Wollongong catering queen Monika Armstrong's fed princes, sheiks and brides

There's not much that Monika Armstrong doesn't know about catering, food and a good meal. You could say it was in her genes that she got involved in the industry.

Her mother and sister were cooks, her nephew has a restaurant in Bowral, her great nephew has three coffee shops and restaurants in Bali.

"It's in our blood," she said.

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In 2023 she's celebrating 26 years since she founded her catering company culinarius, She describes herself not as a chef but a home economist.

If you haven't met Ms Armstrong, but her name sounds familiar, you might recognise it from when she wrote a recipe of the week in the Wollongong Advertiser and the Illawarra Mercury years ago.

Sometimes her recipes were Italian food, other times they were inspired by her regular trips to Bali.

She's taught cooking at TAFE, did TV cooking shows with celebrity chef Bernard King, and had a microwave cooking school (and TV show called Microwave Cooking with Monica) when the technology was new and exciting and everyone wanted to know how to make quick and easy meals.

Three years later she opened her cookery school, Monica's Creative Kitchen.

"People started to ask me to do catering. They'd asked me to do home parties ... I found that catering was more in demand," she said.

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"Catering ended up taking over the cookery school."

She runs culinarius with her daughter Rebecca, and in product development with the culinarius head chef.

John Travolta and Illawarra resident Anh Do are among the famous people she catered to.

Culinarius is already booked in to cater to Travolta when he comes to Wollongong to deliver his vintage Qantas 707 to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society.

"I've also fed princes, Prince Edward and Prince Andrew when they came to Wollongong," she said.

"We've done sheiks from Dubai when they've launched a boat here.

"They're usually beautiful, we're lucky," she said of the celebrities.

Ms Armstrong's catered to weddings for 40 years and offered up some advice for anyone planning their nuptials.

"I probably would guide people into what I think is a lovely menu," she said. "We've got one person and he wants schnitzels and hamburgers and stuff like that.

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"I think, yeah, that might be what you like, but is it what everybody likes?"

If people want fish in catering she suggests salmon. She doesn't recommend steaks (there's too many variations on how it can be cooked), but says beef cheeks are great at a function.

Ms Armstrong said a successful wedding is one full of happiness from the newlyweds, and also the thanks they receive.

"The beaming of the bride, the groom, the mother-of-the bride and the groom, that it's all come together for them," she said.

The quickest wedding she's ever helped organise was done in just 10 days.

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Shelves are overflowing with cookbooks at the culinarius headquarters in Wollongong, and at night she often reads one in bed as she looks for new menu inspiration.

So what does a caterer eat in her own home? She often takes food home from work, but also loves cooking fresh, healthy food with her partner Peter.

"At four o'clock in the afternoon there's food shows on, I still watch food shows, and I love MasterChef," she said.

"It's a passion."

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