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from 16 reviews
Amazing!

Thanks for making my dreams come true!

Melanie Alafaci
Italian Quickies Cookbook
Italian Quickies Cookbook
Plating is easy.

Chef Mel has shown me what a difference the plating makes. It can be a certain basic meal but by layering your sliced meat and making the potatoes pretty with a bit of chopped parsley. Using plates that you use as display only getting adventurous.

Lindsay Roberts, Kloof, South Africa
Culinary Quickies Cookbook
Culinary Quickies Cookbook
Tips and Tricks

Chef Mel’s cooking style makes things quicker and easier and teaches you little tips and tricks to make your feel more confident. As a result, my cooking tastes better and she is an expert at culinary bling and presentation so your dishes look even more amazing. I am grateful for her energy and passion for good food.

Brenda Forrest, Brisbane, Australia
Chef Mel The Happy Chef
Fun and exciting cooking.

Chef Mels cooking is fun and exciting. She is so passionate it makes you want to do the “cheffy shake!” Chefs always make something look easy to do.. until you try it yourself!! but she has a way of making everything easier with so many great shortcuts and tips along the way to build your confidence…you always feel like a success in the kitchen doing it Chef Mels way

Sharon Simpson, England
Chef Mel The Happy Chef
Encouraging and kind.

Mel is passionate, kind, knowledgeable and an amazing Chef. Her ability to encourage and be so kind is almost the thing of text books... I truly think Mel is 1 in a million.

Brett Harris, Australia
Chef Mel The Happy Chef
Passion for fun food.

Chef Mel is so vibrant and her passion for fun food is so easy to share!

Emily Hill, Albany Creek, Australia
Chef Mel The Happy Chef
I can cook anything now.

Chef Mel is a great chef and teacher as she gets you excited at how simple and fun yet delicious she makes cooking ! Her style is so encouraging, and she makes you feel confident you can cook anything ! With her classes you learn tricks to make your dinner party perfect.

Susan Sabido, Sunshine Coast, Australia
Chef Mel The Happy Chef
Great sense of humour.

Hey Mel , you make everything look so easy mixed with your great sense of humour and fun . Definitely an inspiration and love your classes . Still haven’t managed to stuff up your world famous focaccia

Anthony Harries, WA Australia
Chef Mel The Happy Chef
Fabulous!

Chef Mels cooking style is just FAB U LOUS darling. Every meal is an adventure Chef Mel puts the “fun “ into cooking and and inspiration for me is creating delicious and delectable meals. She has taught me to look into the fridge and use what is available to create exciting non boring meals, she has taught me to experiment and push the boundaries. The best part of our lessons was always seeing what we could adapt from our own fridges, and the sexy cooking shortcuts and handy tips are the best! Cooking is now fun thank you Mel

Esther Currie, Umhlanga, South Africa
Culinary Quickies Cookbook
Culinary Quickies Cookbook
Creative, paddock to plate.

Before I did Mel’s cooking school I was impotent but now all my friends enjoy my creative sexy paddock to plate.

Lance R Collett, Buderim, Australia
Chef Mel The Happy Chef
Modern, elegant and approachable for the home cook.

Modern, elegant and approachable for the home cook.

Amanda Louise Mapp, Brisbane, Australia
Chef Mel The Happy Chef
Easy, versatile recipes to last a lifetime.

I used to so look forward to our cooking classes then called Gecko Culinary Adventures in Durban. I got my first certificate in April 2005. Mel the recipes you taught us I still use today. I would say move over many a famous Chef here comes Mel With your talent and enthusiasm and passion you can only go one way and that is right to the top. Congratulations love you and what you do x.

Rike Freifrau Von Ketelhodt-Kraske
Cheffy Skills Quickies Cookbook
Cheffy Skills Quickies Cookbook
Practical and fun!

Mel’s cooking style is practical and fun. She has taught me to be more courageous in the kitchen and how to present a beautiful plate. Her recipes are easy to follow and so incredibly yummy!

Lindy MacPherson, Ormiston, Queenland
Culinary Quickies Cookbook
Culinary Quickies Cookbook
Extra Mile with Mel

Chef Mel has a flair like no other. She has taught me to be more experimental in my cooking and presentation. She always goes the extra mile.

Jo Shearer, North Lakes, Queenland
Chef Mel The Happy Chef
True foodie.

Chef Mel's cooking style is Elegant and classic with some modern twists. True foody.

Steve Glaze, Brisbane, Australia
Chef Mel The Happy Chef

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Meet Chef Mel the Happy Chef

With a smile that can light up a room, Chef Mel Alafaci has become a globally recognised chef and personality.  Her recent success in the USA means she's Australia's hottest rising culinary personality.

She is the proud founder of the very popular Vanilla Zulu Cooking School in Brisbane.  With an entirely new and fresh approach to cooking and a culinary lingo all of her own, she makes cooking fabulous fun.

With the release of her new cookbook "Culinary Quickies" Mel helps you discover a chef's secrets on how to be faster, happier and more confident in the kitchen...and get a round of applause every time you cook a meal...you can live happily ever after in your kitchen! Culinary Quickies is a must for every foodie or want-to-be foodie.

YOUR NEW MENTOR AND PRIVATE CHEF

Mel has travelled the world in search of new delights to share with her ever-growing audience. From her first cooking school in Durban South Africa to foodie tours and writing in Switzerland, Zurich, Mexico, Amsterdam and New York. Mel has done it all and has loved calling Australia home. It's here she has grown Vanilla Zulu Culinary Adventures and become one of Australia's best loved chefs.

As a self-proclaimed Cultural Gastronomist, Mel loves to unearth how food is enjoyed in other cultures.  She blames her passion for food and travel on her backpacking chef days, where she 'cooked' herself around the world, eagerly learning every cultural secret she could and then sharing all of her newfound recipes with anyone that would listen.  Her passion and enthusiasm for food is unwavering.

SEE MEL'S BIO AND MEDIA