Stuart McKenzie - All day cafe: cafe-style food to make at home

I always wanted to be an architect. As a child in suburban Melbourne, I was obsessed with Lego and empty cardboard boxes, thinking that was going to be my career path. One of the pivotal moments of my life was two weeks work experience in an architectural practice. Best decision ever: knocked that idea right out of me. During my last two years of school I worked almost every Saturday night at an artists colony known as Montsalvat, for the formidable Sigmund Jorgensen. They held weddings and functions in the 1930s French chateau-style buildings there was a very bohemian vibe and the hosts showed great flair at setting rooms with flowers, candles, silverware and crockery.

Sigmund served sherry in antique mismatched glasses on the terrace, the sumptuous dinner buffet was covered in hand-picked edible flowers, tables were laid with rustic natural linens, and herbs from the farm were on display. It taught me great styling tips and the importance of being a generous host. When I turned 17, I finished school and moved out of home and into the hip streets of inner-city Fitzroy. I landed a job at a heritage-listed pub that was rocking with live music and a bustling kitchen. We were overworked and underpaid but I loved it. The manager only ever called me James, after James Dean, because of my quiff.

I learnt rostering and stock control, how to serve drinks and deal with inebriated punters. And this was my first opportunity to cook professionally. My childhood hadnt been particularly culinary. Dad never cooked and my mother, Moira, had some standard meals that were well practised and delicious, but its fair to say my childhood mealtimes were not gastronomic mind-blowing experiences. When my brother Paul began an apprenticeship as a chef, suddenly we were eating pasta with amazing sauces, chicken stuffed with pine nuts and chocolate coffee cake. When Paul moved out of home, he abandoned us again to toasted sandwiches, curried sausages and lamb chops.

This forced me to experiment and the seed was sown. Years later, when I was living on minimum wage in a shared house, creating meals was easier because of this experience. We shopped at markets and checked out specials, grew our own herbs and managed to host great dinner parties on the tightest of budgets. This passion for living well, but within my means, also followed through to the way I arranged my home. I started to collect furniture from vintage shops and council clean-ups, then painted, sanded, collated and arranged it. My eclectic style was evolving.

I worked my way through caf and restaurant jobs, ranging in roles and responsibilities, and from Melbourne to Queenslands Port Douglas. In the mid-1990s, I was back in Melbourne, helping manage the popular Blue Train caf. The owners of this incredibly busy business Angela Mathioudakis, Paul Mathis and George Incretolli taught me much about the industry. Their seemingly overnight success in this location (people would wait up to three hours for a table)didnt deter them from being very accessible, humble and grounded. I decided my destiny was to open my own caf. Working predominantly during the daytime was a big plus and I felt it would suit my personality, being generally less formal than a restaurant environment.

In 2004 some friends from Blue Train caf and I stumbled across a boarded-up former train station in Melbournes Middle Park. We began refurbishing the space on a very small budget, took out a few walls and built a fantastic wrap-around deck overlooking Albert Park. Mart 130 opened for business. Mart is Tram backwards, and 130 refers to the tram stop. We kept the menu simple and created some great versions of breakfast and brunch classics. Sometimes it was trial and error, especially as the space was so small to cook in part of the charm of Mart 130 was that we constantly changed the menu and styling of the space.

We were very hands-on in our business, which the customers liked, and were open until 2011. I had been commuting from Fitzroy for five years and wanted to work closer to home. There were already many cafs in the area, but I couldnt help thinking there was room for just one more. I found the perfect spot in Collingwood and managed to secure the lease of an old factory building at 46 Oxford Street. South of Johnston opened on Friday 13 April, 2012. The space was much bigger: about three times the size of Mart 130.