Family Destination

FILLED WITH TREASURED PIECES PICKED UP FROM TRAVELS ABROAD, CHEF AND TV PERSONALITY ADAM LIAW’S FAMILY HOME IS A REFLECTION OF HIS LOVES AND LIFE

- Shelley Tustin

Warm and welcoming, understated and charming. If, as they say, a home reflects the people who live in it, there’s surely no better example than that of lawyer-turned-chef, MasterChef winner and SBS TV presenter Adam Liaw. For Adam’s family, their Sydney home, and the pieces that dwell in it, are a true reflection of their personalities and the way they love to live. In addition to their travels together, Adam cooks around the world for television series Destination Flavour, while his wife, Asami, is back and forth between here and her native Japan with the couple’s two adorable children, Christopher and Anna.

Yet all this travelling – and exposure to gorgeous pieces that tap into the couple’s beautifully understated aesthetic – has created a bit of decorating negotiating. “Asami and I have a deal,” explains Adam. “Pretty much the equivalent volume of whatever I bring back is what I need to throw out. There’s lots of nice stuff that we bring back from overseas – and lots of crappy old stuff that I collected beforehand!”

Asami found what would become the couple’s family home six years ago and, while Adam admits he barely saw the place before moving day, he quickly fell in love with the area – a deceptively peaceful suburban enclave within minutes of Sydney’s CBD – and the home itself, a renovated Federation with a heritage facade and front rooms, and an open-plan back area, flowing seamlessly to a spacious deck.