AUSTRALIAN GOOD FOOD GUIDE - Home of the Chef Hat Awards
Eric Kwek
Born:
Singapore.
History:
My first full-time job in hospitality was as a cook at the Hard Rock Café in Singapore. After a year of working the line, I decided to enrol myself in culinary school.
During that time, I discovered I especially had a passion for butchery and joined National Amateur Butchery competitions. In 2010, I won a competition sponsored by the then Meat & Livestock Australia. As part of the prize, I was given the opportunity to experience butchery in Australia and through that experience, I made the contacts who eventually helped me get a job in Queensland.
After working for a year in Queensland, I wanted to continue to develop my skills through the culinary landscape of Australia. In 2012, I made the move to Melbourne and started at Circa the Prince, working my way up as Chef Paul Wilson’s Senior Sous Chef at Acland St Cantina and New Market Hotel.
When Chef David Thompson opened his flagship venue in Melbourne, Long Chim at Crown, I wanted to continue to challenge myself in a different cuisine and found myself as part of Chef Thompson's opening team.
After two years at Long Chim, I moved on to work at Coda with Chef Adam D'Sylva; before finding myself at Trawool Estate in 2020 as the Executive Chef of their establishment.
Have you always wanted to be a Chef?
Truth be told, no. I had studied Computer Engineering but then dropped out of university after a year. I could not see myself in a job where I was chained behind a desk doing something I had no interest in. I had nowhere to go and the kitchen took me in.
I have always loved food because Mum cooked all the time so it was an easy transition for me. Almost immediately, I appreciated the hierarchy structure, regimented daily tasks and good old fashioned discipline when someone was not pulling their weight. It was something I thrived in.
How would you define your style?
I really have a couple of personas in my cooking and both Wild Water and Turbine reflect that. One is Modern Australian with a good blend of traditional French cookery with game-focused proteins. The other is of Modern Asian with strong South-east Asian influences.
What is your feature flavour these days?
Smoke and pickles. We do a lot of smoking at Trawool Estate during the Winter months with both Western and Asian flavours. Nothing quite beats strong rich smoky flavours with a pickled tang.
Obsessive-compulsive about?
SEASONING! All my Chefs know I go bananas when a Chef doesn't taste their food. Nothing irks me more than under seasoning food and leaving salt and pepper shakers on tables for customers to season their own dishes.
Your greatest culinary influence:
Auguste Escoffier, David Thompson, Steven Rinella.
What do you love about this business?
In the words of Calvin Coolidge ‘Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. Hard work beats talent every single time.’
I remember all the hours I put in as a young Chef, 6 days a week doing 14-hour days and I look back and see how that has transformed me to who I am. It saddens me when I see a talented Chef with promise who just can't understand persistence.
An ingredient you can’t live without?
Fish sauce.
Most ‘eyebrow-raising’ menu item?
We once had a rabbit rillette served with rabbit livers and kidney sauce, accompanied with grilled brioche and pickles. Probably one of my favourite dishes.
Signature dish:
Singapore chicken curry.
What can diners expect when they eat at your restaurant and what makes the experience special?
I like to take diners on a food journey through my eyes, if there is something you have not had before, give it a chance! There is literally nothing on my menus I would not scoff down myself. I do not believe in dulling down flavours.
Have Australian diners’ perceptions of Asian changed? What makes it so popular with Aussie tastebuds?
I believe diners have moved on from the greasy spoon takeaway shop that sells fried rice and stir fry with the broadening of mindsets that comes with travel. I think more diners are venturing into more refined Asian fare. I believe that Asian dishes are significantly diverse with our sweet savoury and tangy flavours.
What do you think COVID has taught restaurants and Chefs about their diners and the industry in general?
Before COVID we lived in a really delicate balance - a virus that we thought would have disappeared into the history books in 6 months brought our industry to its knees. Our industry is actually very reliant on immigrants; everything from Chefs in the kitchen, front of house staff, dishwashers, diners, delivery drivers, abattoir and farm workers rely on a good population of immigrants from other countries to fill these roles.
When the pandemic hit and some of us managed to operate at a minimal capacity with takeaways, it still seemed fine, almost optimistic, for some of us. But now, like a nuclear holocaust, when the dust has settled, we realised that all the immigrants had gone home.
How are businesses supposed to operate at full capacity if we don't have enough staff to run a restaurant? Suppliers have limited runs to restaurants because they don't have delivery drivers, abattoirs can't keep up with demand of all the restaurants opening and farmers don't have enough hands to pick their harvest. I firmly believe it is the same for other industries as well.
Tell us something no one knows about you?
I am secretly terrified I might one day wake up to be one of ‘them’. We all see it in the occasional diner; the one person in the group who doesn't eat anything, afraid to live, afraid to try, someone who eats just to be sustained, doomed to an existence of flavourless travels!
Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
I would like to see myself managing more venues, hopefully in locations where I can have sand between my toes.
Turbine at The Trawool Estate
A celebration of heritage using elevated Asian flavours and Australian native ingredients is on the plate at Turbine at The Trawool Estate on Goulburn Valley Highway in Trawool. Something of a bespoke decadent, speakeasy-style cocktail bar and intimate shared dining destination, Turbine takes its culinary inspiration from Chef Eric Kwek; accompanied by delectable drinking choices from an electric cocktail list and ever-expanding wine list. Kick on late into the night in this downstairs hideaway after grazing on bite me options of hand-rolled pork and King prawn spring rolls; or roast duck pancakes, hoisin, spring onion, cucumber and lychee. Don’t go past Chef’s famous Vegemite chicken ribs with jasmine rice, or Thai-style pork cheek with sweet Isaan sauce; finish with gelato of the day.
