Why quality, consistency and exclusivity are so important to restaurateurs

Tetsuya Wakuda, Nespresso Culinary Ambassador

Tetsuya Wakuda, Nespresso Culinary Ambassador

The mark of a really good restaurant is consistency. A dish you serve one day should always be the same quality when you serve it on another day, another week, another year. This is the message I have given my junior chefs for as long as I can remember. Precision, repetition, perfection. As chefs that’s just what we do.

Where things get exciting for chefs is when we can play with new ingredients and new flavours, to create new dishes. And then the cycle starts over again as we perfect that dish and repeat it with precision and consistency.

These themes of discovery, perfection and consistency are what Nespresso stands for too, and that’s just one of the reasons that I’m proud to be a Nespresso Culinary Ambassador. Consistency is what Nespresso is all about – the perfect cup of coffee regardless of who is making it.

Nespresso has introduced two new specialty coffees to their collection, known as Exclusive Selection. We are lucky enough to be one of the few restaurants in the world to serve this selection. These two coffees come from entirely different parts of the world. Kenya Milima, with lemon citrus and fruity notes, cultivated from the rich, mountainous, volcanic soil in Kenya, Africa. Népal Lamjung, which is rich and intense, is cultivated in small plantations located in the Himalayan foothills of Nepal.

Nespresso Exclusive Selection coffees - Kenya Milima and Nepal Lamjung

What I like about these coffees is that like our new or signature dishes we can offer something to our guests that they’ve probably never tried before and can’t find everywhere else. They really are exclusive, and that is important to me. Also important though is the manner in which these coffees are produced. They are grown and farmed with the same considerations as the produce I choose to serve in my restaurants. Nespresso’s agronomists work really closely with its farmers, focussing on ethical and sustainable production, as well as high quality coffee. As a result they are creating and nurturing resilient and thriving communities. This is similar to how I work with some of my key suppliers, who are some of the finest producers and growers in Australia.

The aromatic profile of Nespresso Exclusive Selection Kenya Milima

I’ve told my chefs for years that in a multi-course menu what the diner actually remembers is the very first and the last dish. The last dish you have, in most cases is coffee.

Coffee is as important as the food, that’s why it is important to give our guests something good, and ideally something exclusive.

The aromatic profile of Nespresso Exclusive Selection Nepal Lamjung