Karen Martini (born 22 September 1971) is an Australian chef, restaurateur, writer and television presenter.
Early life
Martini was born in
Greensborough,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
and is now living in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
who began cooking at a young age. At 15 she undertook
work experience
Work may refer to:
* Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community
** Manual labour, physical work done by humans
** House work, housework, or homemaking
** Working animal, an ani ...
including under veteran French-Australian chef Jacques Reymond, before learning classical skills from Tansy Good at her eponymous restaurant in Melbourne. Later during the nineties, Martini held positions at ''Haskin's'' and the ''Kent Hotel'', before ''Melbourne Wine Room'' in
St Kilda's George Hotel. Martini is married to Michael Sapountsis and has a daughter named Stella who was born in 2006. Karen has been associated with a number of venues in Melbourne that needed a helping hand but most failed to meet expectations due to financial difficulties.
Television and media
She is best known for her television role as food chef on ''
Better Homes and Gardens'' and Judge on ''
My Kitchen Rules
''My Kitchen Rules'' (often abbreviated as ''MKR'') is an Australian competitive cooking game show broadcast on the Seven Network since 2010. The show is currently hosted and judged by chefs Manu Feildel and Colin Fassnidge, with Feildel being ...
''. In 2005 Martini was the resident chef on ''LifeStyle Cafe'',
a 13-part series on the
LifeStyle Channel. She was also one of the chefs on Intolerant Cooks.
On 23 January 2024, Martini announced that she would be leaving ''Better Homes and Gardens'' to move onto new projects and opportunities.
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martini, Karen
Australian restaurateurs
Women restaurateurs
Australian cookbook writers
Australian television presenters
Australian television chefs
Living people
1971 births
Place of birth missing (living people)
Australian women chefs
Australian women television presenters
My Kitchen Rules
People from Greensborough, Victoria
Television personalities from Melbourne