Food Wine Sleep

Born in the Czech Republic, Maki and her family relocated to Australia in 1986 in search of a better life. Maki’s career began at an early age, in the à la carte section of the Sydney Tower Restaurants; inspired by her mum who was the General Manager at the time. From day one, Maki aspired to own her own business, and sought to gain as much restaurant experience as possible. After completing a TAFE diploma in hospitality while still at school, Maki moved back to the Czech Republic where her grandfather, a celebrated local chef, taught her the ways of the Czech kitchen.

After travelling around Europe, Maki moved briefly back to Sydney where she met her future Italian business partner Gianmarco Senna. Gianmarco convinced her to move to Milan where he soon took over the existing La Pesa Trattoria, which had been in his family for over 100 years. Meanwhile, Maki mastered the Italian language in three months, and embarked on a nine year love affair with Milanese culture and cuisine.

In 2003, Gianmarco offered Maki a partnership, and the pair set about modernising the current trattoria and opening the award winning cocktail/wine bar Smooth. During this time, extensive travelling taught Maki the different aspects of Italian cuisine and furthered her cultural understanding. This experience also served as valuable research, and revived her passion to start her own project.

On meeting Michael in 2008, Maki returned to Australia, and plunged head-first into the Sydney scene as part of the team to launch Spice Temple and Rockpool Bar and Grill. It was during a latter stint at Sydney’s prestigious Darling Point precinct, Sepia Restaurant and Wine Bar, that Maki began a six-month pursuit of the perfect venue, which led to the opening of a sister restaurant to her beloved La Pesa in Milan