Today, she is the chef at Napier Quarter, a neighbourhood wine bar and guesthouse nestled on a backstreet corner in Fitzroy.
Corso’s story is similar to that of many Italians who venture abroad.
With no great prospects upon completing her schooling, she decided to leave the Sicilian town of Alcamo and head to London at the age of 21.
Her excuse? Wanting to improve her English.
Corso arrived in London in 2010 and was there during the years of David Cameron’s conservative government, the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton and the death of the godfather of punk, Malcolm McLaren.
“My first jobs were in catering and hospitality, which were certainly easier to find,” she said in an interview with Rete Italia.
“Then I started to find my way.
“I started working in bars, first as a waitress, then behind the counter.
“I began to venture further and further back, ending up in the kitchen.”
Growing up in Sicily, Corso had an appreciation for the art of food and understood the value of fresh, local products.
Her career as a chef began in a family-run Indian restaurant in Brighton, where she was introduced to new ingredients and flavours that would eventually be used in her own kitchen.
She then worked for The Test Kitchen, a trendy bar and restaurant in Soho, London.
Nine years after her arrival in England, Corso felt the desire to embark on a new adventure.
She arrived in Melbourne on a working holiday visa.
The prevailing opinion in the Victorian capital is that if you have survived the kitchens of London, you can work anywhere.
With a wealth of experience under her belt, she began working at Estelle, Scott Pickett’s elegant fine-dining restaurant in Northcote, where she stayed for a year.
“My time at Estelle was important and I learned a lot from a technical point of view,” she said.
“But I found it to be an old-fashioned, somewhat patronising kitchen, where the space reserved for women was limited.”
Corso then spent a year at Anchovy, a contemporary Vietnamese restaurant in Richmond.
Working in an all-female kitchen, she enjoyed greater freedom and developed an interest in foraging for indigenous ingredients, as well as berries, fruit, herbs and roots.
Shortly before Melbourne’s latest lockdown, Corso moved to Napier Quarter, which is Parisian on the surface but whose menu has many Mediterranean influences.
She works under the guidance of executive chef, Eileen Horsnell.
At the moment, the restaurant is only open for the takeaway service.
“It’s important to stay open and have a sense of continuity,” Corso said.
“We make sandwiches, ready-made meals and dishes to finish at home.
“But above all we’re there, having a chat with customers while they enjoy a coffee.”
With some more time up her sleeve in lockdown, Corso has worked on some interesting collaborations with Joseph Vargetto, chef-owner of Mister Bianco in Kew, and with the Migrant Women in Hospitality project.
Every Saturday and Sunday, she also takes care of the coals at Sig. Enzo Aperitivo Bar in Brunswick.
“I’ve started barbecuing on the grill every weekend at lunchtime, and there’s often a queue,” she said.
Corso is no stranger to the grill; in Alcamo, locals celebrate Easter with stigghiola, a traditional dish consisting of lamb intestines that are skewered or wrapped around spring onions.
From Sicilian specialties to Indian spices and fine-dining in London and Melbourne, Corso has done it all... and we can’t wait to see where her journey takes her next.
