THE first commercial kitchen Jay Boyle ever stepped foot in was at Depz Restaurant in Nelson Bay as a 16-year-old kitchenhand.
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Now 29, Mr Boyle is a sous chef at the Michelin star-accredited Restaurant Kontrast in Oslo, Norway.
He moved to Kontrast from the now three Michelin starred restaurant Maaemo, which recently received airtime on SBS as part of its Destination Flavour series.
Mr Boyle, from Anna Bay, was featured in episode six of the Destination Flavour series, which has a focus on Scandinavia this season.
“Seeing him on SBS was like having him home,” Mr Boyle’s mother, Jennifer Davis, said.
“The Destination Flavour series went to Maaemo last year. They liked that it had an Aussie sous chef.
“It blows my mind how well he’s doing and the opportunities he’s had over there.”
Mr Boyle first went to Norway in 2005 on a working visa after meeting a Scandinavian girl, Maggie Faergestad, on an online music forum site.
He will marry Ms Faergestad in three weeks time.
“Jay was only 18 when he saved his money to go to Norway the first time,” Ms Davis said.
“Maggie came back with him as an exchange student at Tomaree high for the next 12 months before they both returned to Norway.”
In Norway, Mr Boyle decided to become a chef but returned home to study at the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Sydney.
Upon receiving his qualifications, Mr Boyle worked at Neil Perry’s Sydney restaurant, Rockpool, and then at the now closed Bilson’s located within the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel.
He returned to Norway where he has lived for five years.
During his time at Maaemo, Mr Boyle also appeared on a United Kingdom-based reality television series that took cooks from burger bars and put them into kitchens of fine dining restaurants.
He was also featured in United States-based Bon Appétit Magazine in July 2014.
He was flown, along with Maameo owner Esben Holmboe Bang, from Norway to New York to cook for the magazine and food critics.
“I get upset he’s over there and not home,” Ms Davis said of her eldest son.
“But as a mum you have to be happy with his achievements. And he is so happy.
“I see photos of him in magazines and follow the restaurants he works for. He doesn’t have Facebook but I talk to him each week. He tells me when he’s going to be on TV or in a magazine so I can see.”
Ms Davis will fly to Norway in three weeks for her son’s wedding. It will be the first time in close to three years that she has seen Mr Boyle.
