The day Wales take on France at the Principality Stadium is the perfect day for Tom Simmons to open his restaurant in Cardiff, as the two nations are the biggest influences on the 31-year-old chef’s cuisine.
Thomas by Tom Simmons is , marking an extremely quick turnaround on the site that was formerly the Cameo Club, which closed on New Year’s Eve.
The new venture marks a return home for Tom and his partner Lois Thomas, who hail from Pembrokeshire, but it has been part of the plan for a long time.
“We always had a plan on coming back, before we even went to London,” Tom explains. “The idea was to come to London to try and make a name for ourselves there, gather a good following and then come back.
“A year ago I started coming down, tying it in with the rugby and the Six Nations, and looking at sites. I saw a couple, but it kind of went quiet for a couple of months and then one of the agents working with us said, ‘This current place has come up and it’s not going to market.’ It ticked a lot of boxes for us.”
Tom says the search was not specific with Pontcanna as a location, but the affluent Cardiff suburb has built up a reputation for high-end restaurants, such as Milkwood, Bullies, and Heaneys Restaurant, and there is great expectation for Tom’s venture.
The limited number of dates that had been opened for booking was snapped up almost immediately. The restaurant will be taking bookings for further dates ahead soon.
“We originally cast a net over Cardiff and saw what we pulled in,” explains Tom.
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“Originally we wanted somewhere really big and we were going to do a brasserie-style, doing high numbers.
“[Then] this place came up. We weren’t looking in Pontcanna, but I know Pontcanna and there are some great restaurants here already and it has that village vibe that we want.
“Although we are in central London [with the first restaurant] the area still has that village feel to it, so the food we do is a neighbourhood restaurant, so it tied in really well.”
Tom signed up in November and the work on the Cardiff venue began at pace as soon as The Cameo closed its doors.
His first patrons will be the people that made the new venture possible.
“We didn’t want to go through crowdfunding because we wanted to go under the radar,” explains Tom.
“We wanted to create a following of ambassadors, if you like, that promote the place, that has some involvement but not any equity.
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“I can’t take full credit for [the idea], someone else had the original idea, who I can’t mention, and it took off. We told a couple of people, they told a couple of people.
“Basically the structure is there are loans between £5,000 and £20,000, which is paid back over a certain amount of years, and until it is paid back they gather a 10% interest to be used as restaurant credit.
“So, rather than a dividend, it is a 10% restaurant credit. It appeals to a lot of local business people who go out and spend maybe £500 entertaining clients, something like that and they are getting their money back.”
These investors are called founding members and as well as the 10% they get back Tom has events and perks planned exclusively for them.
The number has been capped at 30, but Tom says they are still getting inquiries for people to invest now.
“The whole idea was it was going to be exclusive, as much as I would love more money,” he laughs.
Tom believes the concept works really well as you have these 30 people that are really pushing the company and drive it, and they are 30 influential people in Cardiff and the 海角视频.
He can’t give out any names, but says they have people from big companies, sports personalities, and TV personalities. And they are all brand ambassadors.
The cost of credit, Tom says, is marginal for the restaurant.
“It is a very low-interest loan for us,” he explains. “If you go to the banks you would have 10% plus for a start-up, but this is probably going to cost us between 2% and 3%.”
The ethos for Tom and his restaurants is sustainability, using local produce and trying to reduce the carbon footprint.
And the fusion of French cuisine with Welsh produce brings together the two nations that made Tom a chef.
He has had a passion for food since he could walk and his earliest memories are of roaming farmers’ markets in Pembrokeshire, foraging in the west Wales countryside – before foraging became the “in-thing” for chefs – and working on his mother’s vegetable garden.
Tom then spent time working in kitchens in the French Alps.
The idea had been to spend half the time cooking, half the time skiing.
“In reality, it was 90% cooking,” he laughs.
In 2011 he became the youngest competitor to reach the quarter-finals of MasterChef: The Professionals, and he has worked alongside Michelin-starred chefs Tom Aikens and Mark Sargeant.
It was in 2017 he left Pembrokeshire for London, to open Tom Simmons – Tower Bridge.
“When we first [started the business] a lot people were like why are you not going to Cardiff first and then to London, and we kind of questioned it ourselves, but now we have done it makes complete sense in our heads,” Tom says.
“We got a lot more press in London being a Welsh restaurant, it gave us a lot more momentum and followers quicker, and coming back to Cardiff now there is a lot more noise about us because we have done it London first.
“We were always going to champion Welsh produce and have as many Welsh staff as possible in London, as that was kind of second nature to us, but as soon as our PR company and media got hold of it they went for it with the Welsh thing.”
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His deep-fried cockles were a huge hit, and lamb and beef from Wales were on the menu, the restaurant introduced a Welsh twist on many dishes to Londoners.
And it is this love and respect for homegrown Welsh ingredients that will be the foundation of his cooking at Thomas by Tom Simmons.
Moving back to Wales also brings Tom closer to his two children in Pembrokeshire.
“Eventually I would like to end up with a pub in Pembrokeshire somewhere,” he says.
But for now there is a whole new clientele waiting to sample Tom dishes.
And 30 who managed to get the headstart on everyone else.