Australia’s newly crowned Chef of the Year has revealed big plans to further indulge foodies’ tastebuds at the award-winning Sunshine Coast restaurant that has helped develop his skills.
Tom Hitchcock, from Yandina’s Spirit House, was named Foodservice Australia 2023 Chef of the Year after a gruelling showdown of Australia’s hottest talents at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from April 30 to May 2.
The contest is open to any professional chef working in a cafe, restaurant or commercial kitchen, and entrants are whittled down to 32 finalists.
The head chef of one of the region’s most celebrated restaurants said he had managed to come down to earth but the victory had taken a little while to sink in.
“At first when I won, I wasn’t as excited as I should have been,” he said.
“I had used all my energy in the competition and I wanted to just relax and reflect on the competition, but I had no time for that – lots of photos and questions to be had when you win the highest prestige comp for chefing in Australia.
“It sank in the day after when I saw all the media attention I received and thought, ‘Wow, I actually just achieved one of my goals from eight years ago. I’m now one of Australia’s best chefs.’”
Tom said the Chef of the Year competition was important for those who were pioneering new techniques and flavours in the industry in Australia.
“It is a chance to really push yourself to be better,” he said while firmly entrenched back in the Spirit House’s commercial kitchen and Asian fusion-style menu.
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“It’s a chance to showcase what you love.
“You get to meet all kinds of chefs from all over Australia. You get to learn and be inspired by all these people who are masters of their crafts.
“This is a really good chance to make, to watch, reflect on chef skills, technique and flavour combinations.”
Tom said the whole competition process was hard, but like any kind of cooking, “you get used to the pressure and you learn how to be comfortable”.
Self-confidence and being mentally strong in creating the dishes were paramount, as well as ensuring time management was on point.
“I used the time on the plane trip down to collect my recipes in my head and write them down to refresh them. Being a mystery box competition, I had no idea if I would be even able to use any of them,” he said.
“The process of the competition is, you would be allowed into your cooking station 30 minutes before you had to cook. You then had 15 minutes to get out the equipment that was supplied for you and have a look.
“After that, we would be given our briefing and ingredients. We would then sort our ingredients and menu for 15 minutes.
“We then had 60 minutes to cook and serve two different dishes: entree and main – four plates of each dish (two to the judges and two to the crowd). Within those guidelines, we also had to be conscious of our food waste, hygiene, benchwork and efficiency.
“With the mystery box, I would be watching the other heats to try and predict what I would get, based on elimination. I was never right.
“The organisers do a good job with the variety of produce. When you do get your ingredients, the biggest hurdle to get over is the time limit. You need to be able to prep, cook and plate your dishes in one hour. This always limits the way you decide on how you cook your food, to still show the most techniques.
“I would always feel the most pressure in the last five minutes when I’m plating.
“But overall, no one is there the criticise you. Everyone is very encouraging, even among the competitors.”
Tom said the most feedback he received throughout the competition was that he was “consistent with everything” – from hygiene, time management and benchwork to flavours and plating.
“With the food, big flavours is what they like to see,” he said of the judges, who included respected industry judges including Hotel Sorrento culinary director George Calombaris and ALH Hotels group executive chef Gary Johnson.
His two favourite dishes of the competition – no doubt also high on the judges’ scorecards – were a deconstructed beef fried rice (grilled beef fillet, sweet soy glaze, braised cabbage, chilli jam, fried couscous) and a scallop cevice (with coconut dressing, fragrant chilli oil, sweet soy, mushroom and ginger).
“I did a sweet soy and chive glaze for the beef eye fillet, (for the) braised cabbage leaf I made a small parcel and filled it with chilli jam, and a fried couscous with spring onion and mushroom,” Tom said.
“For the scallop cevice, I cleaned the scallops and I gave them a quick sear in a super-hot pan – not to cook it but to just get that little bit of caramelised flavour, then sliced and put in lime juice to finish cooking.
“I strained off the lime juice and used it for the dressing, and mixed in coconut cream, fish sauce and palm sugar.
“I used all my trim from the main course and a fragrant chilli oil and made a fresh little salad with mushrooms, ginger, chilli, shallots and micro sorrel.”
Now, Tom plans to turn up the spotlight on the region’s paddock-to-plate ingredients and truly highlight his kitchen techniques that won him the prestigious title in a new foodie experience for Spirit House customers.
“I have now started developing a chef’s table experience for the customers of the Spirit House,” he said.
“This is where I’ll be showcasing a lot of the high-end techniques that I developed or also showcasing particular produce from suppliers.
“I have been making a lot of contacts within the industry and I would like to make sure they get the spotlight and educate people about the produce and food.”
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