Tetsuya's
A chef whose genial reputation precedes him, Tetsuya Wakuda sums up his modus operandi with humility: "I made a lot of things up and, luckily, people like the way it tasted." That, however, hardly begins to explain the rise of a visionary who can hold his own among the world's most outrageous culinary pace-setters.
Tetsuya left home, the Japanese industrial city of Hamamatsu, aged 22, arriving in Sydney with little English and a very limited grasp of what Australia was about. Nonetheless, he was soon working under Tony Bilson at Kinsela's, originally as a sushi chef, nourishing his love of food and learning fast.
Within 18 months, this prodigy had his own restaurant, Ultimo's. Six years later, in 1989, he opened the first tiny, Tetsuya's, where his unique fusion style - a distinctly Japanese emphasis on seasonality, zingy fresh ingredients, clean flavours and small, delicate plates, augmented by his newly acquired classical French techniques - began to draw crowds.
It wasn't, however, until 2000, when Tetsuya took over the Seagram's building in central Sydney that the wider world sat up and hit redial for a table. He turned this impressive, modernist, heritage-listed building into a slick, contemporary restaurant, in which diners eat looking out onto a serene Japanese bonsai garden.
There is no à la carte. For Tetsuya, the degustation menu is the very basis of his cooking. Diners are presented with 15 courses such as cold pea soup with bitter chocolate sorbet; grilled Wagyu beef with lime and wasabi; or Queensland Spanner crab custard.
It is dazzling, para-molecular stuff, created by a team of 21 chefs using all the latest gadgets and first-rate ingredients like sashimi-grade tuna, Tasmanian ocean trout and vegetables grown, quite often, to Tetsuya's specifications. That detail, rather than luck, is what makes Tetsuya's a unique experience.
Behind the stove:
Tetsuya Wakuda
What they say:
"His culinary philosophy centres on pure, clean flavours that are decisive yet completely refined." Chef Charlie Trotter
New dish of the year:
Tian of caviar with soft smoked Petuna ocean trout, scallops mousse and quail egg bon bon.
Not a lot of people know:
Tetsuya's once turned away Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise. "We didn't have a table," Tetsuya told The Age newspaper, "what are you supposed to do?"
529 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia+61 2 9267 2900
www.tetsuyas.com
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