By Leigh O’Connor.
While on a snowboarding holiday in Japan earlier this year, Yamba local Marley Van Den Boom saw that world-famous restaurant Noma was staging a pop-up restaurant in Kyoto and on a whim applied for a three-month internship.
Having just completed his apprenticeship at Chef-hatted Karrikin restaurant after studying Certificate III in Commercial Cookery through TAFE NSW Grafton, Marley and his partner were working in a small village when he discovered that the world’s best restaurant on several occasions was planning to open ‘Noma Kyoto’.
"I honestly didn’t have high expectations, as it’s so competitive,” he tells AGFG. "While it’s a completely different world in a restaurant like Noma, I was fortunate enough to come with the foundational knowledge I needed to succeed.
"I had already established my basic skills and through my experience there, I was able to grow and expand on my knowledge. It was definitely a shock to the system, working long days as part of a huge team. It was nothing like I had ever seen or thought could even work. I never understood how so many people could work in one kitchen and be so efficient and successful.”
Marley says everyone was extremely professional and took their work very seriously, they absolutely lived for it and it was nice to be welcomed into that environment and treated so nicely.
"It was so much more fun than I was expecting!”
Having worked in hospitality since the age of 14, Marley says he learns differently from others and finishing his TAFE course and apprenticeship didn’t come easily for him.
"My teachers were open to my needs and gave me the support and encouragement I needed while always pushing me to do my best. I don’t think I would have even applied for the Noma internship if they hadn’t encouraged me to take every opportunity that comes along and give it a go.”
Marley says the biggest lesson he has taken away from the experience is that he has learnt to operate on a whole new higher level that he didn’t know was possible, whether it’s at home, or work.
"Personally, I think the standard I hold myself to is now a lot higher following the internship.”
While we have Japanese food in Australia, Marley says when you are actually in the country you realise one dish can be completely different from the next – once you think you know what to expect, you are surprised again.
"The Japanese take such simple food and ingredients and do it so well. Meals are always satisfying and often surprising and it is so fresh – you can be served a feast worth of food and still walk away feeling good, not overfed or unsatisfied.”
There are a few ingredients he is particularly interested in including sansho pepper and leaves, along with various types of seaweed.
"I can’t even name all of the types of seaweed and then there was this citrus that I had no idea existed before travelling there – and everything in between.”
So where to from here? Marley says he plans to travel again continuing his learning with the top three countries on the list being South-Central America, Canada and London.
"I want to learn as much as I can and see all the different cultures and ways of doing things. I don’t really like to make plans too far ahead because there are great opportunities that come up. One day I plan on coming home to the North Coast and opening my own restaurant, but you never know where life will take you, so I want to stay open!”
