Phil Wood recently returned to Sydney from Victoria, where he has been the inaugural Culinary Director of Pt. Leo Estate for the past three and a half years.

At the Estate, Phil was responsible for fine diner Laura and Pt. Leo Restaurant. Laura was awarded New Restaurant of the Year at the 2019 Good Food Guide Awards and Two Hats in 2019 and 2020 and awarded New Restaurant of the Year at the 2019 Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards. Pt. Leo Restaurant was awarded One Hat at the 2019 and 2020 Good Food Guide Awards and, together with Laura, named Victoria’s No. 1 restaurant in the Sunday Herald Sun 2018 Delicious 100.

Phil began his career under the guidance of Tetsuya Wakuda at the iconic Sydney restaurant, Tetsuya’s. He then worked at Thomas Keller's The French Laundry in the Napa Valley before taking the reins as Executive Chef of Rockpool est. 1989 in 2010. Under his leadership, Rockpool was awarded Three Hats by the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, Three Stars by Australian Gourmet Traveller and, in 2016, it was named the magazine’s Restaurant of the Year.