It has been a whirlwind of a year for celebrity chefs Sarah Todd and Declan Cleary.
From competing on MasterChef Australia 2025 together, debuting their relationship, moving in, and even starting a family together.
Personal milestones aside, the pair are taking their romance to another level. They are joining forces with National Barramundi Day on Friday October 17, where they’ll cook up a feast at the Barra Love Shack pop-up at Bondi Beach.
As one of their many love languages, the pair often cook for one another and Sarah sweetly revealed Declan even packs her son, Phoenix’s school lunch. But it also means introducing each other to new dishes!
The Bondi menu includes three signatures dishes, but it was a barramundi pani puri that inspired the chefs to partake as ambassadors.
“Sarah introduced me to pani puri on our most recent trip to India. [She] cooked it up for me and incorporated barramundi in the potato mixture. So it just kind of went hand in hand,” Declan told The Weekly.
“We both have worked our way around a fair share of barramundi, and it’s a part of our weekly diet at home. So we thought, why not?”
Growing up on the Great Barrier Reef, fresh fish was always on Sarah’s dinner table. Naturally, she assures cooking with fish isn’t as daunting as some may think.
“Once you start cooking with it, you realise it’s really simple and it’s a beautiful, clean flavour. It’s something that can really carry whatever your cooking and the flavours you want to create,” Sarah said.
As culinary geniuses, absolutely nothing is off the table at home or in their careers. Recently, they have begun testing their taste buds with some luxurious foods from around the globe.
Even before MasterChef, Sarah was tasting her way through cities in India, Qatar and more recently, France. But recently, the pair have even begun filming in a travel food series on social media.
“I’ve done a lot of travels on my own for the last decade,” Sarah confessed. “It’s nice to share that with someone, and share those experiences together.”
“It’s nice getting to share the load, experience all of the highs and lows as well,” she said, reflecting on their MasterChef experience . “We’re excited for each other’s wins and any sort of milestones in the competition. I think that’s the same coming out of the kitchen and into the home.”
It’s no secret that this has been a huge year of milestones for Sarah and Declan. But as anyone in a relationship knows, the intimate mundane moments are just as important as the big ones.
“It’s the everyday moments. We love nothing more than just coming home, making dinner together,” Sarah said.
These small moments are easy to cherish for Sarah, given she receives a “barista-made coffee in bed every morning” from Declan.
“I wake up every morning and remind her how beautiful she is and how much I love her,” Declan shared.
“I say this stuff everyday but it’s never going to lose its value and I hope you never think I’m saying it without the same value it holds from the first time I said it. We’re both extremely lucky that we’ve come into each other’s lives.”
