The joy of Tets
Frequently cited as Australia's leading chef, Tetsuya Wakuda is nothing short of a superstar in his adopted country. As chef-proprietor of one of Sydney's most sought-after culinary hot spots, Tetsuya's, and a celebrated cookery book writer, he has earned the respect of both the public and trade alike.
Beyond Antipodean shores, Wakuda's name is frequently linked with the world's culinary elite, alongside the likes of Alain Ducasse, Daniel Boulud, Ferran Adrià and Charlie Trotter. Yet in Britain his name - even among chefs - is not widely known.
That is all set to change as news of the recent opening of Mju at the Millennium Hotel London Knightsbridge spreads around town. Wakuda is acting as consultant chef, writing all the menus, and will fly over from Sydney once a month to spend time working alongside the hotel's executive chef, Chris Behre.
An Australian who worked for Wakuda for three years until 1998, 30-year-old Behre arrived in London in April to take over the kitchen at the Knightsbridge hotel from Paul Bates, now executive chef at the Millennium Mayfair hotel. Between leaving Tetsuya's and arriving at Mju, Behre worked in China as executive chef at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Shanghai, before returning to Sydney to open the W Hotel, the new lifestyle property belonging to the Sheraton Group. He had no plans to work in London, but when offered the opportunity to work for Wakuda again, Behre jumped at it.
"Tets is such a humble man," he says. "He has the most enormous respect for produce and food, and creates amazing dishes that appeal to so many people."
During a planning visit prior to the opening of the restaurant, Wakuda explained that Behre would provide "my hands, my eyes and my palate when I'm not here, preparing dishes and a style of menu that are all mine".
So isn't it frustrating for Behre not to be able to cook his own food? "Not at all," he replies. "The dishes might be Tets's recipes, but it is me who is doing the cooking and it still takes great skill to balance the taste of every dish."
The menu at Mju is very much a mirror of that served at Tetsuya's in Sydney, in that it is a dégustation (tasting) menu. The most significant difference, though, is that the London menu is shorter. In Sydney eight courses are served at lunch and 14 at dinner. At Mju there are five courses for lunch and eight at dinner. Prices are £25 and £50 respectively.
In the early days of Tetsuya's, Wakuda offered both an à la carte and dégustation menu. But with most customers ordering from the dégustation, he gave up the à la carte. Alternative dishes are offered, however, if a customer dislikes a certain ingredient.
"The menu is structured as a series of tiny tastes to highlight the entirety of the ingredients - their particular taste, texture, smell and look - whether they be from the land, sea, or earth," explains Wakuda. Much effort is taken to ensure that each dish - served in appetiser-sized portions - leads to the other, building on the taste and structure of the one before, with, for instance, the cold before the hot and the steamed before the grilled.
Influences come from far and wide. Wakuda doesn't like to pin any label on his culinary style, but recognises that it is an amalgam of ideas gleaned within a Western culture, where he learnt his cooking, combined with those of his Eastern heritage. "The fact that I am Japanese and my palate is different from a Frenchman's is reflected in my cooking," he says.
Offering just one no-choice menu provides Wakuda with the opportunity to ensure every dish that leaves the kitchen is perfect. It is for the same reason that, while a new version of the menu is expected to be produced every couple of months, it will never be changed completely. "You can never perfect a dish if you are making constant changes," he stresses. Indeed, there are two dishes that are always on the menu at Tetsuya's and which are also appearing on the first menu at Mju.
The first is a dish that has come to be known as Tetsuya's signature dish in Sydney - confit of Petuna ocean trout with fennel salad. The fish, which is farmed in Tasmania, is slowly roasted in olive oil at a very low temperature to retain its brilliant orange-red colour and delicate flavour. Along with the fennel salad, it is served with a little parsley oil and some ocean trout caviar. Konbu (a type of seaweed) is combined with chives to provide a salty, vivid green topping.
The London version uses wild Scottish salmon and salmon roe, as Behre is not yet able to import the ocean trout from Tasmania. "The salmon doesn't have the same firmness or colour consistency as the ocean trout, but it does have the most fantastic flavour," he says.
The second dish is a dessert - floating island with vanilla bean and praline anglaise. Other popular desserts in Wakuda's repertoire include an orange, honey and black pepper sorbet, and a flourless chocolate cake with orange ice-cream and chocolate sorbet.
If Wakuda's impact on the Millennium Knightsbridge is even a fraction of what he has achieved in Sydney - where his 80-seat restaurant is booked four weeks in advance - the hotel will be more than delighted. Like many hotels, the Millennium Knightsbridge has struggled in the past to fill its restaurant. With an injection of Wakuda's individual culinary flair, it is hoped that it will become the kind of ground-breaking eaterie that has been created at Nobu at the Metropolitan Hotel, where Mark Edwards is supported by New York-based chef Nobu Matsuhisa.
Tetsuya Wakuda's culinary career
Despite achieving great fame and success, Wakuda is an unassuming man. He is, in fact, eternally grateful for all that has happened to him since his arrival in Australia in 1982 from his home town of Hamamatsu in Japan. He was 22, spoke only a few words of English and could not cook.
Initially, Australia was simply a stepping-stone for a life in the USA. But after taking a couple of jobs in restaurants to finance his passage, the course of his life changed for ever.
It was while working alongside renowned chef Tony Bilson at Kinsela's in Sydney that Wakuda discovered that he had a talent for cooking. "It was where I started learning classical French techniques," he says. "I made up a lot of things along the way and, luckily for me, people liked the way it tasted."
In 1983, in partnership with the head waiter from Kinsela's, Sean Dwyer, Wakuda opened his first restaurant, Ultimo's. Six years on, he went solo, opening Tetsuya's in Rozelle, a venue that despite the rather uninspiring suburban location, quickly established itself as a mecca for foodies the world over.
At the end of last year Wakuda moved Tetsuya's into larger and more salubrious premises on Kent Street in Sydney's central business district. "It is my dream restaurant," he proudly proclaims of the 90-seat, 2,000sq ft restaurant, with parking for 40 cars underneath and a sprawling Japanese garden outside.
It was while searching for a new location for Tetsuya's that the opportunity to do business in London came about. Fan and close friend Kwek Leng Beng, chairman of Millennium Copthorne, offered him the opportunity to open a restaurant in one of his hotels. Impressed by the location of the Millennium Knightsbridge - on fashionable Sloane Street, surrounded by chic designer emporiums - Wakuda accepted and a deal was done.
From the outset, Wakuda has been involved in every aspect of the rebirth of the first-floor restaurant at the Millennium Knightsbridge. He chose United Designers - the team behind Nobu, Vong and Teatro - to carry out his vision of the restaurant, one that he calls "minimal, but warm". All the artwork is his selection and he chose the name, Mju, meaning millennium.
As well as providing lunch and dinner from Monday to Friday, Mju is open for breakfast seven days a week and for brunch on Saturday and Sunday.
Mju dinner menu, £50
Lobster mousse with wasabi and wakame jelly
Tartare of tuna with fresh wasabi
Shelled marinated crab set on sushi rice
Tataki of venison with rosemary and honey
Roast langoustines with tea and shellfish oil
Slow-roasted, marinated Scottish wild salmon with sautéd witlof, seasonal green salad
Lobster ravioli with seaweed vinaigrette and shellfish essence
Double-cooked de-boned spatchcock with braised daikon and bread sauce
Roasted rack of lamb with miso and water chestnuts
Orange, honey and black pepper sorbet
Floating island with vanilla bean and praline anglaise
Coffee, tea and petits fours
