Remembering Crescent Head's 'cheffing surfer' David Dunn

Members of the community who wish to be involved are asked to meet at 9:30am on the grass at the front of the Kempsey-Crescent Head Surf Club on the Crescent Head foreshore.

David was a surfer first and a chef second. His wife, Cassandra, says he would want to be remembered as the 'cheffing surfer' rather than the 'surfing chef'.

David was born on September 14, 1955 at Saint Margaret's Hospital in Sydney. He died aged 68, on April 4, 2024.

David's mother Margaret Catherine Dunn (maiden name Booth) from Maroubra NSW and father David Brian Dunn, Roseville NSW, had six children. David shared the middle of the siblings; Michael, Peter, Margaret (David), Catherine and Lisa.

The family home was across the road from Centennial Park, Sydney. The park was David's playground, and the big backyard supported David's adventurous nature.

"As a very young boy he constantly took off to the park on his own to see what he could find and who he could meet," Cassandra said. "I know of many stories of these times.

"He befriended the local Aboriginal group who were residing in the park, they took him under their wing and taught him to fish for eel, which he brought home for his mother to cook, much to her horror."

This is a story the entire family still enjoys telling.

David's family spent many holidays at Avoca Beach on the Central Coast. This is where he developed his love of the ocean.

"He received his very first surfboard from his mother, much to her dismay in subsequent years after realising her wayward son had become a dedicated 'beach-bum'," Cassandra said.

David eventually moved to Avoca and spent 30 years of his adult life there where he met his wife, Cassandra, 22 years ago.

They relocated from Avoca to Crescent Head in 2012.

David began his chef training in 1976 at age 21.

"He lasted just six weeks due to boredom," Cassandra said.

Instead David approached restaurants directly to learn the art of cooking.

He spent several years learning in venues across Sydney, before heading to New Zealand to work as chef before founding and operating a range of food-related businesses of his own.

From venues Beach Pont Bateau Bay and Mood Food restaurant in Ettalong Beach, to 'iFlavour cooking school and liquid food flavours, David had a world of experience before introducing his skills to the Mid North Coast.

Cassandra says David was known to show initiative and teach himself new techniques, and his ability to deep dive into detail saw him inject his own creativity into everything he did.

"I cannot express enough, the level of detail David would engage in," Cassandra said.

When it came to food, Cassandra says her husband's cooking was renowned for flavour. He loved to dabble in global cuisine, "finished with a little 'Davey twist'."

David was fascinated with using aroma and flavours as a way to reach people's hearts. "This was the true gift David brought to the world he lived in, a deep desire to help people feel good.

"He just loved what he called his 'expression session' and much to the delight of everyone, he was extraordinarily good at it."

His knack for research and design helped him in his career, in both food and business operations, but was seen in all facets of his life.

Cassandra says David designed his own skateboards as a young teenager and designed an A-symmetrical surfboard in his adulthood.

From 2015 to 2019, David and Cassandra operated the SurfSliders Kiosk at Kempsey-Crescent Head Surf Life Saving Club.

"We opened this 'hole in the wall' kiosk delivering the most delicious gourmet burgers and street food any local, or visitor had tasted," Cassandra said.

"David became known up and down the coast for his takeaway food, which was essentially 'a-la-carte' food in a box.

"[Actor] Brian Brown came to visit one day and called his 'Beef and Truffle' burger the best he had eaten in the world!"

The couple continued to serve Crescent Head with Lumah Restaurant in the centre of town from 2019 - 2023, including the COVID-19 related pivot of Lumah Deli (2020/21) and dLicious Dessert Bar (2022).

David and Cassandra sold Lumah Restaurant on December 1, 2023.

The couple were preparing to launch a new business, Lumah Delivers - door-delivered chef-prepared meals and fine wines throughout the Kempsey Shire.

Growing up in Sydney in proximity to Bondi Beach and Tamarama, David was renowned for 'skipping school' at Waverley College to go surfing.

Later in life when a career was required, David chose to be a chef so he could surf all day and cook at night.

"Surfing was and continued to be his first priority throughout his entire life and cooking allowed him to live this life," Cassandra said.

"David was dearly loved throughout the surfing community, up and down the East Coast."

After David's passing, Cassandra received numerous messages and calls from people she didn't know.

"I am only beginning to comprehend the magnitude of his influence and connection with people from [the surfing] world."

Cassandra and David spent 22 years together; supporting each other in everything they did.

While Cassandra describes their partnership like a "pair of old socks", she says they were "deeply enmeshed".

Cassandra describes David as a truly kind, generous, deeply thoughtful and enlightened man.

"He was a man with a deep level of tolerance and understanding. That is only now revealing itself to me in all its totality.

"I am in awe and gratitude that I had 22 years with someone so deeply connected within himself, that his love for me was never overbearing, demanding or controlling, at any level, at any time," Cassandra said.

"It seems to be a true 'unconditional' love and I will forever miss him."

David will live on in the memory of his wife, his son Benjamin Dunn/Mackinnon, and extended family from relatives, to the surfing and Macleay Valley communities, and friends all over the world.