Renowned WA Chef Tony Howell on board dreamy dining cruises

New Executive Chef for barefoot luxury, sea-to-plate experiences

Leading West Australian chef, Tony Howell, has cast his culinary talents out to sea, joining forces with local marine tour operator, Sea West, as Executive Chef for dining cruises in Dunsborough, Rottnest Island and Broome.

Designed by Tony for Sea West’s ‘deluxe dining experiences on the water’ are new and elaborate 7-course menus showcasing sustainable local seafood and fresh produce of each location.

Staged aboard multi-deck pleasure boats, guests are presented with unique perspectives of iconic WA coastlines, while cruising, dining, swimming off the boat and sipping fine wines from Margaret River’s Howard Park.

“As a dining concept, this is incredibly unique,” Tony said. “It’s one of those rare experiences, almost like a dream. When I first travelled on the cruise in Dunsborough, I was blown away. It was just stunning and like nothing else I have seen as a chef.”
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“It’s like when you shut your eyes and say, ‘take me away to a place that I’ve never been and blow my mind’. That’s the experience you can expect when you hop on the boat.”
Tony Howell ~ Sea West’s new Executive Chef

“I’m super excited about working with the chefs and team at Sea West. It’s an exciting company showing off amazing destinations in Western Australia which have some of the most pristine waters in the world.”

Operating 5 to 7 days per week between November and April, the barefoot luxury cruises are presented in the style of a relaxed private dinner party. They are small group experiences, catering to a maximum of 25 guests on charter boats built for 46 passengers.

Tony’s role with Sea West complements his love of tourism and the South West, where he is consultant executive chef for the Busselton Jetty’s new Ocean Café project.

The Menus

The cruise menus use only sustainable seafood and fresh ingredients, caught fresh while cruising or sourced from local farms and fisheries.

“The beauty of being on a boat is that we are working with live seafood, so we are literally harvesting it straight from the ocean, then serving it to the table. We pull up live crayfish at Rottnest and Mandurah, we use scallops from the Abrolhos Islands and freshly shuck live oysters as guests arrive, then in Broome we serve rare pearl meat farmed at Cygnet Bay’s pearl oyster lines.”

Click to view Tony’s menus for South West Cruises, Rottnest Cruises and Broome Cruises.

Passionately Local

Sea West Managing Director Myrianthe (Myri) Riddy said the appointment of Tony as Executive Chef was a perfect fit with the company’s ethos of sustainability and regional provenance.

“Our cruises share stories of Western Australia’s most beautiful places through food and wine, so Tony’s passion for WA, and its seafood and produce, makes him a great asset for us,” she said. “He has amplified the authentic West Australian experience we give our guests.”