Talk:Tetsuya Wakuda

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Used a combination of information found on the internet and Tetsuya's book to expand and ultimately rewrite the article. Information I could find is patchy and sometimes contradictory, but did the best I could. Writing is a bit messy too as a result. Also lacks a section that talks about the food and his style of cooking. Hope to add this later. --- User: Schellack Tetsuya Wakuda (和久田哲也, ?) is a Japanese-born Australian chef based in Sydney, Australia. He is widely recognised as one of Australia’s most original, creative and successful culinary talents. His eponymous restaurant, Tetsuya’s, is celebrated both nationally and internationally.

Background

Early Life

Tetsuya Wakuda was born on June 18th 1959, in the city of Hamamatsu, in the Shizuoka prefecture of Japan. He trained for three years as chef in a large Tokyo hotel where he learnt the basic techniques of cooking both European and Japanese food.

A self-confessed “dreamer”, in his early twenties Wakuda decided he wanted to travel the world. Inspired by a documentary he watched about Australia, he made his first visit to the country at the age of 22 knowing little about the place other than believing it was full of koalas and kangaroos.

Kinsela’s and beyond (1983 – 1989)

In 1983, Wakuda met Sydney chef Tony Bilson (now head chef of the acclaimed Bilson's restaurant), who offered him a job cooking sushi at Kinsela’s in Taylor Square. Under Bilson, Wakuda learnt many of the classical French techniques that underpins much of Wakuda’s Japanese-French fusion cooking today. Perhaps even more importantly, Bilson was also the first to begin fostering Wakuda’s drive to discover new flavours that has become part of Wakuda’s culinary philosophy, by encouraging him to experiment during his time at Kinsela’s.

“ I started by doing some Japanese food – sushi etc – and then Tony gave me the chance to do other things. He basically told me to trust my instincts and to try mixtures. He taught me but also gave me the confidence and opportunity to test a lot.
-- Wakuda on Tony Bilson's influence ”

Wakuda left Kinsela’s in 1983, and together with one of the managers from Kinsela’s set up Rose’s nightclub, where Wakuda worked as a chef for a year. After leaving Rose’s, he was introduced to chef Hans Mohr through the late restaurateur Anders Ousback. He worked as second chef with Mohr for only six months but during that time “I learnt a lot from Hans”, Wakuda recalls.

After a short stint as head chef at Hunters Hill’s The Post and Whistle, Wakuda started Ultimo’s with a Kinsela’s head waiter Sean Dwyer in 1986. It was here that he began learning the responsibilities of operating a business. Two years later however his partner was forced to leave the business, and Wakuda decided to sell rather than take over due to the high rent and unsatisfactory location.

Wakuda turned his attention to starting a new restaurant of his own together with his wife. He chose a tiny shopfront in the suburb of Rozelle as the location.

Tetsuya's restaurant

Rozelle years (1989 – 2000)

The eponymous Tetsuya’s opened in 1989, an unassuming space with an upstairs room located on Darling St in Sydney’s Inner-West suburb of Rozelle.

In its humble beginnings, the restaurant’s tiny kitchen was run only by Wakuda and his wife, whom he trained to do the cold larder and dish presentation duties. The limited kitchen size forced Wakuda to make many compromises on the menu. The work too, was demanding for the duo, as Wakuda testified at the time:

“ There are two of us and we do 180 to 190 dishes a day – we have 44 covers, every one has at least four courses – it is a lot for two people. ”

Despite its limitations, the menu would change frequently and the restaurant enjoyed a steady stream of diners including many regular customers. One dish that remained a fixture on the menu was Wakuda's fish confit dish, which began life as a salmon dish but eventually evolved into using ocean trout.

Other dishes featured on the menu at the time included ‘boudin of pork and duck liver and pig’s trotters with port wine and mustard sauce’, ‘grilled breast of duck with duck sausage, sage, orange and ginger’ and ‘warm salad of fried marinated quail with rice and lemon vinaigrette’.

Over the years, the restaurant attracted favourable reviews, helping buoy the restaurant to new heights. In 1992 the influential Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide awarded the restaurant Three Hats - the highest possible rank, and a rank which the restaurant has been consistently been awarded each year since. Wrote one 1990’s GFG reviewer:

“ Tetsuya Wakuda is one of our most successful exponents of fusion cuisine, and the subtle Franco-Japanese creations […] are subtle, elegant, exquisitely balanced and in no way designed to draw attention to their creator.
-– The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide ”

The restaurant was remodelled in 1993, increasing seats to 65, with an expanded and re-fitted kitchen. Kitchen staff eventually consisted of three chefs working alongside Wakuda as well as one or two kitchen hands, while up to four waiters manned the floor on fully booked nights.

Brimming with patronage - typically booked out weeks in advance - and now enjoying a reputation as a leading Sydney restaurant, in November 2000 Tetsuya’s moved to a larger, more glamourous location in Sydney’s CBD where it remains today.

Kent Street (2000 – present)

Tetsuya’s occupies a large, heritage-listed property on Kent St in Sydney’s CBD that once housed the former Suntory Restaurant. The restaurant seats 55 people, including private dining rooms and two larger main dining rooms overlooking a Japanese garden.

Many of the modern sculpture works displayed around the restaurant were made by his friend, the late sculptor Akio Makigawa. The ceramics used for plating some dishes, meanwhile, are made personally for Wakuda and the restaurant another friend Mitsuo Shoji.

“ As well as the food being ‘just right’, the aesthetics of the actual restaurant are also important to me. The dining experience should be one of visual as well as gastronomic pleasure
-- Wakuda on visual aesthetics ”

Upstairs, Tetsuya’s houses an experimental kitchen for Wakuda where new dishes are created, and old ones reworked.

Tetsuya’s originally offered an a la carte menu as well as a degustation option. This practice was eventually dropped however, and today only the degustation is offered. The restaurant is open six days a week for dinner, and also lunch on Saturdays.

Awards

Tetsuya’s continues to garner top awards and is internationally recognised as a leading Australian restaurant. The restaurant still maintains its Good Food Guide Three Hat status and was named Restaurant of the Year (again) in the 2008 edition. Tetsuya’s has also ranked within the top five “world’s best restaurants” as nominated by UK publication Restaurant magazine in 2005, 2006 and 2007.