Chef Henry Onesemo has ventured to Milan to represent his restaurant TALA and his Samoan Culture.
Auckland-based chef Henry Onesemo has represented his Samoan culture at the Best Chef Awards in Milan, something he described as a very proud moment.
Bestowed with a prestigious “Knife” award, Onesemo said his trip to Italy to compete was an amazing experience and very humbling. He is so far the only Samoan chef to have ever received a “Knife” at the awards.
His ranking was decided by nearly one thousand members of the culinary community. Onesemo said that it isn’t something that chefs can just buy their way into, and that people have to eat their food and vote.
Onesemo is the Co-Owner and Chef of TALA, a Parnell restaurant dedicated to Samoan cuisine.
TALA was invited to attend the competition having been nominated by The Best Chef’s global voting system. Onesemo said he wasn’t sure if he was going to walk away from the event with an award at all, so having been announced as a winner was a standout moment of his career.
Onesemo was able to attend the event by the generous support of Tataki Auckland Unlimited, Auckland Council’s economic and cultural development agency, which provided a NZD 2000 grant.
Open-fire cooking and an umu (a traditional Samoan above-ground oven of hot stones) are central to TALA. The Samoan word “tala” means “story” or “tale”, and Onesemo has combined these ancient practices with modern cooking techniques to tell his own tales of Samoa through dishes inspired by his Samoan heritage and childhood, but revisited and refined.
The TALA menu has offered a choice of dining ‘journeys’, with each one a series of dishes inspired by different elements of Samoan food heritage from Onesemo’s own experience growing up in Samoa, as well as traditional storytelling. Traditional aspects of Samoan life have also been woven into the TALA experience, beginning with guests receiving an offering as they arrive at the restaurant space.
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