Are ONA. Today, things look a little different. Nathan met Rose Piollot in 2022 at the counter table of Le Garde Champêtre, and after travelling back to Australia together to work for six months in 2025, they decided to join the family business at Champagne Piollot and Champagne Marie Courtin in Polisot. From the hot kitchen to the cellar and vineyard, Nathan’s role has shifted from cooking to working across all aspects of the domaine. By the end of 2025, he and Rose had created a small project welcoming importers, private members’ clubs and groups to the Press Kitchen — a 16-seat table set alongside the press. Here, Nathan pairs his cooking with the Champagne and still wines of both estates, creating a unique space for people to experience the wines, the food and the place together.