Chef, restaurateur and writer, Karen Martini brings her wealth of knowledge to Better Homes and Gardens. Karen continues to share her brand new recipes with viewers and how easy it is to get restaurant-quality meals at home.

Karen returns to Australia's number one lifestyle program Better Homes and Gardens in 2007 for its 13th year alongside team members, host Johanna Griggs, Dr Harry Cooper (Vet), Rob Palmer (DIY), Ed Halmagyi (Fast Food presenter), Jason Hodges (landscaper) and interior expert Tara Dennis.

"I am thrilled to be a part the team and a show that I consider to be a well respected lifestyle program. I always look forward to sharing with viewers my passion for food and all my favourite and new recipes", Karen says.

Karen Martini has only ever wanted to cook, and she has been doing so for as long as she can remember.

"My food is an expression of my heritage, a product of my curiosity and the result of my hunger!"

Currently the Executive Chef at The Melbourne Wine Room in St Kilda, Karen has been the recipient of countless "chef's hats" during the ten years she has run the restaurant.

Karen's food is unmistakably that of the Mediterranean but is also undeniably individual. She is firmly produce-driven and has a passion for fresh herbs, heirloom tomatoes, fennel, garlic, virgin olive oil, sheep and goats' milk curds and cheeses, olives, anchovies, coriander seeds, cumin, the freshest seafood and properly aged organic meat. As a teenager Karen developed her skills in the classical tradition under Tansy Good at her eponymous Melbourne restaurant. This foundation in technique gave her the freedom to create her own brand of modern Mediterranean cuisine.

In the nineties, Karen held head chef positions at Haskin's and the much-lauded Kent Hotel, before cementing her reputation at The Melbourne Wine Room in St Kilda's iconic George Hotel. Karen was the founding chef at The Melbourne Wine Room and has garnered countless Chef's Hats from The Age Good Food Guide in her eight years as Executive Chef. Karen became a partner in the business in 1997.
In 2002, Karen took up a unique career challenge with then-business partner Maurice Terzini (driving force behind Melbourne icons Caffe e Cucina, Il Bacaro, The Melbourne Wine Room and Sydney's Otto), and accepted the mantle of Executive Chef at what was soon to become one of Australia's most talked about new restaurants. Overlooking Sydney's famous Bondi Beach, Icebergs Dining Room & Bar became her home away from home for two years.

She retained executive control over the kitchen at The Melbourne Wine Room during this time and continued to supervise both the menu and the high standard of food. Testament to her ability to manage this dual role was Karen's two Chef's Hats, awarded by each city's Good Food Guides. Icebergs was also awarded Best New Restaurant in The Sydney Morning Herald's 2004 Good Food Guide.

Karen sadly relinquished her role as Executive Chef at Icebergs in July 2004, to concentrate on new projects in Sydney and Melbourne. She opened mr. wolf, a new Martini-esque style pizzeria, restaurant and bar in Melbourne's St Kilda with her long-term partner (in life and business) Michael Sapountsis. Michael is also a partner with Karen in The Melbourne Wine Room, where he leads the service that won The Age Award for Service Excellence in 2004.

Over the years Karen has cooked for many charity functions, including Chefs Unite - Feed for Seed, a fundraising dinner with all proceeds going to a tsunami rebuilding project in Sri Lanka. Karen has also cooked for The Mission Dinner for the Homeless, The Breast Cancer Foundation and the Starlight Foundation Four Chefs Dinners, which she co-hosted in June last year.

Karen was a featured chef alongside Stephanie Alexander at a major Slow Food Dinner in Turin, Italy in 1998 and has been a key presenter at The Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. She has also contributed several articles to The Weekend Australian.

In August 2004, Karen became Food Editor of Sunday Life, the Sun-Herald and Sunday Age's magazine published weekly in Sydney and Melbourne.

In 2005 Karen was the resident chef on LifeStyle Cafe, a 13-part series on the LifeStyle.

In June 2006 Karen released her first cookbook- Where The Heart Is, an inspiring collection of Karen's recipes packed with over 140 simple ways to enjoy creating, combining and consuming fresh, flavoursome food.

Karen's repertoire ranges from Mediterranean to Middle Eastern dishes, by way of North Africa (her great grandfather's family moved to Tunisia from Nice and Tuscany). Where the Heart Is celebrates the generous spirit and style of home-cooking that is a huge part of her heritage.

Not only is Karen now an author but she also enjoys motherhood having given birth to a baby girl in October 2006.

Better be home on Friday nights at 7.30pm on Seven to catch Karen Martini and the team on Better Homes and Gardens.