Tetsuya Wakuda
For Japanese-born Tetsuya Wakuda, running a restaurant is all-consuming. It is not something you do while having another life: you are "either in or out," he says. At his Sydney restaurant, Tetsuya's in Rozelle, he is so far 'in' that I worry that he may burn out. Since opening there in 1989, he has been completely focused on his cooking, with no room for a family life. "My staff are my family and it's wonderful to see them grow." And, as parents must do, he is now, very gradually, accepting that his 'children' can take some responsibility. This means that he has to step back, to stop touching, tasting and testing everything in the kitchen for himself.
For ten years Tetsuya has been totally concentrated on his Sydney kitchen. If he was not there, the place would close. So, when he was asked to go and cook in New York for the James Beard foundation in 1998, he closed the restaurant for a month and took his staff with him. He has made many friends in the international culinary world and gets numerous requests for guest appearances and promotions. Tetsuya is very firm, he will only travel outside of his restaurant for charity or for friends. He is doing that more, but now has the confidence in his team not to close but to leave them to run the restaurant and to serve his food without him there. Tetsuya is finally beginning to delegate. It has not been easy for him and, in many ways, has been a humbling process.
Recently, in his friend Charlie Trotter's kitchens in Chicago, he was asked to suggest three dishes for a fundraising banquet. It was at short notice but the ingredients were found and the brigade called together to hear Tetsuya's instructions. He started to do it himself, to demonstrate the dishes, as he always does. Very politely but firmly the chefs refused to let him, taking the pans and knives away. They wanted him to tell them, not to show them. It was the first time that Tetsuya had instructed by words, not by action, and he found this amazing. "They were able to do what I asked, not the first time but after about three attempts. They did it very well, but it took a bit more to get the taste just right."
For Tetsuya, it is all about the taste, the palate. He has trained many staff over the years (though always by the demonstration method) and finds it takes a very long time for them to get the taste right. Now he has faith in his long serving staff - people such as David Gumbleton who has been with him for six years. Now he is able to try what they do and to say - 'OK it's not like I would do, it's not the same, but it's very good.' So he will let them do it, finally.
And, so too, this means that he should be able to continue visiting great chefs in Australia and overseas, spending a few days here and there, gaining more insights and bringing those back to his kitchen. Hopefully, it may also mean that he can stop working so hard physically; stop standing for such long hours and start sitting down and trying his restaurant's food. His great ambition is to sit down at Tetsuya's with friends and to enjoy food not cooked by him. In 14 years he has only done this once and, being tired and a bit overwrought, sat all afternoon at the table and eventually fell asleep. He laughs about this now but now would like to do this on his own terms, when friends arrive, not for business.
Hospitality is very important to Tetsuya, but in the warmest and broadest sense of the word. He talks about the "welcome of a restaurant" and how much he learnt from some of his peers in Sydney - Armando Percuoco "taught me so much about making people feel comfortable, about recognising your customers, and remembering what they like". Tetsuya says that he will always do special dishes, things that are not on the daily list (there is no printed menu) if he gets requests. He will even cook a well-done steak for those who want it that way. Mind you, it will be the best possible piece of meat he can find with the best possible sauce, but "if they want it well cooked, they are the customer, and that's what restaurants are all about. Too often we forget that."
Clearly his philosophy works, Tetsuya's is booked out months in advance, with long waiting lists for just 55 seats. Hard to remember that when he first opened it was a humble shopfront BYO, with the original miniscule kitchen in which Tetsuya and his wife cooked. Both the restaurant space and kitchen have been expanded considerably, though the numbers catered for have increased very little. Staff have quadrupled from the early days; now there are 8 in the kitchen and 12 out front, who all work nine sessions weekly (the restaurant is open for 5 lunches and 4 dinners).
Interesting too to recall how Tetusya came to Rozelle. He had trained as a hotel chef in Japan and came to Australia in the early '80s where he worked for Tony Bilson 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."
And so, over the past decade, Tetsuya has built from that, refining continuously until now he feels confident in his own methods and the way he has passed them on to his staff, to let them try on their own, but only sometimes. He is still there an enormous amount of the time, though now more as a 'shadow', standing behind and watching. And developing methods of translating his work for the domestic kitchen. His book, A Memory of the Last Ten Years, will be published in March 2000.
Influences
Review of Tetsuya's Restaurant and a 1991 interview with Tetsuya.
Tetsuya Wakuda's Recipes
Tartare of Macquarie Harbour Petina ocean trout with goats cheese
Beef ribs marinated in sake served with buckwheat risotto
Lime and ginger cream brulee