Making Chris Hemsworth look good on Home and Away isn’t obvious training for becoming a restaurateur. But for cinematographer José Alkon – who started his career as a camera assistant on the show, back in 2007 – it’s more relevant than you might think.

“The art of cinematography is the art of telling stories. To me, when you walk into the restaurant, I’m telling you a story,” says Alkon, who owns Pepito’s in Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west. “I’m telling the story of Peru that people don’t know about.”

By Lee Tran Lam