Justin North is remarkably calm. For a man with “two restaurants, two books, two children and a café” North is seemingly at ease with his hectic schedule when I speak to him on a busy Tuesday morning.

Having been up since 5am to go to the markets, North sits back in his chef’s uni form, i-phone in hand and assistants on call. “Today is probably my longest day,” he says. “I won’t get to bed till 1am. But some days I go to bed earlier and others I get up later, but with two young children it’s very rare for me to sleep past 6am or 7am.”

North and his wife, Georgia, opened Bé casse in the Sydney’s inner city suburb of Surry Hills in 2003 before moving into the centre of the city to new premises in 2005.

Four years later the Clarence Street restaurant has recently undergone a slight facelift, further cementing its position as a destination restaurant.

Late last year North opened his second inner city restaurant, Etch by Bécasse, at the Intercontinental Hotel. Despite the looming economic recession, North says Etch is doing well and was lucky it opened when it did.

“It offers really good value for money, simple food, not over complicated,” says North. “Really respecting local produce and local producers, especially in these economic tough times, it offers a reason able price point.”

Etch is doing well for North, but he maintains, Bécasse “is my baby” leaving most of the management at Etch to former Bécasse head chef James Metcalfe.

Restaurants across Australia are bracing for tough times as people curb their eat ing out, but North is confident they can survive. “I’m not worried, but doing what we do every day is quite challenging, es pecially with the financial climate. It’s a good thing in a way as it makes you look at your business a lot closer.

“People are being more cautious. When people do spend money, they want a lot more for it. You need to look at your bot tom line a lot closer, look at systems and procedures a lot more. But if you are do ing a good honest product you will see your way through it.”

The New Zealand born chef was last year named SMH Good Food Guide Chef of the Year for his work, but of all the accolades this 34-year-old has achieved it is being named in the top 100 restaurants in the world in 2007 by London-based Restaurant Magazine which North is most proud of. “It was a pretty amazing achievement I think,” he says modestly.

While some chefs may poo poo awards and restaurant critics North considers them an important part of the industry. “Awards give the industry more expo sure,” he says. “They also give you some thing to compare yourself against and to aspire to,” he says.

North’s affair with food began at the tender age of 15 when he left his home in Blenheim for Wellington to start his career in cooking. As an apprentice, he scooped about every award available, including, in 1994, the much-coveted New Zealand Ap prentice Chef of the Year. In 1993, having been a chef for 18 short months, he pipped hundreds of others, to attain the title of Commis Chef of the Nation at the Culi nary Olympics.

North’s next move was to Sydney to work at Gekko Restaurant in the Park Lane hotel. He then joined Liam Tomlin and Dietmar Sawyere at Brassiere Cassis as chef de partie. During what was a suc cessful year for the team, North started making contacts overseas.

The hard work paid off and North joined the kitchen of one of Europe’s finest chefs, Raymond Blanc. At the age of 22 North was made second sous chef and vot ed employee of the year from a staff of al most 200 at Blanc’s highly acclaimed Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons.

“Raymond helped to take me to anoth er level,” says North. “I had about three years with him; it gave me the chance to understand his philosophy. He is such a ge nius and a big influence on me.”

Part of the appeal of Blanc’s kitchen for North was the fresh produce chefs worked with in the kitchen. For eight months of each year, the gardens provide the kitchen at Le Manoir with its daily needs includ ing more than 70 types of herbs.

North says it was under Blanc that he learnt the true craft of his trade, learning to break down ingredients from their original whole form, such as filleting an ocean trout or breaking down an entire pig.

North says Blanc’s style was very differ ent to most chefs because he was self taught, having started his career as a waiter. “He was always asking lots of questions. He in stalled into all of us, tasting and thinking and when he talked to all of us, he would be very specific three grains of salt, one drop of lemon. “He got us to analyse how we could make it taste better.”

Last year his former master, now a close friend, came to Australia for the first time. “We had a lovely week,” says North. “ I took him to the fish markets, and the fresh produce markets. I bought him to Bécasse, but I wasn’t cooking. I sat back, enjoyed his company and watched how responsive he was to the food.”

Having studied under a French chef, it was only natural for North to then go to France after his time at Le Manoir. North ended up at the three Michelin starred Pierre Gagnaire and the Guy Savoy in Paris, before deciding to head back south to Australia.

Once back in Sydney, North rejoined Tomlin as sous chef at Banc Restaurant. Two years later he left the restaurant to open Bécasse. Since then life hasn’t slowed down for North who claims the hardest lesson throughout all his success has been learning to balance it all. “Working 18 hours a day, balancing family life, balanc ing your health. When I was at Bécasse orig inally I was 125kg and didn’t exercise and I smoked and nibbled all day.

“But then you look at yourself and make a decision. The whole stress of not only run ning a restaurant, but running a kitchen and finances and every other little thing, learn ing to balance it all and turn that balancing into a challenge is important.”

Along with continuing to run two suc cessful restaurants, and a café, North is working on ways to encourage more sustainable farming in Australia, and earlier this year started holding season al producer’s lunches at Bécasse.

The lunches act as forums for pro ducers and industry figures to discuss issues facing the industry. North’s pas sion for local and sustainable food comes from his upbringing in New Zealand where his parents had a veg etable garden in the backyard. “Before dinner dad would dig the carrots and the potatoes up from the garden. It seemed normal and now it seems so far from normal it’s not funny,” he says.

In recent years North says he’s seen a shift in the industry as issues like climate change, carbon foot prints and sustainability get more of a profile. “It’s changed, even since when I was in Europe. No disre spect to the people in those restaurants, but it wasn’t an issue. It was about get ting the best quality produce you can get. You didn’t care where you got it from or if you raped and pillaged the land. It was about getting quality.”

For North, buying local not only ensure good quality but also makes better business sense. “If you buy what’s in season you get it at the best price and the best quality. And you are supporting local producers.”

As if he wasn’t busy enough North is the ambassador for this month’s Hunter Valley Wine and Food month, during which he will be guest speaker at the Hunter Chefs & Co Winter Luncheon.

While North has not worked in the Hunter, its easy to see his affinity with the area that boasts not only top qual ity wine, but also more recently an ar ray of boutique growers producing everything from berries to snails.

With so much going on it’s easy to see why some would claim North to be our own Gordon Ramsay, ready to fight for what he is passionate about while slow ly building a gastronomical empire.

But while he has no immediate plans to take Ramsay’s path on to television one thing is certain. Whatever North has planned next, the food world will be waiting with baited breath.