A love for pastry led Philip Khoury to swap a future career in visual communications for one in the kitchen. These days you’ll find him dreaming up mind-blowing plant-based creations in London’s iconic Harrods department store in his role as head pastry chef.

While Philip Khoury was in his final year of university he travelled to Paris, enjoying what he describes as a pastry tour of the city. However, it was when he sat down in front a cathedral to eat a pastry—a 2000 Feuilles from Pierre Herme— that the course of his life changed forever.
It was at this moment, he said, that it dawned on him he loved pastry more than he loved design.
“It was a deeper emotional connection,” he said.
When Philip arrived back in Sydney he enrolled in a Certificate III in retail baking at Ryde NSW TAFE, before landing his first job as an apprentice at Quay restaurant.
It’s a job that he describes as being an incredible introduction to the industry.

Philip’s creations are mind-blowing

“It was an incredible introduction to the mind of [Quay executive chef] Peter Gilmore and his mind-blowing desserts,” he said.
“Then I wanted to round out my training and landed at the Shangri-La Hotel where Anna Polyviou was working her magic. At the time it felt like an industry you had to love to stay in.”
A move to work with Adriano Zumbo followed and, after a few months, Philip had established himself as Adriano’s right-hand man, even eventually helping to establish an R&D department within the business.
n 2018 Philip made the leap to the UK, where he took up the position of head pastry chef at Harrods. In a bold move he introduced plant-based pastry to the menu for the first time.
It was a decision Philip said was inspired by becoming increasingly aware about food production practices.
“I was always so lucky to work at places where the eggs have been free-range, the dairy and meats from very high welfare backgrounds. But the closer I got to seeing how food is produced, the less I liked what I was seeing,” he said.
“In developed countries our hunger for animals and animal products has spawned very intensive and cruel practices. I am not opposed to very high welfare, but in most cases it makes up less than 5 per cent of sourcing.
“I think one day we might eat differently and it has to start somewhere—and chefs are best placed to do this.”

Harrods

Beyond his work at Harrods, Philip also released his first cookbook—A New Way To Bake—in 2023, which was awarded the Fortnum & Mason Best Debut Cookery Book award earlier this year.
Describing the process of creating A New Way To Bake as one of the toughest projects he’s ever embarked on, Philip said he had in part been inspired to showcase naturally plant-based ingredients found in pantries that hadn’t been fully utilised.
“I did not like where the food industry was taking plant-based baking, with lots of manufactured and highly processed ingredients. I wanted to show that we actually have so many naturally plant-based baking ingredients that haven’t been fully utilised, so I wanted to breathe new life into them with new recipes for lots of things we know and love,” he said.
“For me, it’s about giving people more options and leading by example—with integrity. And, to win such a prestigious award for what is essentially a niche baking book in a sea of highly worthy cookery books, was incredibly special.”
Work has already begun on a second book, which Philip said will draw on ideas that either weren’t ready for A New Way To Bake, or didn’t quite fit into it. Beyond that, Philip said his future plans also include one day having his own place.
When asked what advice he’d offer to someone looking to follow in his footsteps, Philip said it was vital to take steps in a meaningful direction and to learn from the best along the way.
“Australia, although so far away from the rest of the world, is in such a unique position,” he said.
“It has a unique cultural heritage and is far enough away that traditions influence just enough of our food culture, but we have so many amazing influences we can celebrate in a way that is fresh and innovative.