Anthony Choi

With a rich and successful hospitality career to his name, Anthony Choi is Group Executive Chef at Commune, spearheading the arrivals of New Quarter, Firebird and Moonhouse. 

Choi oversees the diverse menus at each venue, with each sharing a focus on a different Asian cuisine. He works collaboratively with the venue’s respective head chefs to develop and refine recipes that reflect the restaurants’ vision, all with a strong focus on using quality, local ingredients.

Choi explains. “Creating dishes is a big part of my role in Commune Group and I always speak to our partners to talk about seasonal produce and specials. Then I will spend days researching and developing the dish with the ingredients with our chefs before we launch the new menu. I love dishes that are colourful, fresh and punchy, reimagining classics for a new audience.”

In 2018, Choi was appointed as Executive Chef of Commune’s Hanoi Hannah New Quarter, leading the kitchen in adapting Vietnamese dishes for the Richmond location. In 2020 Choi supported the launch of Commune’s fiery Vietnamese restaurant, Firebird followed by Commune’s newest arrival in Balaclava, Chinese-inspired bistro Moonhouse, in May 2022. 

Choi has worked and trained with various industry heavyweights, including highly acclaimed chefs Andrew Logan and Paul Wilson at St Kilda’s Newmarket Hotel, as well as stints at Cumulus Inc and Circa. 

Joining Wilson for the conception of Newmarket Hotel as Chef de Partie, Choi attained new skills in butchering, utilising entire carcasses to create comfort food at its finest. Further training at Cumulus followed, with Choi working his way up the ranks to Senior Sous Chef at Newmarket Hotel before moving to Circa to extend its restaurant and function offering. ​ 

Returning to his love for Asian cuisine, Choi joined the team at Commune in 2018, heading up the kitchen at Melbourne’s beloved south-side eatery, Tokyo Tina. ​ 

Born and bred in Korea before moving to Sydney in 1998, Choi completed two-and-a-half years of compulsory military service in Korea at just 19 years of age. New adventures beckoned upon visiting his brother in Australia and he soon returned to work for an array of Korean barbeque restaurants in the heart of the CBD. It was there Choi experienced his culinary calling and he has been hooked ever since. The budding chef moved to Melbourne in 2000, where he commenced a traineeship at Crown that would prepare him for his hospitality journey. 

Choi describes his cuisine as seasonal and vibrant, with a penchant for experimenting with Chinese and Vietnamese flavours, as well as highlighting the beautiful complexity that comes from the modern Asian and European techniques. 

Note to the editors

About Commune Group ​
​Commune Group is a collection of dynamic, lively and forward-thinking hospitality venues founded by Simon Blacher and Nic Coulter. The group, established in 2012, was initially known for its alliterative sister restaurants in Windsor – Saigon Sally and Hanoi Hannah. Their venues transformed the neighbourhood and its surrounds, sparking a wave of hospitality openings in the now established Melbourne dining hotspot. Commune Group currently consists of six Melbourne-based South-East Asian restaurants – Firebird, New Quarter, Tokyo Tina, Hanoi Hannah Express Lane, Hanoi Hannah Vol. II and its newest arrival Moonhouse in Balaclava. Website: www.communegroup.com.au