I was lucky enough to chat to Gareth and his partner Catherine at Tarts Anon for Broadsheet right before their Cremorne shop opened for dine-in customers. I probably picked the worst time to hit up Gareth for my own chef chat, given they have only just opened a second shop in Collingwood and they have a baby due any second. Gareth was just finishing up something when I arrived so he set me up with a delicious savoury tart; maple glazed bacon in a leek and almond base, topped with Swiss Gruyere custard. Far be it from me to channel Janice from Friends, but Oh. My. God. Gareth and I just launched right in with a very organic conversation covering, well obviously tarts, but also imposter syndrome, Dinner by Heston, and how fabulous and absolutely pivotal Catherine is in the narrative, community and success surrounding Tarts Anon.
Hi Gareth, how are you? Good to see you again.
Good to see you too. Let's go upstairs where it's more quiet. This whole warehouse is owned by The Mulberry Group and this is empty at the moment and they are hoping to lease these office spaces out in the next couple of months, hopefully to a building firm which would be a dream because then we could get them to renovate. It's so hard at the moment. We are hoping to extend the kitchen because we just can't I mean its a good problem but we can't keep up at the moment.
That's amazing. Congratulations on Collingwood.
Thank you. It has been good.
The number of chefs I have spoken to who have opened a new venue and have a baby on the way is phenomenal. Why do you do it to yourself?
I did say it the other week that I think we will look back and think, it wasn't that bad, because it will be done then but we are right in the middle of it now and nothing catastrophic has happened but it has just been a grind. Obviously the baby could come at any minute now and with Collingwood we are juggling a lot of different factors to make it work. One of my sous chefs and one of my strongest chefs are both on holiday; one in Europe and one in Canada. To add to that we have hired new people who need training and theres no one to do it.
That's another fallout, isn't it? We had Covid and lockdowns and you're back, but people need holidays and it's winter and people are still getting Covid and can't be at work. It's full on.
We have had people with Covid over the last couple of weeks.
But on a positive note, who would have thought that Catherines brilliant ideas for tarts in lockdown would be so successful? Everyone is talking about you and Tarts Anon are everywhere.
I don't know. Dead set. It was never meant to be like this. I was always a bit hesitant to go out on my own. It might be that imposter syndrome, I know that's a term that gets bandied around a bit. I think last time we spoke about how it is so inherent in our industry that you are never good enough. With the onset of social media and reality television, it has really given people that belief that they are good enough and they can be something. A lot of young people are going out and making a fist of it doing their own thing and we have seen some great success stories of people who are still in their infancy as restaurateurs and entrepreneurs and chefs who are taking that leap a lot earlier than people in my generation would have.
It's interesting that in the new generation coming through, there seems to be a lot of self-belief but also a lot of anxiety and mental health concerns as well. Maybe it's the influencer thing and we see everyone online, but what do we see? We see all the good stuff, not the trials and tribulations. Maybe that makes people more able to think, why can't I do it, and just give it a go. I don't know. Whereas you've put time into it,and worked up through the ranks.
I remember growing up in kitchens and I don't know if it was the particular kitchens I was in or if it was the time, the early to mid 2000s, there was still a lot of that toxic energy that was rampant in the nineties in kitchens which we haven't seen an evolution from until very recently, but you didn't go out and do your own thing, cooking competitions were seen as naff. the way that you made it was to put your head down and do the hard slog and call me old school but I still believe that is the case. I will always support and praise people who have the bravery to go out and do the right thing but the one thing I have noticed especially amongst young people who have that confidence but a lot of the things they lack are only acquired though doing that rubbish stuff. To be controversial, I think it's the case but then again thats a toxic part of the industry that needs to change.
It's tough, isnt it? You go around in circles. You want to be encouraging and hospitality needs people and goodness and all of that stuff. It's tricky. I was thinking about you and how you have narrowed down to one thing and it is a bit like doing a PhD or a doctorate where you have done all of the general study and then you have refined your choices and you were head pastry chef and now you are doing tarts only, it's like the very tiny niche that everyone wants. Who even knew that people wanted tarts, but we really did.
A small part of me felt as though it was a bit of a calling, but it was also the validation of the business, I guess, and of my I don't want to say image because I didnt want to be in the spotlight, that is so far from my focus, but what I did is part of who am I as a chef and how I take my skills and ply my trade, that is part of my identity. I was never really sure what I wanted to be but I wanted to be taken seriously, but not for my personal gratification, but I wanted to feel as though I was doing something important. I wasn't sure if Tarts was going to give me that, and I guess the best thing is that it is so understated, and I have said this a few times when people have asked why, then perhaps you know how we came about over lockdown and it just snowballed. A good part of what we do is about product but another large part is about what Cat does and the community and our socials and how we are perceived. It is a package, but as for the product itself, it is very satisfying. It's like a lot of classic cooking where you do the simple things but you do them very well. A lot of these old school things you really do the results from putting in the graft early and following all the steps and you could say that for all cooking, putting in the good foundations; you can't make a good sauce without good stock.
