About Tom

I am a chef, who lives and works in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

I was born in Leamington Spa (UK) in 1988 to creative parents: Anthea Callen — an art historian, and James Barrett — a psychotherapist. My career in the kitchen has so far spanned 18 years, 3 countries and 3 languages. It started from humble beginnings at age 16 as kitchen porter at Wilde's Wine Bar — a long established bistro and wine bar formerly located on the Parade in Leamington Spa. Working at Wilde's in the hustle and bustle of a professional kitchen, I was immersed in the succulent smell and sizzle of the culinary world, finding solace the simple joy of manual labour over academic education I discovered my passion for food. At age 18, after completing secondary education, I chose to pursue my passion for cooking so I took the position of commis de cuisine.

At age 22, wanting to further my culinary education, I headed to the south of France where I cut my teeth as commis de cuisine and later chef de partie in the kitchen of the Pourcel brother's le Jardin des Sens in Montpellier. The regimented, male dominated environment was a boot camp which introduced me to the gritty reality of a career in the world of fine dining — demanding hours and total devotion to the trade. I started as commis de cuisine on the Rotie section working alongside head chef Laurent Pourcel and then chef de partie Joris Bijdendijk, a privileged starting position in the hierarchy of the kitchen considering my relative lack of experience.

Under intense scrutiny from the chef I began work prepping and roasting duck, chicken, lamb and game carcasses for slowly simmering fonds brun, cleaning mushrooms, deboning pigeon legs to later be rolled into ballotines farced with its own offal and making various garnishes to accompany meats: vegetable purées, pommes anna.