Phil Wood: The quiet chef with the big reputation

Phil Wood has worked and run some of Australia's most influential restaurants. He's won a cavalcade of awards including, most recently, New Restaurant of the Year for Laura on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula at the Good Food Guide 2019 Awards.

But before all that, there was the Salty Plum on the Gold Coast, where he worked as an apprentice during Australia's heady east-west fusion years, when roast chicken could ride side saddle to a pad Thai.

It wasn't long before the lure of Sydney pulled the young chef, who had grown up on a farm just north of Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island, and landed him at Tetsuya's.

It was the early-2000s and the restaurant was at its peak, with a kitchen overflowing with talent. Under the eye of head chef Martin Benn (now Sepia), Wood spent more than four years working alongside the likes of Daniel Puskas (head chef of the recently three hatted Sixpenny), Darren Robertson (Three Blue Ducks), Luke Powell (LP's Quality Meats and Bella Brutta) and Daniel Pepperell (Restaurant Hubert).

While doing 170 covers a day at that titan of Australian dining in 2007, Wood won the Josephine Pignolet Young Chef Award. The prize money afforded him the opportunity to work abroad. The plan was Spain. Not speaking any Spanish and not knowing anyone who did, he used Google Translate for his application. He never did hear from Spain, but he did hear from Thomas Keller's French Laundry in the US.

Before he shipped out to the Napa Valley, he received a talk from Tetsuya Wakuda. "He's an amazing guy," says Wood. "If you were leaving and he cared about you, then you would be called up to Tetsuya's office. He would sit you down and he would tell you, 'Don't become a gypsy. Work in one place and work well, then you'll truly learn what the restaurant is all about.' I think it's a wonderful lesson for young people, now, particularly."

That was the talent in the room. It was like the Real Madrid of kitchens.

Phil Wood

It was a conversation that really rubbed off on the chef, whose resume, while not huge, is significant. "If you haven't done over a year in a restaurant, you haven't even started to learn what that restaurant is about. The first six months you have no idea what's happening. The next six months you're finally starting to settle in and then after a year, that's when it becomes enjoyable. That's when you really start to learn."

Chef Keller had a defining influence on him at the French Laundry, as did head chef Corey Lee (now Benu in San Francisco). "Corey Lee is, quite simply, probably the greatest natural cook on the face of the earth," says Wood. "He can get angry with anyone and that's fine because you know that he can do it better than you."

Similar to his kitchen upbringing at Tetsuya's, it was a deep talent pool at the Laundry. "You go into this kitchen and every single chef de partie that was working in that restaurant had been a sous chef or a head chef or an executive chef at another restaurant. That was the talent in the room. It was like the Real Madrid of kitchens."

Wood describes Keller as an inspiring, yet gentle, mentor. "I often use the analogy that if he was in the Civil War, he would be a Union General that would be easily able to encourage every single man around him to charge to their certain death."

When his visa was just about up, Wood had to make some decisions about what was next. "I was talking to a few people and I worked with Matt Orlando (now head chef at Amass, Copenhagen). He was telling me about this place in Scandinavia that was doing this amazing food. I was excited about that, but I couldn't really get my act together. It turned out that was Noma."

He decided to head back to Sydney and contacted Neil Perry, who had been one of the judges on the Josephine Pignolet judging panel. "I emailed him [just as Rockpool Bar and Grill was about to open] and I said, 'I don't really know what's happening in Sydney at the moment.' He said, 'Look, there's no pressure; you can come and cook good simple food at Bar and Grill and then think about what you wanna do'."

Wood flew home and started at RB&G. A few weeks later, Perry sat him down for a coffee and then asked him to become head chef at Rockpool, then in its original George Street digs. Wood was floored. He was barely 27. "It was a pretty steep learning curve. I was so young. It was a lot of pressure – I felt like Rockpool was so important in Sydney dining. It's terrifying to take charge of a restaurant with such a huge social responsibility."

Wood stayed working within the Rockpool Group for eight years. But when Perry closed his Sydney fine diner, Eleven Bridge, in March 2017, the chef decided to call it a day. "I'd given eight years to this restaurant and I'd never really thought about leaving. I had no idea what I was gonna do. Not a clue."

But then Point Leo Estate on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula came up. He and his girlfriend decided they'd spent a little too long in the Sydney bubble. And they instantly fell in love with the peninsula's quiet beauty.

In his short time in Victoria, Wood has secured two hats for Laura, not to mention that Good Food Guide Award. What might have been a gamble move for Phil Wood has paid off. Wood has settled into his new life – not just as a prominent chef in regional Victoria, but as a teacher and mentor in his own right. It was bound to happen; he learned from the best.

Quickfire corner

Music to cook to: It depends on the season. Sunday lunch, spring, it would have to be an album called Yours Conditionally by Tennis. Winter, potentially Joy Division. If you're at home with your partner, the lighter side of Nick Cave.

Smartest person you know: My girlfriend. She's legitimately the most intelligent, caring, and beautiful person that I think I've ever met in my life. She's amazing.

After-midnight snack: Growing up in New Zealand, every meal we used to have a bowl of ice-cream for dessert so I just like ice-cream. At the moment, I have to go with Maggie Beer's burnt fig and caramel ice-cream, which comes as a little mini ice-cream bar. I quite like mint Drumsticks, too. It's not glamorous but that's a midnight snack for me.

Indispensable kitchen tool: A good pot. I've got a Le Creuset. They do everything. They roast, they saute, they fry.

Formative food moment: I have a lot of moments but getting to eat at the French Laundry on my trial in the chef's office. When you finally get to eat Oysters and Pearls, you know what a perfect dish tastes like.

The Good Food Guide 2019 is available in newsagencies and bookstores or order via thestore.com.au/gfg19 (delivery included), RRP $29.99.