It feels very French, or very European. I feel like they specialise in one thing and do it excellently, like Laduree in Paris for Macarons. People do one thing and that is what they are known for. I think that is great.
I have this example of a cafe in Richmond – and I won't say the name – where they were doing, but you could get Lasagne, Pad thai, a burger all on the same menu and I thought Gee whiz, why would you dilute your quality by trying to be jack of all trades. If you think about specialists like Laduree and Hermes and here we have the sandwich revolution and people like Kate Reid and Cam who say they are going to do one thing and do it really well. Even if there are other people out there making croissants, they also make other things and it dilutes their focus. Their brand is where the bar is. I digress but specialising in something and putting all your attention and is going to give you a better product but it does make your brand, although I hate to use that word, but it is so important these days but it gives you an image of these people when you think of macaron, croissant, tart. We would love people to think of us when they think of tarts because for all the reasons because we do the best we can.
Well yes, excellent product, excellent narrative, there is a sense of community around it. I don't want to use the term, cult following, but you have developed a cult following. People were so excited for Collingwood. In my mind I see people running, running up to Tarts Anon.
As you say, the narrative ties back into that. Once we moved out of our apartment and into a commercial shared kitchen in Collingwood, we were there for the longest time and that became us and who we were and we had long lines down Smith Street. It really forged our identity in Collingwood. So to come back home felt like the return of the prodigal son. Everything about the new space is incredible. We love the guys we have moved in with (Pedla). It was always something I would like to do at one point but had never thought about how I could combine my two passions.
Beyond any friend or mentor or inspiration I have ever had, the number one for me is my partner. Most people by now know, that whether they put me on the telly or write an article, Cat is Tarts Anon 100% None of this would be here without her. She drove this. She is the mastermind. She has all the business ideas and does all the little things that make us stand out from the rest, that little niche pocket we fall in, it is all because of her. I think that together we have forged something pretty incredible, but she is far and away the reason this thing has been so successful. Which is sweet.
So you were head pastry chef at Dinner by Heston, which was huge. Was that in London as well, or here?
No, I worked as a chef de partie in London. When I left London way back when, they had already started knocking together plans for The Fat Duck here and then Dinner afterwards. I left prematurely for nothing other than Catherine and I were dating and she was moving back to Australia. She had been on a gap year in Argentina and I was torn between the two. I was obsessed with that job. I loved everything about working at Dinner. I loved the people. I really looked up to Ashley and Heston was a big role model of mine. But I came back and I had said I really wanted to be part of the plans for Melbourne and so was shortlisted to be part of the opening team which was exhilarating. I got the call about a year later and was going to go down to work at The Fat Duck but decided not to but went down for opening and they offered me the sous chef role, which was wild at the time. I didn't think I was at that point, which could have been that lack of confidence I had in my ability of leadership in particular but I was 100% rapt at the opportunity and didnt look back. I worked as a sous chef there for two and a half years and then took over when the head pastry chef left.
How many people did you have in your team then?
It started off as a dumpster fire and we were down to seven or eight, which was about four below the head count. But I think we have eleven in the team by the end.
And now do we call you an Executive chef? What are you?
I don't know what I am. technically I am still the head chef here, because I am still on the tools which is where I want to be. Director? But that gives the allusion of being far bigger than what we are. But at the end of the day we have 20 employees, two venues, so maybe I should nestle into that director title. But co-owner.
Ok. Co-owner and head chef. Did you always want to be a chef?
No. To be honest I think I always gravitated towards cooking a little bit. But we were not a culinary family by any means. Mum was a massive Francophile, so she loves the idea but she was also meat and two vege central coats New south Wales which was hardly the gastronomic capital of Australia. It was always s pretty simple. If something was happening, Dad was always on the pans and I always liked to be around that but I didnt think about it until I was 17. I had been working as a KP since I was 14.
Just because that was a part-time job?
