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He's the celebrity chef who won over A-listers with his fine dining restaurants.
Born in Sydney, he gained notoriety at his posh private school by refusing to cut his hair.
His long black ponytail later became his signature look when he began his culinary career in the late 1970s.
He was just 31 when he opened a restaurant in Sydney's Rocks that would define Australian hospitality over the next decade.
The entrepreneur and businessman won a later generation of fans on TV, with appearances on shows like Restaurant Revolution and MasterChef Australia.
He also shared the spotlight with American lifestyle star Martha Stewart and hosted BBC2's The Food Source.
He's the celebrity chef who won over A-listers with his fine dining restaurants. Born in Sydney, he gained notoriety at his posh private school by refusing to cut his hair
On Thursday, the award-winning hospitality giant shared a throwback picture of a career milestone.
Wearing his shoulder-length black hair in a then-fashionable mullet, the celebrity chef is pictured standing in the doorway of his famed restaurant Rockpool while it was still under construction.
Can you guess who it is?
Of course, it's Neil Perry.
The 68-year-old restaurateur included a lengthy caption in the Instagram post, in which he recalled the opening of his fine dining eatery.
'When you are really old, the fun thing is people use old photos of you in news articles,' he began.
Perry, who later built a hospitality empire from the success of Rockpool, then gave a life update.
'It’s nice as it helps remind me of where I was in 1988 and where I am now,' he continued.
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Do YOU recognise this Aussie TV star rocking a wild mullet in this throwback snap?
Can you guess who it is? Of course, it's Neil Perry
'This is just before opening Rockpool in early 1989, I remember it well, I grew my crazy mullet out and from that time on I think I may have taken a more serious approach to life.
'[I was] 31 years old, I probably thought I was going to work hard for ten years and retire,' he added.
'It’s funny, now I know I will never retire, why would you when you love what you do, and it brings you so much joy.
Rockpool made Perry's name synonymous with Australian hospitality and attracted a long list of stars.
Oscar winners Kevin Costner and Sylvester Stallone, and supermodels Elle Macpherson and Helena Christensen were known to dine at Rockpool.
In 2013, Perry moved Rockpool to a new, larger venue in the CBD and later became culinary director for The Rockpool Dining Group (RDG), which boasted 85 bars and restaurants across Sydney and Melbourne.
Perry announced in 2020 that he was stepping away from the organisation after merging the RDG with the Urban Purveyor Group for an estimated $65million.
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