15+9 questions for Liam Tomlin

THE chef and owner of Chefs Warehouse says he is obsessed with restaurants. If he’s not in one of his own, chances are he’s eating in one,  googling one, planning his next visit or cooking up something new. This month he's opening three new operations under one roof at 91 Bree Street, Cape Town. 

“What makes food great isn’t showing off with multiple ingredients. It’s balance and restraint. I look at every dish we create and think, what can we take away from it?” says Tomlin. His toolbox is a global one, and he loves nothing more than using fine local ingredients to bring exciting dishes to Cape Town tables.

1. Describe yourself in a hashtag?  

#determined

2. What are you reading?

Say Nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe. It’s the true and disturbing story of a mother murdered in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

3. What do you listen to in your car?

I'm currently listening to Dermot Kennedy’s album I’ve told the trees everything.

4. When did you decide to become a chef?    

In a way it was decided for me. I was expelled from school when I was 14 and my father told me that if I wasn’t going back I had to start paying rent. So I started washing pots at a hotel in Dublin, which was the only job I could find. Six months later, the chef gave me the opportunity to start on the vegetable station.

5. Was there somebody special you mentored you?

Bruno Enderli, with whom I worked with for a year at Hôtel Central in Geneva, Switzerland. Until then, it had been just a fun way to make money. Working for Bruno, the penny dropped and I really got serious about being a chef.

6. What made you come to South Africa and stay here?

Before moving here, Jan and I lived in Australia for 15 years — it was only supposed to be for one. We wanted to leave Australia but move somewhere with the same sort of lifestyle and climate. We’d been to Cape Town once before and loved it. Honestly, we’d never go back. As they say, the grass is always greener on the other side, and for us South Africa’s grass is greener than Australia’s. There are more opportunities here and it’s easier to get into business. The people are nicer, the lifestyle here is much better, and it’s more easygoing and affordable. It’s much easier to do things here … so many South Africans think that’s not true, but they haven’t tried to make it elsewhere.

7. Tell us about your restaurants. 

Our first was Chefs Warehouse & Canteen, and we’re going back to our roots with a revival of it on Bree Street. Then there's Merchant Bar & Grill, a new produce-focused concept driven by one of my partners, chef David Schneider; and a private events space, Room 91. These are all opening in early August. Our other restaurants are Chefs Warehouse Beau Constantia with partner and talented chef Ivor Jones, Chefs Warehouse at MAISON in Franschhoek, Chefs Warehouse at Tintswalo, Thali, which serves modern Indian food, and The Red Room, our pan-Asian restaurant at the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel.

8. What was your most disastrous restaurant project?

I’ve been fortunate not to have anything disastrous, but several haven’t worked out, like Local. There are a couple of other projects I’ve chosen not to continue with, but out of each one there have been lessons learned. Normally when this happens it’s because I’ve been in business with the wrong people and we didn’t agree on the best way to run the business.

9. What kind of food interests you most? And why?

I love European food and am fascinated with the way it’s changed since I worked and lived in Europe over 30 years ago. It’s no longer only about French cuisine, yet it’s still based on the same basic techniques and foundations. Today every country has its own identity, whether it's Denmark or Spain, which is rated as having some of the best restaurants in the world. I have also been crazy about Asian food since I first moved to Australia. Until then, I had no experience with ingredients like coriander, soy sauce, chillies and sesame oil. Working in Australia was initially almost like starting a new apprenticeship. None of these ingredients were used in European cuisine, and now they’ve become part of the contemporary European restaurant scene.

10. Please talk about your approach, your beliefs, your food philosophy, and what you want to achieve?

At my age and career stage, my approach is as a chef and restaurateur. It’s about offering value for money, aiming for sustainability, caring about where food originates and avoiding waste. I want to set up restaurants with young chefs who are partners in ownership, who have blood, sweat and tears in the business. They have a big influence on what food they cook but work within the boundaries of the concepts we agree on. Partners like Ivor Jones and Dave Schneider — I’m learning from them all the time too. As for my food philosophy, I’m open to anything as long as it’s real and proper food that is unpretentious.