It was the only kind of part-time work for people our age and I didnt really go down to the supermarket to be a checkout chick so in the southern highlands, it was restaurants and cafes and I fell into a job in an African restaurant. The head chef quit and it was me, an apprentice and the owner and on week nights it was really quiet and he would get me to cook the mains. I had no idea what I was doing. A lot of the stuff was in the microwave. It was hardly the most glamourous role, but it was fun and it wasnt that bad. he would tell me all these stories of working in all these big hotels in Sydney and that was in the nineties when it would have been wild and people stitching each other up and people getting burnt and head chefs chucking plates. I thought man, that sounds nuts. Then I was never one for institutions. I was fine at school but the thought of studying any further and doing exams and so on, I thought Id give cooking a crack. And then I am horrifically stubborn where I will stick with something even if I truly loathe it for the badge of honour. But it just evolved and maybe it was about piecing it all together from when I was a kid and had an affinity, like when I really wanted to be around dad when he was cooking his signature Greek chicken or whatever and making shortbread with mum. My first year as an apprentice I thought, yeah this is actually pretty cool. I really enjoyed it and from there I went well into the deep end and I became obsessed. It was never something that I thought I would do. I always wanted to play footie which I was never really good enough to do.
I've thought about this before, you know when footie players go out on the field, especially AFL where everyones eyes are on them and there is a lot of pressure on them. Is it a bit like service in the restaurant where you have your prep and then all on the sudden you are out and you are doing it and it is all happening.
Of course. I think I grew up in the golden era where we evolved from the horribleness of the nineties and the Gordon Ramsays and Martin Warings to what we call the MasterChef era. It became less rockstar and more popstar. You know it went from Marco smoking darts and sweating in a blue apron over a stock pan to being cool and trendy and you had people glamourising the profession in a not so grungy way. It has been interesting to see it evolve.
When you say you became obsessed and so obviously that means you worked really hard and you sought ways to work your way up but does that mean that you read about other chefs or look at books. What's your thing?
I used to. I became really immersed in it and in the lifestyle. Days off were Tuesday and Wednesday. Usually you'd wake up at 1pm because you'd been at the pub on hospo night the night before. Then days off were spent going out to restaurants with you and your drop kick mates. I had a growing cookbook collection. Now it has tapered off a little bit. I have beautiful books and if the odd one comes along that grabs me; these days I have friends who have written incredible books. Rosheen has just put Chinese-ish out.
I wrote about it for Broadsheet, so I know all about it. It's beautiful, isn't it?
Absolutely. Analiese Gregory brought something out recently and I knew I wanted to get it. We worked together at Quay years ago. We only worked together for 18 months but we stayed loosely in contact and I still look up to her and she is a mentor of mine. But that's where it ends for cookbooks for me these days but at the time that's where all my money went; restaurants, cookbooks, knives.
That's amazing and having been in London, that's a great journey you've had.
It is very Anthony Bourdain-esque, that underbelly. I'm sure it still exists these days with that underbelly of the cooking world where you travel around the world with a knife roll and a spare pair of shoes and some undies; a bit seedy but all very driven by passion and obsession. It has always fascinated me about the industry; what is cooking? It's a real melting pot. Is it a trade? Is it an art, is it a science. Its all of those things and at the same time the industry is run by this ragtag bunch of misfits. You get pretty boys who have a knack for cooking, you have ex-military people or guys who have had a rough upbringing but thrive in that environment and they all come together under the umbrella of being a chef and all of that stuff is thrown out the window, and it is beautiful in itself.
Now with where you are at and a cult following, are you able to feel happy with what you do or do you still have the imposter syndrome?
Of course, I think that is never going to go away. I'm never going to embrace stardom if it ever came to me. But I truly believe that whatever I do and achieve, I am grateful for never feeling complacent. There is more that I can do and I still feel that is the case with what we are doing here. Not because I am capable of so much more, but there is opportunity out there and I want to have a crack. People say you create your own luck and I think we have worked ourselves to the bone to get to where we are now. We have also been incredibly fortunate. I have forged some incredible connections through circumstance. Ive done enough or people have liked me enough to keep those connections. I have incredible mentors and friends. I think that is what being successful is, making sure that you invest in keeping people around you. You don't just bump into people in the street and they want to things for you. You have to do the right things. It has been a huge backbone to our success story as well. But beyond any friend or mentor or inspiration I have ever had, the number one for me is my partner. Most people by now know, that whether they put me on the telly or write an article, Cat is Tarts Anon 100% None of this would be here without her. She drove this. She is the mastermind. She has all the business ideas and does all the little things that make us stand out from the rest, that little niche pocket we fall in, it is all because of her. I think that together we have forged something pretty incredible, but she is far and away the reason this thing has been so successful. Which is sweet.
29a Gwynne Street, Cremorne
In Pedla, 44 Sackville Street, Collingwood