Jan Caliva

Short bio

Jan Caliva is a Melbourne private chef raised in loud, loving Filipino kitchens — the son, grandson and protégé of a whole family of chefs. She cooks resourceful, heartfelt Modern Australian food with an Asian-fusion soul, turning simple, familiar ingredients into intimate meals made to be lingered over.

Bio

For Jan Caliva, food has always been how love is shown. She grew up in a family of chefs — her dad, her mum, and a grandmother who is convinced she’s a professional — in busy, communal Filipino kitchens where cooking was constant and full of heart. That upbringing gave her both her palate and her philosophy: good food doesn’t have to be complicated, it just has to be made with care.

She started young, washing dishes at a marina café off the coast of Vancouver at thirteen and spending every high-school summer there. When it came time to choose a path, he chose what he loved best — food — graduating high school in Canada with culinary scholarships and heading straight into culinary school at eighteen as the youngest in her class.

From there, a love of food and travel took her around the world. Vancouver and Toronto, Bali and Thailand, London, Cairns, Sydney, Brisbane and now Melbourne — every place shaped the way she cooks and deepened her belief in food as a shared experience. It’s a well-travelled palate that gives her cooking real range.

Jan’s food is Modern Australian at heart, layered with the Asian-fusion and Filipino flavours he grew up on — which makes him a natural fit for anyone after Asian catering in Melbourne, or authentic Filipino cooking, with a genuine private-chef touch. Inspired by resourcefulness and family kitchens, she loves taking humble ingredients and elevating them into something thoughtful and memorable.

Cooking, as Jan puts it, is her love language. What she enjoys most is feeding people and watching a good meal make them relax, connect and stay a little longer at the table. Private dining lets her focus on the details that matter — the menu, the mood, the whole experience — creating intimate gatherings that feel personal, warm and genuinely her own.

Now based in Melbourne, Jan works as a private chef across the city, cooking thoughtful menus in private homes for intimate dinners and celebrations. This is her taking everything she’s learned across kitchens and continents and putting it on the plate exactly the way she wants to — warm, resourceful food designed to bring people together.