Culinary Cool with Chef Tom Williams
Name
Tom Williams
Age
33
Position
Executive Chef
Restaurant
Gusto Noosa
How/Why did you become a chef?
Cooking with my Nan from a very young age – which I think is a poignant thing for a lot of chefs – I remember watching her cook, tugging on the apron strings, asking her how it’s done; can I get messy with it, can I jump in and help?
After school I became a qualified electrician and when business slowed I worked in my Mum’s pub. Within ten minutes of being in the kitchen, I absolutely loved it. It bit me like a spider and I was hooked. Again, I was tugging on the chef’s apron string – ‘show me that, tell me this’. It grew from there.
I never looked back. I’ve been cooking 15 years; with probably another 30 to go.
What brought you to Australia?
I’m from the south coast of the UK, around London and moved to Kent but I always felt I was born in the wrong country. I want a slice of the nice life and Australia is pretty awesome. Moving here is an adventure and that’s what life is for. We want the dream life for our three kids as well. This has been ten years in the making but this country is for living life. It’s magical, it really is.
What do you love about being a chef?
The pace, I’m an adrenalin junkie and love life at a hundred miles an hour. I love the rush when you’re standing there and the orders are lined up; the kitchen’s pumping, there’s people all over the shop, and you are at the pass organising the chaos as the conductor of it all. Your heart is pounding and it’s like a professional ballet. I can’t describe the emotions I experience when there’s a busy service coming. A lot of people start worrying or panicking but that’s when I’m in my element. I just look the line in the face and go for it.
Most rewarding career highlights?
I competed in the Chef of the Year Award in the UK for four years earning Best in Class one year and receiving high judge scores. It was great to stretch your imagination and skillset to cook for legendary chefs, such as Pierre Koffmann.
But the most rewarding moment was saving someone’s wedding day. I owned a pub and restaurant down the road from a wedding venue and a groomsman came running in begging us to help. Their caterers had suddenly pulled out and they had no food or booze and 180 guests! We pulled out all the stops to deliver a three-course meal with pretty much every ingredient and drink we had in stock. The whole community got involved and we had locals running stock up the road in cars and vans; and I was sitting in the back of a ute with a hundred litre stock pot between my legs wondering if we were really doing this.
When I walked into the reception at the end, there was a ten-minute standing ovation. The couple came into the pub the next day to thank us for saving their wedding and there were a lot of tears. I still get emotional about it. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.
Other than that, watching my young chefs prosper and teaching them everything I know is a great achievement. I was lucky in my early years to have a chef that taught me everything he knew so I love teaching my team what I can; it’s my way of giving back.
What do you love about local produce?
Half of the food that is local to here we only dream about in UK. The fish is so fresh and it looks and tastes incredible. I’ve got a lot of respect for cooking fish and shellfish because of the precision and the techniques involved and the love and care that you have to give it. To have that on our doorstep is amazing.
What is your approach to food?
I trained as a pastry chef when I first started and owned a wedding cake business for a while. So pastry is my absolute love and I’m looking forward to doing more with that. I love pushing boundaries; I love to see what I can manipulate to create flavour pairings that most people think is not going to work. Just as we were leaving the UK, I wrote the next batch of menus for Balfour Hotel Group, and one dish was a compressed watermelon with a crab Crème fraîche and cucumber ketchup. Everyone thought it sounded awful but they tried it and it was absolutely stunning. Incredible.
We’ve got such a strong following of regulars at Gusto that there are dishes that need to stay on the menu. My ethos is innovation in making things better while maintaining consistency. We’ll have seasonal changes and I’ll use the Specials Board for some weird, wacky and wonderful creations to provide some excitement so guests can come back for the continuity of the dishes that they know and love but we can also help them reach outside their comfort zone.
Who is your culinary inspiration?
Heston Blumenthal. He just makes science and food incredible. There’s a time and a place for food like that, but it’s incredible to see someone stretching the realms of reality and possibility.
Do you cook at home?
Every night where we can. We like to see the children appreciating good food and being able to cook it themselves. If all I do is make sure they’re well-fed and well educated, then I’ve done my job.
Any advice for young chefs?
You have to have passion and a love for food. Working conditions are better these days but it’s still hard work so if you don’t have that raw passion and energy then you won’t survive. But if you appreciate the art that you can produce with your hands, then it’s the best job in the world.
What is your favourite kitchen utensil?
My ‘wee man’ – my little palette knife named after a Scottish chef I worked with who would always say, “can I borrow your wee man, chef”.
That and a tablespoon – I could run a whole service with just those.
What is your favourite ingredient?
Pineapple because it lends itself to both sweet and savoury dishes. I love the tropical flavour and it’s a very robust and versatile ingredient. You have to really throw something at it for it to not shine.
