RECIPE NOTE: “This dish is inspired by a salad my Mum makes at Christmas. It’s the perfect side for rich roasted meats, as well as fresh seafood.”
He might lead one of Australia’s most hallowed kitchens, but Tom Gorringe happily defers to his mum’s expertise at Christmas.
“She’ll always try and get me in the kitchen to help her, which I love – I love cooking with Mum at home – but I think she doesn’t give herself enough credit for how good she is,” he laughs.
Several family recipes pepper Gorringe’s ideal festive menu; legacies of a foodie upbringing. And while the white tablecloths and billion-dollar views of Aria might seem miles away from the relaxed grazing style of his family Christmases, for Gorringe, the principles remain the same.
“From cooking at home and having people in your house to having people in the restaurant – you want people to feel warm, welcomed and cared for,” he says. “It’s a really nice thing to cook for someone. It shows how much you care for them and how much effort you’re willing to put in. We really want our guests to feel like that as well.”
It’s this care that inspired Matt Moran to install Gorringe at his Circular Quay flagship in 2021.
“I’d been watching Tom’s career prior to him starting as Aria’s head chef,” Moran says. “We both share the same passion – championing the very best Australian produce. Aria has an amazing team, and there is no one I trust more than Tom to lead the kitchen and continue Aria’s 24-year legacy. The Tom story hasn’t finished yet; he is going to go on and do amazing things.”
Of his time at Aria, Gorringe adds: “It was pretty daunting at first, to be fair. There’s a lot of history, and Aria has a big reputation to uphold.