11. Where did the idea of tapas for two come from?

The original Chefs Warehouse & Canteen. When we first opened, it was supposed to be a deli with casual dining. We had a daily selection of dishes, like soup of the day, meat of the day … and a tapas for two selection. The tapas for two was basically all we were selling, so we soon said bugger it, let’s just do that. The offering changed every  day, so it was a great way to teach our chefs and there was no waste. It was something new in Cape Town and our guests still seem to love it.

12. Your favourite South African food? 

I am a food consultant for Singita, so I regularly visit all their lodges. My favourite thing at Singita is boma night. For me, there’s nothing better than braaied meat with chakalaka, a potjie, vetkoek and nice salads. It’s simple and delicious, which is the kind of food I most love, and the experience of sitting around an open fire, outside under the stars in the bush, is magical.

13. What do like to you eat every day or most days?

I have a cortado for breakfast. Most days I eat lunch in one of the restaurants, and if there’s something new on the menu I’ll have that. When I’m not in one of our restaurants or eating at home, I’ll go out for sushi at Willoughby & Co. My favourite snack is popcorn, and I make it often.

14. What kind of food do you find sexy?

Anything raw … oysters, sushi, tartare, carpaccio.

15. What can’t you live without?  

My wife, having a dog, wine and art, which enriches my life. The older I get, the more I realise I need fewer people in my life and just want to spend more time with my dog.

16. How important is wine to you?

Very important, personally and professionally. I’m lucky to know many winemakers and thoroughly enjoy drinking it and collecting wine —especially with today’s great South African wines. I don’t collect anything else. We’re really really spoilt when it comes to quality.

17. Your favourite South African wines?

Savage, Luddite Saboteur, Kevin Arnold, Paul Cluver, Meerlust and Mullineux.

18.Take us briefly through your cookbooks and how they reflect your  development as a chef?

Are they still available? I’ve always tried to do a book on every project. They're kind of a record of my career. My first was Banc, 25 years ago. It  was a day in the life of the restaurant I started with Jan in Sydney, followed by Season to Taste (also about Banc — neither is still in print). When I moved to South Africa and started a cookery school before Chefs Warehouse, I wrote Lessons with Liam, which was about technique. This is out of print but the two more recent ones — Tapas and Thali — are both available in second editions, and I’ve also done a book with Singita. I’m about to publish We Speak Kitchen Here, which is about the Chefs Warehouse restaurants and people, and I’m not finished yet. I’d like to do a book about how I cook at home that is geared towards home cooks.

19. Tell us about your new venture, The Red Room.

It’s a dark and elegant pan-Asian restaurant at the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel, with dishes from China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. I’m so proud of the food there, which is beautifully and respectfully prepared — whether it’s Peking Duck, which is a five to six-day process to make, or our handmade dumplings. It’s also a great example of passing the torch, from me to Dave and now to Caroline Lamb, who is an outstanding chef.

20. What would you still like to do?

Open a Chefs Warehouse restaurant in New York, in Soho or the Lower East Side.

21. Your favourite takeaway?

This may sound self-promoting but it’s really Thali or Red Room. I don’t order … they just surprise. Saigon would be my next choice.

22. When you entertain at home, what do like to serve your guests?

Simple home-cooked food, not restaurant-style. I love doing raclette with all the bits and pieces, and Singapore chicken — it’s a poached chicken dish served with togarashi dressing, spicy cucumber salad with ginger, and chilli and fried rice.

23. Please share with us something that will change our lives in the kitchen?

Uber Eats (just kidding). It may sound overly simple, but I’d say buying the best piece of equipment you can afford — a knife or a pan, for example — rather than half a dozen cheaper ones. These will last you a lifetime if you look after them and will definitely lead to better-tasting food and more enjoyment in the kitchen. It's the same with ingredients.

24. What are you looking forward to?

The early sunny mornings when I can once again walk my dog on the beach.

♦ VWB ♦

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