SYDNEY, Feb 4 — A Japanese chef who arrived in Sydney, Australia at the age of 22 with nothing more than a suitcase and a feeble grasp of the English language has received a Lifetime Achievement Award for setting the standard in fine dining cuisine in Australia.
Chef Tetsuya Wakuda is the third recipient of the award, handed out by organisers of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Best known for his Sydney restaurant Tetsuya’s, Wakuda is known for creating Japanese-inspired dishes like confit of Petuna ocean trout served with konbu, celery and apple or slow-roasted breast of duck with sansho — dishes that place an emphasis on natural, seasonal ingredients executed with classic French techniques.
“Integrating elements from the complementary cuisines, Wakuda strikes a delicate balance that respects the heritage of both, while emphasising pure, natural flavours,” said editors of Restaurant magazine, which hosts the event.
Between 2002 and 2010, Tetsuya’s appeared every year on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, and ranked fourth in 2005.
After finding success in Sydney, the chef expanded his culinary presence in 2010 to Singapore where he opened Waku Ghin at the Marina Bay Sands complex to wide acclaim, for dishes like whole abalone with aonori seaweed and fillet of Tasmanian grass-fed beef with wasabi mustard.
Wakuda also lays claim to being the first person appointed Sake Ambassador outside Japan.
“Chef Wakuda’s genius lies in the deep sophistication but apparent simplicity of his cuisine. His understanding of what makes each ingredient shine is inspirational, making him a worthy winner of the prestigious Diners Club Lifetime Achievement Award,” said group editor William Drew in a statement.
The chef’s rise to fame started in Sydney, where he worked as a kitchen hand before becoming a sushi chef at Kinselas, where he also mastered classic French cooking techniques under Australian chef Tony Bilson.
He later opened Tetsuya’s in 1989, turning a heritage-listed site in a suburb of Sydney into a Japanese retreat, complete with Japanese garden.
Wakuda joins Ivan Li of Family Li Imperial Cuisine in Shanghai and Paul Pairet of Ultraviolet in Shanghai in receiving the lifetime achievement award by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants.
The winners of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants will be announced March 9. — AFP-Relaxnews
