Meet the Chef: Sa Va'afusuaga
I first met this guy when he was causing mischief flipping burgers at Chur Burger in Fortitude Valley, and now he is Head Chef at a highly acclaimed restaurant in Sydney. It’s amazing what a few years and hard work can do. Meet, Chef Sa Va'afusuaga.
Foodie Adam: First, tell me your name and what's your backgrounds?
Sa Va'afusuaga : My name is Sa Va'afusuaga. Keen fisherman, travel enthusiast, kiwi with roots in Ireland, England and Samoa, and Head Chef at Bopp and Tone in Sydney.
FA: Prior to working for Bopp & Tone, where have you worked?
SV: I've worked at a tonne of places in the 15 years I've been in the industry. Pubs, hotels, bowls clubs, restaurants, all over the show. Most recently i was heading up the kitchen at The Botanist another Sydney restaurant in Kirribilli. Before that i was based in Brisbane where i worked for Ben O’donoghue ( Billy Kart) and Warren Turnbull (Chur Burger and Up On Constance).
FA: When did you began your culinary career, and where did you study?
SV: As a kid growing up in Christchurch NZ I did home ec at school, seemed like the best subject to do! Stand around with your mates, cook a little bit and then at the end you get to eat haha. I remember all the maori and islander kids were in that class, great minds think alike so they say. So that’s where I first started really cooking. From there i nabbed a job at the local pizza hut and started studying at polytech, I think its New Zealand's equivalent of tafe. I did 2 years at polytech and ended up with a diploma in professional cookery, which i don’t think i have produced to land a job in the last 12 years haha. After that I ended up cooking and moving up the ranks in a few restaurants in Christchurch before moving to Australia at the age of 20.
FA: What made you decide to go the route of becoming a chef, was it something you always wanted to do from school and did you have any challenges along the way?
SV: I always tell people that my passion for cooking and food in general comes from my stomach! I’m hungry!
One of my greatest passions in food is in the actual of eating of food.
I love going out to dinner, I love eating new things its exciting! If you love food then your probably gonna want to know how to cook it dummy. My favourite cooking show to this day is still Gordon Ramsay's Boiling Point. I used to love watching him own the chefs in his brigade and damn near give them a beat down in the kitchen. You can’t do shit like that anymore it’s a different age and maybe that's a bit sadistic of me but I used to love the pressure and the pace of kitchen. I feel like people don't work as hard as they used to!!!
As for challenges, yeah too much drinking and partying. I feel like I would have been so much further along by now if I hadn't gone out 4 nights a week every week for the first 10 years of my life. The amount of times I spent hungover not as focused as I could of been is ridiculous, lesson learnt. That's the way it was back then for a lot of the chefs I worked with and probably still is for many kids in the restaurant business these days.
FA: Besides your work, where is your favourite place to go to eat, and what are your go to dishes from them?
SV: Mary’s Burgers or anything made by those guys is good. I like to go to the New Shanghai chain for dumplings and rice cakes ( super cheap and pretty good). There’s a good Indian place on the northern beaches near me called the Indian Joint, you can actually taste the spices coming through not like most of the rubbish served up these days. My favourite food to eat has to be any Asian inspired seafood dish so Chin Chin and Golden Century are winners as well.
FA: What is you comfort food that you can always fall back on? (Part of me thinks it's KFC 😋)
SV: Mate I live across the road from KFC... no brainer.
FA: When you're not working long hours in the kitchen, what do you do on your days off?
SV: I try to get out on the rocks for a bit of fishing or I’ll be dining out. Bit of a nerd on the computer sometimes.
FA: If you could work in any other industry (besides hospitality) which would it be?
SV: I can’t actually think of something I could do that wasn’t hospitality related, but maybe professional sports career would of been nice. I was pretty good at rugby back in the day.
FA: Working with a bunch of great people for long hours can always be a nice time, but do you have any funny moments you can share?
SV: Depends what you think is funny! I’ve been help up against a wall back in the day by one of my head chefs and I’m a pretty big guy. He said either stop being a f###### smart ass and do your job or go home, safe to say I went back to the kitchen and worked my ass off!!! Now that’s funny!!!
INSTAGRAM QUESTIONS
FA: Do you still cook at home?
SV: Yes all the time. Its important otherwise id just be eating Makkas and KFC all the time. Helps to have a super star girlfriend that cooks you meals every now and then too!!!
FA: Best last night hangover cure?
SV: Any kind of Ramen or miso soup.
FA: What is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten and cooked?
SV: Weird things aren't really that weird to eat any more are they. Lamb brains, insects, eyeballs. Its all a delicacy to someone somewhere in the world
FA: If they made a movie of your life as a chef, who would you want to play as you?
SV: Probably the Rock. Massive guy trying to get around the kitchen thats funny as f*ck!
FA: And lastly, any future plans you’re willing to share?
SV: For now I’m just going to be working on the food at Bopp and Tone. I want it to be next level. After that who knows...
If you are in Sydney you have to check out the amazing restaurant he works at, Bopp & Tone.
Can’t wait to see where his adventure goes to, he has already came a great way from when I first met him at Chur Burger. Follow Sa on his Instagram so follow his journey.