O Tama Carey first learned to cook the food of her Sri Lankan heritage at her mother and grandmother's side - but began her cooking career quite by accident after landing a job in a restaurant kitchen in London's Notting Hill. Since then she has cooked French at Bistro Moncur, Chinese at Billy Kwong and Italian, of sorts, at Berta where she was head chef. In 2018 she opened Lankan Filling Station, her first solo venture in Sydney's inner-city Darlinghurst. It's here that she spends most of her time pounding spices, working the floor and communicating the flavours of her Sri Lankan heritage. Food editor and regular columnist for The Saturday Paper, outside the restaurant, her interests include bee keeping, salumi making, writing and teaching.