From the personal chef of a Hollywood star to winning fifth-straight restaurant award
Our people
Mossman chef Coby Cockburn’s bistro has been named the best seafood restaurant at the WA Restaurant and Catering Awards for the fifth year running.
Located in the small town of Dunsborough in the southwest of WA, Cockburn opened the Blue Manna Bistro in 2017 after long stints travelling around the country on working holidays.
“Growing up on a beach in Far North Queensland, it was impossible not to fall in love with the ocean and the incredible abundance it provides,” Cockburn says of his childhood.
“Some of my earliest and fondest memories are of walking the mudflats at low tide, spear in hand, with friends.”
He did part of his apprenticeship at Silky Oaks Lodge before heading off to travel around the country, but later returned to work at Watergate in Port Douglas and Thala Beach Resort.
One career highlight was working as a personal chef for Keanu Reeves while he was filming two of The Matrix movies.
Blue Manna has won multiple gongs in WA in the past decade including from the Good Food Guide awards, Gold Plate Awards and WA Seafood Industry Awards.