A chef has turned his Cardiff pop-up into his first permanent restaurant.
Having earned his stripes in prestigious London kitchens, including stints at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck, The Square and Bonhams, Tom Waters returned to his Welsh roots with his pop-up concept Gorse, 18 months ago.
Originally from Newport, Tom has long held ambitions to open a restaurant in the Welsh capital. He says Gorse is all about delivering ‘a taste of Wales on a plate’.
Gorse is housed in a former coffee shop on the Kings Road in Pontcanna, Cardiff. The space has been designed by local design agency Karna, and draws on Tom’s passion for local sourcing; on the walls, Gorse flowers from Gower have been immortalised in plaster by a local artist, whilst the restaurant crockery has been sourced from local ceramicists, and vases of dried black oats nod to the recent revival of a crop once commonly found across Wales.
At the new restaurant, diners can also expect the same dedication to micro-seasonality that has defined Tom’s culinary ethos to date; menus will change weekly and even daily to reflect the best of what his suppliers can recommend – and keep things fresh for repeat visitors.
Tom said:
“Gorse is about capturing local ingredients at the peak of their deliciousness and serving them in creative and sometimes unexpected ways. We have some of the best produce in the world in Wales – including an amazing coastline, which inspired our restaurant name, and is full of amazing seaweeds, fish and wild ingredients.
“A good example would be to look at laver, which is traditionally boiled down to make laverbread. Instead, we take it, we dry it, and we add it to some delicious cultured butter to serve with our buttermilk bread, or we make a broth with it – taking influence from Japanese cuisine.
“Gorse is all about dishes like that – putting a new spin on some classic, Welsh ingredients and framing them in a new light.”
Tom was recently shortlisted for the coveted ‘Chef to Watch’ award at the National Restaurant Awards in London. Launched in 2007, the awards celebrate the brilliance and vibrancy of the UK’s eating out scene, and reward the very best chefs, front of house staff and restaurants the country has to offer.
Tom will find out whether he will take home the coveted award when the National Restaurant Awards take place in London on Monday 10th June.
