Karen also shares her recipes and inspiration through her weekly page in Fairfax weekend press – Sunday Life Magazine.As well as a popular media personality and food expert, Karen is a mother with a passion for healthy living and encourages healthy appetites. She has only ever wanted to cook and has been doing so for as long as she can remember. Her journey as a chef continues to surprise her.
When Karen was appointed Executive Chef at Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, she retained executive control over the kitchen at The Melbourne Wine Room and still continues to closely supervise both the menu and the high standard of the food there. Testament to her ability to manage this dual role, Karen has been awarded two Chefs Hats for both restaurants from each citys well-respected Good Food Guides. The Icebergs, was also awarded Best New Restaurant in The Sydney Morning Herald’s 2004 Good Food Guide. In July, 2004 Karen opened Mr Wolf, a new Martini-esque style pizzeria, restaurant and bar, with her long term partner (both in life and business) Michael Sapountsis in Melbournes St Kilda.
Over the years, Karen has cooked for many charity functions including; Chefs Unite – Feed for Seed, a fundraising dinner where total proceeds of the event went to a tsunami rebuilding project in Sri Lanka; The Mission Dinner for the Homeless; The Breast Cancer Foundation; and The Starlight Foundation Four Chefs Dinners. She was a featured chef, alongside Stephanie Alexander; at a major Slow Food Dinner in Turin, Italy and has been a key presenter at The Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.
Karen has also contributed several articles to The Weekend Australian. Always up for a new challenge, Karen has been the food editor of Sunday Life, the Sun Herald and Sunday Age weekly magazine, published in both Sydney and Melbourne. She was also resident chef on LifeStyle Cafe, a 13-part series on the LifeStyle Channel and she has released her third cooking book to great acclaim.
