Support Chef Mal Hanslow to feed people in need.

Malcolm 'Mal' Hanslow trained at the Canberra Institute of Technology before building a career defined by a simple philosophy he still preaches to young chefs today: chase the kitchens that push you, not the ones that pay the most. That approach has made him, alongside business partners Ross McQuinn and Dash Rumble, one of the driving forces behind Canberra’s modern fine-dining reputation.

As executive chef and co-owner of Pilot in Ainslie, Hanslow helped build a two-Chef-Hat destination restaurant that regularly rates among Canberra’s very best. In 2022, the trio expanded with Such and Such in the city’s Constitution Place — a more relaxed, share-plate-driven sibling restaurant blending Asian seasoning with an Italian-leaning pasta menu. The gamble paid off emphatically: in 2024, Such and Such was named Best New Restaurant at the Good Food Guide Awards, beating out hotshot competition from Sydney.

Known for a fine-dining pedigree that he’s equally happy to set aside for something looser — he’s turned up at Canberra’s Terra grill running a 'Shawarma Showdown' pop-up — Hanslow has become a fixture of the capital’s food scene both behind his own pass and in support of the wider local hospitality community, mentoring younger chefs coming up through Canberra kitchens the way he was once mentored himself.

At CEO CookOff Canberra, Hanslow brings the discipline of a two-hatted kitchen and the generosity of a chef who’s never lost his enthusiasm for simple, honest food — exactly the spirit OzHarvest looks for in the leaders it invites behind the pass.

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