Celebrated Melbourne chef dies at 59

Celebrated Melbourne chef Teage Ezard, responsible for venues including Gingerboy and Ezard, has died age 59.

He was diagnosed in October 2024 with an incurable neurological disease, multiple system atrophy cerebellar type. The cerebellar type causes poor muscle co-ordination, with symptoms including difficulty chewing and swallowing, changes in vision, and slurred speech.

Chef and restaurateur Alla Wolf-Tasker (Lake House Daylesford) expressed her profound heartbreak for Ezard’s wife and family, remembering Teage as a stalwart of a particularly buoyant era in Melbourne’s restaurant scene.

Friend and fellow chef Shane Delia described Ezard as a “trailblazer”.

“When I started, Teage … was the rock star of chefs before there were any celebrity chefs. He cooked without fear,” Delia said.

Ezard began his cooking career in the 1980s with an apprenticeship under Hermann Schneider, who ran the decorated Two Faces for more than 20 years in South Yarra.

From that classical foundation, he went on to Fitzroy’s tiny Guernica in the 1990s before opening his eponymous restaurant in the basement of the Adelphi Hotel on Flinders Lane in 1999.

Dishes showcased the beginnings of his signature blend of different Asian influences, such as oyster shooters with mirin and tamari, steamed scallops with green chilli and peanut, and fried pork hock with chilli caramel.

Ezard at Adelphi scooped up two Good Food chef’s hats upon opening and went on to win Best New Restaurant in The Age Good Food Guide the following year.

“He was an original,” says chef Ian Curley (Baix, ex-The European). “For all us Britpack [chefs], he was the local who we looked to for what to do.”

Ezard was named Chef of the Year in the 2003 edition of the Guide, and mentored many of today’s leading chefs, including Chin Chin’s Benjamin Cooper and Jarrod Di Blasi (ex-Izakaya Den).

Eye-catching Gingerboy arrived in 2006 on Crossley Street, part of Melbourne’s burgeoning laneway dining, and continued Ezard’s experimentation with cornerstone Asian ingredients in a style he later described as “Australian freestyle”. Key dishes included stir-fried stingray with green curry paste and coconut cream, and caramelised wagyu beef cheek with rock sugar sauce.

“There wouldn’t be that sort of modern Australian, pan-Asian cuisine without chefs like Teage,” Delia said. “Especially in Victoria, where we’ve made it an identifiable part of our culinary DNA.”

Wolf-Tasker said she first heard about Ezard through Guernica in the mid-’90s.

“I went to see what the noise was about and who this young upstart was and was blown away.”

Curley says that Guernica under Ezard “stuck out like a shining light ... He did really push the envelope.”

Other career accomplishments include three cookbooks – Ezard, Lotus and Gingerboy – and restaurants in the Yarra Valley, Sydney and Hong Kong.

The chef closed his namesake restaurant in June 2020 when the lease at the Adelphi expired and in the midst of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Gingerboy closed in April 2024.

Last year, Ezard and wife Tina shared his diagnosis and their experience with the progressive disease in an interview with Good Weekend.

The couple established a charity, Combat MSA, to raise awareness and provide support to others living with a diagnosis, as well as their carers.

A sold-out fundraising dinner planned for March 24, with food by Andrew McConnell and other high-profile chefs, will likely double as a celebration of Ezard’s life and legacy.

Delia described Ezard’s illness as “devastating” but noted: “He never pitied himself. He was always positive, even right up to the end.”

Food writer and former MasterChef judge Matt Preston told Good Food that it’s rare for chefs to come up with dishes you still remember 30 years later.

“Teage created three: parmesan olive oil, which he served with bread as a starter, the oyster shooter, and crispy pork hock, which is still in my top 10 Melbourne dishes of all time. Just thinking about that double-cooked, crunchy pork hock makes my mouth water.”

Guernica, Preston said, helped announce Melbourne to the world as a fine-dining destination.

Former Good Food Guide editor Rita Erlich said Ezard’s approach to cooking was outward-looking and contemporary.

“He was very open to outside influences, but always put his own stamp on them. He really understood how flavours went together.”

Beyond that, Erlich said, Ezard recognised restaurants needed to be consistent, and that great wines and service needed to be part of the picture.

“Service at his restaurants was always particularly good but without pretension.”

In 2019, The Age reported some chefs at Ezard and Gingerboy were working many hours of unpaid overtime each week. In response to questions from this masthead over the weekend, the Fair Work Ombudsman referred to a 2020 statement that it assisted employees of Ezard and Gingerboy to recover unpaid wages and entitlements. There was no litigation and no enforceable undertaking.

Ezard’s family referred The Age to a statement they released late on Saturday afternoon, which reads:

“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share that our beloved Teage Ezard has passed away after a long and devastating battle with Multiple System Atrophy (MSA).

“For the last couple of years, Teage fought this cruel and relentless disease with the same fierce determination that defined every part of his life …

“To the world, Teage was a celebrated chef and a creative force who helped shape Australian dining for decades. To us, he was so much more; a devoted husband, father, son, brother and friend whose presence, passion and determination touched the lives of so many.”

Chefs posted condolence messages on social media throughout Saturday and Lord Mayor Nick Reece also issued a statement, describing Ezard as “a visionary whose creativity reshaped the way Melbourne dined”.

This story was updated on March 16, 2026 with information from the Fair Work Ombudsman.